Meaford has to make changes to its animal control by-law to include farm animals that stray onto the road or trespass on other properties.
Meaford's committee of the whole voted this week to recommend that council update its by-law controlling dogs to include livestock running at large or trespassing.
Clerk Robert Tremblay then presented the draft of an updated animal control by-law designed to address the problem.
The draft by-law includes definitions of "running at large", "incident", "livestock" and other definitions designed to clarify its provisions.
For instance, "livestock shall be deemed to be running at large if found in any place other than the premises of the owner of that livestock and not under the control of any person."
An "incident" involves any livestock group of 12 or more running at large in any 24-hour period.
"Livestock" includes horses, sheep, swine, chickens, ducks as well as bison, alpacas and emus.
These and other amendments, Tremblay says, will ensure that owners allowing livestock to run at large will be ticketed in a timely fashion.
