Animal Control

Living Here-Interior Right

The Kitchener Waterloo Humane Society provides animal control services for the Township of North Dumfries. These services are limited to dogs and small wildlife. The Kitchener Waterloo Humane Society is located at 250 Riverbend Drive in Kitchener and can be reached at 519-745-5615. Please visit the Kitchener Waterloo Humane Society website for hours of operation and more services.

When to call the Humane Society

To report animal control by-law violations
To report a dog running at large
To report a dog bite or aggressive dog
To report sick or injured dogs or small wildlife
To report lost or found pets
To report a dead domestic animal or small wildlife
To report stray dogs
- The Kitchener Waterloo Humane Society will accept stray cats or small domestic pets if space and resources allow. Residents MUST call the Humane Society in advance at 519-745-5615. When space is not available, cats may be placed onto a waiting list and brought into the centre as space becomes available. We would also encourage residents to contact other local humane societies to inquire about assistance.
To inquire about kennel licenses

Emergency After Hours Services

For emergency after hours services please call 519-745-5615 and follow the prompts for the following:

Sick or injured dogs and small wildlife
Vicious dogs

See the Township animal control bylaw for more information.

Dogs at Large and Pit Bulls

Animal Control By-law #3160-20

In accordance with the Dog Owner's Liability Act, it is prohibited from owning, breeding, transferring, importing, fighting or abandoning pit bulls. However, for Ontario residents who owned a pit bull prior to the changes coming into effect in 2005, the Act contains a grandfathering clause that allows pit bulls to remain in Ontario provided the owner can prove the pit bull was in Ontario prior to August 29, 2005 or born within 90 days of August 29, 2005.

Restricted or "grandfathered" pit bulls must be:

Spayed or neutered
Leashed and muzzled in public
Licensed with the Township

Small Wildlife in Distress

Residents should call the Kitchener Waterloo Humane Society to report:

Sick or injured small wildlife
Dead small wildlife

The Kitchener Waterloo Humane Society shall respond to calls for small wildlife in distress or deceased, within 45 metres (150 ft) of a residence on private property (not to include nuisance calls).

Wildlife Rescue and Wildlife Rehabilitators

In Ontario, Wildlife Rehabilitators are authorized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to provide temporary care to sick, injured and abandoned wildlife until they can be returned to the wild. Rehabilitators provide a significant amount of time and resources to do this work. Every effort is made by Wildlife Rehabilitators to ensure wildlife in their care do not become tame.

Contact a Wildlife Rehabilitator in your area.

Ontario Wildlife Rescue has two goals:

Connect people who have found injured or orphaned wild animals with those who can look after them and get them back into the wild
Help raise money for wildlife rescue centres across Ontario

Rabies

Below are procedures that should be followed pertaining to rabies:

Report any abnormally-behaving wildlife to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry at 1-888-574-6656 and contact the Region of Waterloo Public Health at 519-575-4400
Report all wild animal or domestic animal bite/scratches to the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs at 1-877-424-1300
If a person comes into direct contact with a rabid or potentially rabid animal (domestic or wildlife), immediately call the Region of Waterloo Public Health at 519-575-4400 to report and seek direction
Contact the Kitchener Waterloo Humane Society to trap and/or remove small wildlife (ex. skunks, raccoons, foxes) that exhibit rabies
Domestic animals should be kept on a leash or monitored by their owners to minimize risk of exposure to wildlife. The most important thing you can do to protect your pet is to have it vaccinated. All pets over the age of three months must be immunized against rabies. It's the law and failure to vaccinate your pet can result in a fine of $110 per day.
It is recommended that those working in high risk occupations for animal exposure (e.g. veterinarians, animal control offices, etc.) receive a rabies pre-exposure vaccine
To protect yourself from rabies:

have your pet immunized against rabies
don't approach or touch unfamiliar animals, even if they seem friendly
don't touch sick or injured animals
do not feed wild or stray animals

For additional information on rabies, contact a Public Health Inspector at the Region of Waterloo Public Health at 519-575-4400 (TTY 519-575-4608).

