Sydney Cromwell
Public Safety Committee
The public safety committee discusses changes to the dog ordinance.
As part of an ongoing discussion on aggressive dogs, the public safety committee voted to amend the city's ordinances on tethering pets outdoors at its Aug. 17 meeting.
Many residents were at the meeting to hear the committee's ideas on dog ordinances. Public attention was first drawn by mention of breed-specific legislation (BSL) in the first discussion of vicious dog ordinances. BSL was not brought up by any committee members at the meeting.
Ward 2 Representative Fred Hawkins brought forward several possible ordinance changes that he had discussed with city attorney Mike Kendrick. These included leash laws and ways to punish owners of vicious animals — currently defined as any animal known to have bitten a person.
Kendrick warned against a tiered consequence system of fines and jail time, which had been suggested in the last committee meeting, due to the potential danger of giving a dog multiple chances to attack.
“Dogs don’t need to have more than one bite," Kendrick said.
The committee also discussed the problem of victims being unwilling to file complaints. Kendrick said that in order for police to respond to a dog attack, they must either witness the incident or act upon a formal complaint.
West Homewood resident Ann Haden spoke up to add that she has seen people walking in her neighborhood with golf clubs in hand out of fear of potential attack.
"They’ve heard rumors, and they’re scared to walk around without some form of a weapon,” Haden said. “We need to do something so that neighbors feel safe.”
The committee was unsure how to proceed on toughening the vicious dog ordinance, so it decided to leave that for a later discussion.
However, the committee did decide to add a new restriction to ordinances about leaving dogs tethered outside. The current ordinance states that it is unlawful to leave a dog tethered in inhumane conditions or when there is no adult present, but animal control officer Robbie Bagby Hurst said that "inhumane" is not defined and therefore difficult to enforce.
After batting around several ideas, the committee ultimately recommended the addition of a one-hour time limit for tethering, to allow owners to put dogs outside for short periods without encouraging all-day tethering.
The amendment will go before the full council at its next meeting, and Hawkins said it's possible the issue could return to the public safety committee to discuss further measures.