Kamloops did warn Calgary of dangerous dog's possible arrival
The city's bylaw services supervisor is not sure why a Calgary newspaper columnist is up in arms about what he calls "morally bent bylaw enforcement."
Writing in the Calgary Sun, columnist Michael Platt called Kamloops city officials "a bunch of jerks" for failing to phone Calgary's animal and bylaw services department when it learned a Rottweiler it had deemed dangerous was being moved to that city.
Midnight — who was put down by the City of Kamloops after she attacked 84 year-old Mary Gural outside a McDonald's restaurant on Fortune Drive on the Labour Day weekend — was designated an aggressive dog after she bit a postal worker on June 1.
As part of that status, her owner had to meet a number of conditions, including the construction of a special pen the dog could be caged in when outdoors.
Because the owner couldn't meet that condition in Kamloops, Midnight's owner elected to move her from the Tournament Capital to Calgary.
Platt said officials in Calgary's animal and bylaw services department told him Kamloops never contacted them about Midnight's impending arrival — but that's news to John Ramsey, Kamloops' bylaw services supervisor.
"I did call Calgary," Ramsey told KTW, when contacted about the column.
There is no policy requiring him to contact other municipalities in these cases, but Ramsey said he called Calgary animal control because he knew the dog was headed to the Alberta city.
"I don't know if they opened a file or not with the call coming in," he said. "But, I was told they have a different process. They actually take their dogs to court to have them deemed, where we do it administratively here."
However, when contacted by KTW, an official with Calgary's animal and bylaw services said they still can't find any record of the call.
The official said the department is planning to follow up with Ramsey to determine if there was some sort of miscommunication between the two organizations.
Ramsey said the city is still deciding what penalties Midnight's owner will face over the attack on Gural. He is planning to report to council on the issue at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 18.
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