***NOTE: This information will be made public when it will be on the agenda for the Midland Town Council Meeting on March 1, 2023

Who is impacted?
- all pet owners and pet lovers within the Town of Midland

- animal welfare agencies and rescues

What is at stake?
The Town currently restricts households to two dogs each. This is a problem for several reasons. As follows:

1. Families int he Town are already housing more than 2 dogs, the by-law is just a deterrent to licensing the dogs with the town. The by-law is not enforced unless a complaint is filed (legitimate or not).
2. There can be exemptions at the discretion of the Clerk that would be subject to bias and there is no clear guideline to what can be exempt. 
3. Some owners have been granted exemption due to a dog being a "therapy" or "emotional support" animal. One could easily argue that any beloved household pet is an emotional support companion. 
4. Animal rescues and potential adopters may be deterred and/or restricted when trying to find animals loving homes due to this by-law.
5. If the by-law was intended to support animal welfare, it does not. This by-law does not stop the many "puppy mills" from running in our area and it does not prevent dog hoarding, neglect or overbreeding. A family can easily have just one or two dogs who are tied up or malnourished or neglected while other families may be able to care for 5 dogs or more and provide loving, safe homes. 
6. Even-though there are families in our area who cannot care for their children, it would seem unethical to restrict the number of kids a couple may have. Instead we rely on people to report instances of abuse and neglect and I feel our dog by-law should be similar.

Why is now the time to act?

We need this to change now!  In a world where mental health is at a crisis level, our pets are imperative for companionship and healing. During the pandemic, many breeders and puppy mills were selling dogs at a very high rate because people were at home and looking for companions. Currently, our local rescues are beyond capacity for many reasons. Some of those reasons include post-COVID returns of dogs, overflow from irresponsible breeders and puppy mills now that the "market" for dogs has slowed, economic downturn making it more difficult for some families to continue to care for their animals. Changing this by-law cannot solve all of these issues but it would remove one small barrier to getting deserving animals into foster care and adoptive homes.