In a presentation to last week’s board meeting, DCC officers Tanya Morrison and Anne Gray explained there was a review under way to the Keeping of Animals (Excluding Dogs) and Birds bylaw. It was last reviewed in 2010.
The current purpose of the bylaw was to ‘‘protect the public from nuisance and to protect, promote and maintain public health and safety by controlling the keeping of animals within the residential district’’, they explained.
Dogs were regulated by a separate bylaw.
The current bylaw covered residential and rural residential properties but not rural properties, and there were no restrictions on animal ownership, Ms Gray said in answer to board members’ questions.
Nor was there any restriction on the number of animals or birds that could be kept, she said.
She and Ms Morrison emphasised that feedback so far had been informal but to date cats, roosters and bees were the things most people had asked about.
They would be talking to other councils about their rules and considering Dunedin people’s feedback before formulating options then setting up a formal public consultation process, probably in September or October.
It was ‘‘tricky’’ to find a balance, the board was told.
