article re: jail time for irresponsible owners (Ontario)

[Mochasmom]

Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004


Ontario proposes jail time for irresponsible owners of all breeds of dogs

TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario government is considering jail time for owners of all dog breeds that attack, if it is found the pet's owner acted irresponsibly, Attorney General Michael Bryant said Wednesday.
"If you're not caring for your dog, and something very serious happens, you're going to pay the price," Bryant warned dog owners as he entered the weekly government cabinet meeting. "We would give judges the ability to incarcerate people in the event that they were irresponsible dog owners," he said.

"It would obviously (have to) be a particularly extreme case, but that would be for the courts to decide."

Currently, dog owners can be charged under the Criminal Code. Bryant feels the standards for criminal negligence are often too tough to deal with owners who don't control their pets.


"The test for criminal negligence is quite strict, so we looked at other jurisdictions to see if the deterrent of jail time will in fact have an impact," he said.

Bryant promised to toughen legislation "to deal with the rare occasion where there is a perfectly safe breed, but you've got a rogue dog owner who's not taking care of it."

He's also considering doubling the $5,000 maximum fine for irresponsible dog owners.


"Other provinces have $10,000 in fines and include a jail term, and we're looking at that."

Bryant will meet this week with officials from the city of Toronto and the Ontario Association of Municipalities to discuss the impact of a provincewide ban on just one breed of dog, pit bulls.


Bryant said he wants to "get their feedback as to how a ban would affect them," but insisted no final decisions have been made on banning pit bulls completely from Ontario.

"We're obviously looking very closely at it, and we're willing to go further than any other province in Canada has gone to protect Ontarians from the dangers of pit bulls," he said.

"More and more every day we get news about the danger these dogs pose."

Bryant said an attack Monday on a Scarborough teen who had been cutting the grass in a neighbour's backyard where the dogs lived showed him that simply requiring muzzles for the animals would not be enough.

"The latest attack would seem to make the case as to why muzzles in public places just aren't going to be a long-term solution."

The Attorney General said he was confident enforcement of a provincewide ban on pit bulls would not be a problem.

"The experience in Kitchener was that you put in the ban, the pit bull incidents go away. You put in the ban in Winnipeg, the pit bull incidents go away," he said.

"So instead of having a patchwork approach, we're looking at a provincialwide approach.

Bryant said pit bulls already in Ontario when any ban goes into effect would not have to be put down.

"But that doesn't mean that we wouldn't look at restrictions on that dog as well," he warned.



© The Canadian Press, 2004

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Gee, what an idea. Holding the owner responsible.

[groupieindenial]

Originally Posted by Mochasmom

You put in the ban in Winnipeg, the pit bull incidents go away," he said.

Well thats not rocket science. "Ban pits, pit incidences go away" ??? Although, bites alltogether have not decreased studies show.