The city of Ottawa spent nearly $700,000 last year responding to animal complaints, according to an email response from Roger Chapman, the city’s chief bylaw officer.

In total, officers responded to 11,697 calls, or roughly 30 calls a day.

Complaints about barking dogs and those without a license make up the largest portion of the calls, 4,700, says Chapman, while unattended pets left in vehicles and wandering livestock – yes, wandering livestock – are amongst the least complained about items.

“Data indicates that each one of these animal calls costs, on average, $57 to complete,” says Chapman, noting that while the time and number of officers needed to respond to any one particular complaint varies greatly, bylaw officers are nonetheless required to respond to each and every call.

Still, last year’s numbers are significantly better than previous years.  In 2010, for example, the city received almost 14,000 animal complaints. At an average of $57 a piece, that’s a difference of nearly $140,000 a year when compared to last year’s figures.

“The reduction in calls,” says Chapman, “can be directly attributed to additional public awareness and community outreach work that our officers have provided.”

This includes installing fenced-in areas at local parks, putting up better and more clearly labeled signs so that dog owners know exactly where, and where not, to remove their animal’s leach, as well as the city’s Stoop and Scoop campaign, an effort to encourage dog owners to either pick up after their pets or face stiff fines.

The city has also worked closely with the Ottawa Humane Society and local veterinarian clinics to ensure that as many animals as possible are fitted with microchip implants so that lost pets can be quickly identified and returned to their owners.

“We’ve seen a steady decline in the number of dogs and cats brought in over the last few years,” says Sarah Oswald, a senor manager and admissions specialist at the Humane Society. “Of course, we’d like to see even less animals have to be brought in by bylaws services, but we’re happy with any improvement.”

For Oswald, the most important thing dog and cat owners can do to reduces the number of complaints received each year is to make sure their pets are either spayed or neutered.

“The more animals that are spayed and neutered, the less that will come in through our doors,” says Oswald. “Officers come in on a daily basis – it’s not that we don’t like to see them – but maybe we could see them less.”

Oswald also stresses the importance of having animals fitted with microchips.

“The sooner we can identify an animal, the sooner we can have it back to its home,” says Oswald. “That might mean one less night here, one less night of a family spent worrying, or one less night of a dog wondering, ‘Hey, why am I not going home?’”

Problems persist

Kevin Smith, a graduate student at Carleton University, walks home through Brewer Park every night. Smith suffers from an acute fear of large dogs, and says that despite the city’s efforts to make improvements to signs and fences, enough has not yet been done to prevent dog owners from allowing their animals to run freely in undesignated areas.

“I’ve never called the city to complain about an animal, but I’ve thought about calling to complain about some of their signs,” says Smith. “They’re just not clear enough. There’s an arrow pointing this way, and an arrow pointing that way, it’s really not clear where they’re supposed to go.”