Hundreds of Montreal pit bull owners have now received letters giving them four weeks to either find a new home for their dogs or leave Montreal. Most of the owners had applied for permits that would allow them to keep their dogs, but were denied because of incomplete documentation, according to the letters.

Nearly a year after Montreal's city council voted to ban pit bulls, the decision is no less controversial and is causing a new wave of havoc and stress, according to dog owners VICE spoke to.

"Who can reasonably pack up and move out of the city in 28 days?" asks Sophia Banks, whose partner has had their pit bull Cupcake for 10 years. "It's not even like they gave us until October first. They gave us until the middle of September. Who can do that? Who can afford that? We both own businesses in Montreal."

The city's pit bull ban was announced last year after a woman was mauled and killed by a pit bull in Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec—though the breed of the dog has since been called into question.

There are many reasons to be skeptical of pit bull bans. Bans haven't been found to be particularly effective elsewhere, as the incidence of dog bites and attacks tends to stay the same or even rise after breed-specific bans are put in place. The Montreal SPCA even took the city to court, arguing that the ban was discriminatory and based on false assumptions.

So far, everyone VICE got in touch with about the now-infamous letter claims to have complied with every requirement of the application process. With close to a quarter of the applicants having received these notices, it seems either an error was made on the city's side, or the application forms weren't clear.