Should pet bans be banned?

[Catherine]

You write as a pet lover and someone who has rented to pet owners. A damage deposit is a good idea. Alberta has damage deposits on rental properties for everyone(at least they did when I lived there). We were careful because we wanted our money back. It wasn't just a pet issue. 
Here in Ontario we don't have a damage deposit and tenants can be destructive, again, not a pet issue. A guy who lived above me knocked a hole in the drywall because he was curious to see what was behind it. Another guy got upset about something and kicked a wall in, at 2am. He only stopped because I told him I would call the police. This is a nice area and they were nice guys, but they did stupid things. Again no pets were involved.

I have seen pet damage, but I think people who let their pets wreck a place would probably do other damage.

The only time I rented a furnished place the landlord claimed my cat ruined his new couch and I wrecked the bathroom ceiling.
The damage to the bathroom ceiling was under his bathtub and not near my shower stall. (I no longer rent where the landlord lives upstairs or where it is furnished)
The new couch? I had a friend who was an insurance adjuster who had a talk with the landlord. That type of couch had not been produced in over ten years so it was not new. It looked as good as a well used ten year old couch should look. He thought he could keep my damage deposit because I had a cat and I wouldn't argue with him.

Now we would all take pictures with our cell phones and have proof about how a place looked.