On average, more than one phone call per hour was made to complain about animals in the city of Ottawa in 2015, according to an analysis of data used to track complaints in the city.

Animal calls were of particular concern in the Rideau area. The wards of Rideau-Vanier and Rideau-Rockcliffe combined for more than 1500 calls. No other ward had over 600.

One explanation for this is the lack of park space in the urban Rideau wards. “It’s all related to green space and the amount of parks that we have in the community, it’s very limited,” said Rideau-Vanier councillor Mathieu Fleury. “We’re an urban ward, there are a lot of mixed-income neighbourhoods and there’s limited green space.”

Rideau-Rockcliffe councillor Tobi Nussbaum sees a similar situation happening in his ward. “I suspect it’s a factor of living in a part of the city that’s fairly urbanized and where there’s a certain amount of scarcity of green space,” said Nussbaum. “That space needs to satisfy the needs of all users.”

Nussbaum notes that the most common complaints come from disputes over the use of the limited space: “The ones that I can think of include dog owners who are interested in whether additional off-leash parks can be established. And of course we also hear form residents who are unhappy when dogs are off leash in parks that aren’t off-leash areas.”

While off-leash issues make up for a large portion of the complaints, they aren’t the only ones that get filed about dogs. Fleury mentions a hill that children slide on during the winter at MacDonald Gardens Park. “It’s also a dog park and there’s an interaction where the younger kids have eaten yellow snow.”

In 2014, an effort to reduce the number of calls sparked a change in dog signage. Signs clearly outlining whether dogs were allowed in the park were erected in Rideau-Vanier. They haven’t helped, as 2015 saw an increase of more than a hundred calls for the ward. “It remains a challenge. There’s no perfect situation,” said Fleury. “As soon as you speak of dogs in parks, you have the ‘thank yous’ and you have the ‘what are you doings?’ And that’s tough because in the end it is a community choice, not a political one.”

The complaints are grouped into three priorities, with the off-leash calls and other minor disturbances being labeled as having the least amount of significance. Calls that are considered ‘Priority 1’ involve incidents where people or animals are in danger.

There’s been at least one situation in which city officials weren’t sure what to do. “The strangest call we’ve had is one where a deer was reported walking through a neighbourhood in our ward,” recalled Nussbaum. “And it was one where we realized that there was actually very little one could do in that situation. As long as the animal is not posing a danger to residents, you just hope that the animal finds its way back into the wild. Which is what happened in this case.”

A list of Vanier parks that are currently designated for animal use.

A list of Rockcliffe parks that are currently designated for animal use.