2022 Rabies Vaccine Baiting Notification

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry will be conducting oral rabies vaccine (ORV) bait distribution from June 27 to the end of October 2022.

Per the attached map, rabies vaccine bait distribution will be conducted in rural areas with MNRF aircraft and by hand in urban areas by MNRF wildlife technicians. The following provides details of MNRF bait distribution in 2021:

Grey shaded areas will be completed with a combination of Twin Otter airplane and Eurocopter EC130 helicopter. Twin Otter flights will occur from August 15 through to August 21, with Eurocopter EC130 flights occurring August 22-26.
Urban hand baiting, including the use of temporary bait stations, will occur in the brown shaded areas starting June 27 and continue through to the end of October.
Live trapping and vaccinating wildlife (trap-vaccinate-release) will occur in the areas surrounding Hamilton shaded yellow starting May 2 and will continue through to the end of October.
Preventative baiting of the purple shaded areas in eastern Ontario will take place in early August and will take one day to complete.

In addition to the activities mentioned above, NDMNRF may conduct localized rapid response baiting and trap-vaccinate-release measures, which would take place in the event of a raccoon or fox strain rabies case outside of the planned baiting area.

The ministry is committed to the research, surveillance, control and elimination of the outbreak of rabies in southwestern Ontario to prevent the disease from spreading. Since the start of the rabies outbreak in 2015, the first of its kind in over a decade, NDMNRF has taken quick action to protect communities, distributing 7.5 million vaccine baits by air and ground. Rabies cases have decreased by 95% since 2016.

In keeping with current World Health Organization guidelines, the 2022 rabies control zone has been reduced as some areas have had no reported cases in over two years. The control zone encompasses an area within approximately 50 km of positive cases that are less than two years old (positive cases since July 1, 2020).

Any warm-blooded mammal can contract rabies. If a human contracts rabies and does not receive treatment, the disease is fatal.

The khaki-green coloured bait being distributed by hand and by aircraft is made of wax-fat with an attractant flavour (vanilla-sugar). A label with a toll-free telephone number (1-888-574-6656) and the message “Do not eat” is located on the exterior of the bait, and a plastic package containing the liquid rabies vaccine is embedded in the centre. If found, the bait should not be touched, but left for raccoons, skunks and foxes to consume. (See bait identification hand out for detailed description.)

Ontario’s rabies vaccine baits have been tested to ensure they are safe for wildlife, people, and pets. However, eating a vaccine bait does not replace the regular rabies vaccination provided by a veterinarian for pets. If a pet has eaten a bait and the owner is concerned, they should contact their vet as a precaution.

Ontario’s rabies control program is a joint effort that receives important input and contributions from a variety of partners across the province. Partnerships with provincial ministries, federal agencies, regional health units, municipalities, wildlife rehabilitators, licensed trappers, wildlife control agents and Indigenous communities are all key to the continued success of Ontario’s rabies control program.

2022 Notification Letter

Animal Licences

The Township of North Dumfries licences dogs and kennels. The Township does not licence cats. Applications for permits for backyard hens can be made to the Clerks Division.

Dog Licence

Every resident of the Township of North Dumfries who owns a dog must apply for a dog licence. Please visit the Dog Licence page for more information.

Kennel Licence

Township property owners who have more than two dogs on a residential-zoned property (Zones 2 - 5) or more than three dogs on an agricultural-zoned property (Zone 1) must apply for a kennel licence. Refer to Animal Control By-law for more information.

A new kennel application must be approved by Council. All new kennel applications are subject to 120 m circulation to surrounding properties and a Public Meeting with Council for approval. Contact the Clerk for more information on this process.

Any kennel licence application must be accompanied by a site plan and fee. Please view the Fees and Charges Schedule page for the current Kennel Licence fee. Council-approved kennels must apply for a licence annually in one of two ways:

Please contact the Clerk's Department for more information.