Trevor the dog may be moving to the communities.
After failing to find a home for the celebrity pooch in Whitehorse, the Yukon Humane Society is hoping a fall-back plan to have the dog moved to Destruction Bay will work.
“We recognize this thing can’t go on forever,” said Rachel Westfall, one of the society’s board members. “Either this works or it doesn’t.”
The Rottweiler-shepherd cross has been at the centre of a year-long court battle between the society and the city of Whitehorse’s bylaw office. Trevor was taken from an abusive owner by the society and later adopted, but he was returned after biting two people.
The society brought the case to territorial court to prevent the dog from being euthanized, and won an opportunity to find the dog a home where he would be contained and given a rehabilitation program.
The Destruction Bay resident has been interested in Trevor for over a year, but bylaw has prevented the move because it feared liability issues if Trevor were to attack someone again.
Now, after several months of failing to find a home in Whitehorse, the society is hoping the last resort will work if the insurance worries can be put to rest.
“We don’t really know if it will work,” said Westfall.
The potential owner didn’t have liability insurance when he first applied to adopt Trevor, but he was able to get a home insurance policy that would cover a biting incident, she said.
It was hard to find an insurance company that would take on the owner because Trevor is so well known, said Westfall. Trevor made national headlines last year as “the dog on death row” and became the darling of local animal rights activists.
Liability is only one of the things bylaw is concerned about, said Dave Pruden, the acting manager of bylaw services.
The city also wants to make sure that recommendations provided during the court proceedings by an animal behaviour specialist can be applied at the Destruction Bay residence, said Pruden.
The recommendations cover protections for public safety and a rehab program for Trevor, he said.
The humane society’s proposal was tabled during a court hearing on Wednesday, and Justice Ron Veale gave both sides six weeks to come up with a solution.
It’s not clear what could happen if a solution isn’t reached.
“We don’t really know,” said Westfall. “His decision may well be that Trevor will go back to the city.”
Contact James Munson at
jamesm@yukon-news.com.