- Port Moody Councillor Kyla Knowles introduced a resolution at the UBCM calling for regulations on mobile live animal programs, citing animal welfare, zoonotic disease risks, and public safety.
- The Vancouver Humane Society supports the resolution, highlighting the lack of minimum standards for animal care in mobile programs.
- The resolution also urges the province to update the Controlled Alien Species Regulation to include stronger welfare protections and restrictions on exotic species transport, breeding, and display.
Read media coverage on the report and the VHS’s campaign below. Stay tuned for updates!
“It seems cruel to take these animals from event to event, from party to party,” said Knowles.
Knowles said the issue came to the city’s attention through public complaints about an operator who regularly made presentations at the city’s Golden Spike Days.
“This particular operator had exotic lizards, turtles and snakes. People and kids would line up and take their turns holding them, posing with them. It just seemed cruel to watch these animals being handed from one child to another,” said Knowles after observing the operator at an event.
“The resolution is about oversight and regulation. The problem is that there are independent, private, for-profit operators in this space, and we have no idea how they are being operated,” said Knowles.
Said Emily Pickett, campaign director of the Vancouver Humane Society: “We don’t know how many of these groups there are, that’s part of the problem.”