The Town of Essex is making strides to improve animal care in the municipality, but some councillors think they're not going far enough.
Amendments to the bylaws include banning circus performance acts using animals. They are also now including language to protect the mental well being of an animal.
"We're defining mental distress in the bylaw which is important because now we can look for cases where a dog is being abused mentally and we can remove that animal or fine those owners," says Councillor Sherry Bondy.
Councillors voted against amending the tethering bylaw to bring tethering limits down from 12 hours to four hours.
Bondy says she's disappointed but is looking forward to discussion in the new year.
"They all seemed like they wanted to move it from 12 hours to possibly eight, they just want to make sure they're diligent and do some public consultation first," she says.
Council has also requested a report from the Windsor/Essex Humane Society to show evidence to support the request for a four hour time limit.
"Certainly there is a lot of evidence that the time is much shorter than 12 hours in terms of what's appropriate for a dog's well being," says Bondy
The humane society says consistent tethering can lead to aggressive behaviour in dogs and is generally unhealthy. Even with the 12-hour limit in place if a dog is left out in extreme cold without proper shelter an owner can be fined or have the dog removed from the home.
The issue will come back to council in the new year.
