What You Need To Know Before Taking Your Pet for a Drive

The sun is shining and your best friend wants to join you on a drive. We’ve outlined what laws are in place and how to ensure your pet’s safety before you take that trip.

Where should you put your pet?

Your pet should never be sitting in front of the vehicle, especially not on your lap while driving. If you were to be in an accident having your pet in the front could result in either an injury from the airbag or risk them going through the windshield. We all want to ensure the safety of our pets as they are part.

When it comes to having an animal in your vehicle, you must be aware of the pertaining Ontario laws. As outlined by the Ontario Highway Traffic Act;
The Insecure Load (section 111(2) of the HTA) offense occurs when a dog is loose in the backbox of a pickup truck. Animals need to be secure by way of a crate and the crate also needs to be secured. The careless driving (section 130 of the HTA) offense occurs when a dog is on the lap of a driver.

How to properly secure your pet in the car!

You can find a variety of car restraints in your local pet store. Make sure you select what works best for you and your pet.

The Ontario SPCA recommends that you use a harness that uses the car’s existing seatbelt to tether the pet to the car’s existing seatbelt receptacle. They also recommend using a small dog booster seat.

If your car has a cargo department, there may be a tether that you can use to attach your pet’s leash too.

What if you have an African snail for your pet?

The snail’s shell is brown, yellow, or white and measures up to 7.8 inches in length and 2.7-3.9 inches in height. An adult weighs about 32 grams, according to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC). The body has two short tentacles and two long ones that have the eyes.

An important part of the anatomy of this snail is a structure in the mouth similar to a tongue, which is called the radula. It has small teeth that allow snails to scrap the food before eating it.

They have a “muscular foot” that helps them move to release mucus while they move to reduce friction and avoid damage to their tissues.

The shell is the location where the Giant African Snail takes refuge from predators. They will also spend time inside of their shells when the temperatures begin to dip too low at night for their comfort.

This snail thrives where the climate is hot and humid. In Africa, it lives along the edges of forests but can live on the banks of rivers and streams, shrublands, agricultural areas, plantations, gardens, wetlands, and in various urban sites. It is capable of living in temperate climates too.

The Giant African Snails have been introduced in recent years to several locations and seem to have adapted extremely well. These areas include among others, the Caribbean and some Pacific islands. They often end up in unwanted places due to people transporting them, either as pet trade or inadvertently.

It is illegal to have one of them as a pet in the United States because they are one of the most invasive species in the world and they have produced extensive damage to crops in states like Florida, Georgia or Idaho.