Canal Days pet-free zone
Canal Days is about to welcome thousands of people into the city of Port Colborne, but is asking those people to leave their animal companions at home.
Despite being a family-friendly event, that means human family only.
“It’s an issue that I think has been ongoing for the last couple of years,” Ward 1 Coun. Dave Elliott said at Monday night’s Port Colborne city council meeting.
“We do ban animals on the festival grounds. We do have signs up.”
This is not a new ban, but something that has been in place because of a bylaw in the city that bars animals.
Port Colborne’s parks bylaw states that excluding service dogs, a dog cannot be on the grounds where a special event is taking place with signs that prohibit them from being there.
Other animals are also included in that bylaw.
The bylaw isn’t the only issue with animals being there. Elliott told council that during the past couple Canal Days events, it has been exceedingly hot. The pavement gets too hot and there aren’t any water stations available.
“It was basically inhumane to have your pets out on the hot pavement with nothing to drink,” he said.
Ward 2 Coun. Angie Desmarais said at council that she’s seen many different kinds of animals there, including lizards, ferrets and hedgehogs.
“You know, people come with all kinds of animals,” she said. “Whether it’s to make a public statement or because they’re just really, truly attached to the animal, I don’t know. But it’s putting our festival in danger in many ways.”
Her concern is for children who would then be around potentially aggressive animals.
“In hot weather and crowds, that’s a recipe for disaster,” she said.