Livestock review ahead for City Council amid short lived stay of the Moby Dick goats

The stay was brief but the two goats brought to the Moby Dick Inn
in May proved to be a hit with many in the community

The two goats brought to town last month by the owner of the Moby Dick Inn to tend to the weeds may be back up country today; but the short lived stay that they enjoyed on the North Coast has provided for enough discussion to put a review of the city's bylaw on livestock up on the to do list for City Council.

That was the theme on Monday at City Council as Councillor Nick Adey baaa-cked a call for the city to explore the issue further, observing that the over riding focus for the review should be what is best for any animals that may be covered by it.

"Just because of the public conversation that is going on, I think we should not ignore the goats ... I don't mean to make light of it because I know there is some passion out there about the issue. 

So I would like to say a couple things about it.  One is, that I'm aware of the conversations and positions that people are advocating. But I would also like to make the point that when you have a bylaw that is focused on animals. the first purpose of that bylaw has to be whatever is in the best interest of the animals"

Mr. Adey followed up on his thoughts by calling for some additional research on the issue,  adding that the current bylaw should not be changed until Council has had a chance to explore it further in order to improve it.

The Bylaw No. 2987 outlines which animals fall under its jurisdiction and sadly for goat lovers, they made the list between sheep and cows, from the last time the call of the livestock was made in 1996.

The two Moby Dick goats arrived in town in May and quickly became the latest of the animal kingdom to capture the city's attention, with Rupertites flocking to the corner of Second Avenue West and Ninth Street to watch the two animals take to their task as celebrity lawn care specialists.

However, after a short Pre-Seafest stay of execution or expulsion from the city in this case, the order of removal was put back into motion and they were returned to their former home in the Hazeltons following the city's three day pre summer festival.

Monday night, in answer to Councillor Adey's request for further study, the Mayor reviewed some of the city's policy ambitions from the Sustainable Cities policy book of June 2018 and how there was some intention from that document to revisit the animal livestock issue and if it was a feasible thing for the community.

More on the project that was presented to Council last June can be explored here.

When it comes to the lack of progress on the issue, the Mayor outlined that owing to lack of staffing capacity, which was tasked to other items such as Watson Island and infrastructure issues, they haven't been able to move in the direction of the review of the policies as of yet.

He did suggest that it may be a timely moment now to produce a report to analyze the animal livestock situation and talk to veterinarians and other animal experts to see if it's a feasible thing, adding that it will take time to develop a comprehensive overview.

Council then offered a motion to move the issue to the next Council meeting where they can expand on the topic and set the process in motion towards a report.

You can review the background to the discussion from the City's Video Archive of Monday's Council session, starting at the 49 minute mark.





A wider overview of the five minutes of fame for the goats can be found from our Council Timeline feature here.

More notes on Council themes from Monday can be found here, while a larger overview of past Council topics can be explored on our Council Discussion page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review