Councillors call for canine crackdown

Stronger animal control measures urged after attacks

Toronto city councillors are calling for stronger animal control measures in the wake of recent serious dog attacks, including speedier responses to reports of dangerous dog order violations, as well as enforcement blitzes in problem parks.

Coun. Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) hopes the new dangerous dogs plan passed this month by council, including new sign requirements, will empower residents to know where the 450 dogs designated by the city as dangerous are located and to keep an eye on whether they are following the rules.

But residents also need to know their concerns will be acted on urgently, she said.

If a neighbour sees a dangerous dog in violation of strict conditions, they should be able to call Toronto Animal Services and get a prompt response.

“My expectation is they are on that in heartbeat,” said Fletcher. Last year, a woman in Fletcher’s ward was badly mauled by a dog that was in violation of a dangerous dog order. The owner is now facing a criminal charge.

“I want to make sure that every dog labelled as dangerous — that could potentially maul someone as we’ve seen over the last 10 months — that we are on top of it,” she said.

The current standard is that animal services will respond within two hours to a report of a dog committing a dangerous act if the dog is still on the loose, and within 24 hours if the dog is with the owner and under control.

The city did not say whether it is looking at responding faster than 24 hours if there is a report of an aggressive dog off-leash with an owner in an area like a playground.

In the latest incident last weekend, a child was left with “life altering” injuries after being mauled at Little Norway Park. Patrycja Siarek faces multiple charges including criminal negligence causing bodily harm, failure to prevent dog from biting or attacking, dog bite to a person, allowing dog to run at large, except in a posted designated offleash area and ensure dangerous dog is muzzled at all times when off the owner’s property.

The dog had already been involved in another mauling in 2021 and is at the centre of a pair of lawsuits. Siarek’s dogs have since been seized.

Coun. Alejandra Bravo (Davenport) said the division responsible for bylaw enforcement has been underfunded over the years and the recent attack is a “wake up call” for council to ensure they have the resources needed to make sure the public and especially children are safe.

“We will continue to work to make sure that enforcement is escalated and the education that’s needed for the public is also escalated,” said Bravo, noting council added more funds for both to this year’s budget.

Coun. Ausma Malik, who represents Spadina—Fort York, the downtown ward where last weekend’s dog attack took place, said she’s talking to city staff about doing enforcement blitzes in some of the most complained about parks.

But improved or more targeted enforcement can only achieve so much in a city with more dogs than ever, and an increase in attacks and dog-related complaints.

City manager Paul Johnson warned Thursday that increasing enforcement comes at a cost.

“Is it the highest priority to deploy hundreds of city staff at whatever the cost of that is to monitor parks … for very few serious incidents?” he said.

“The answer to that is, of course, ‘no.’ That’s not where taxpayers want to see literally tens of millions of dollars going.”