Amending City's Dangerous Dog Ordinance Lees Summit, MO

[Rene Allegrini]

Bad dog?

City looks to amend dangerous dog ordinance

By Miranda Wycoff
The Journal Staff
Posted: Tuesday, August 28, 2007


The city of Lee's Summit is in the process of amending its dangerous dog ordinance.

A special committee of the Lee's Summit City Council met Thursday morning to discuss amending an ordinance regarding dangerous dogs.

Councilmember Ed Cockrell, committee chairperson said this meeting was the last of several that were initiated to reexamine Chapter 5 of the Code of Ordinances regarding animals.

"Initially, it was whether or not we needed to consider breed specific legislation," Cockrell said. But the breed specific component was "abandoned months ago," he said.

"The community standard was such that we didn't see it was necessary," Cockrell said.

Instead the focus became on what aspects of the current ordinance could improve, he said.

According to the drafted amendment, several aspects were added to the current ordinance and some of the wording was changed.

Definitions were re-worded or added including what the city means by 'under restraint' and 'under supervision.'

Other key components changed in the drafted amendments would make illegal to allow an animal to "run-at-large;" adding a requirement to have dogs defined as dangerous implanted with an identifying microchip; requiring that dogs and cats be spayed or neutered, unless the animal is used for breeding; and adding requirements for the tethering and fencing of dogs.

Cockrell said he thinks the draft of the amended ordinance addresses the behavior on the part of the owners.

"Poor owners have poor behavior and they need an incentive to become more responsible,"

Cockrell said. "The amended recommendation (gives incentives) for good dog ownership."

According to the draft of the amended ordinance, tethering that restricts the dog's freedom of movement to a limited area of space is considered an act of animal abuse unless the tethering is temporary and under supervision.

Tethering is considered temporary if it is no longer than a half-hour at a time or no longer than a total of three hours within a 24-hour period, according to the draft of the amendments.

Requirements for fencing were also added to the ordinance. According to the draft a dog shall not stay in a yard unless it is under supervision or enclosed by a fence or locked pen.

No dogs that have been found to be dangerous dogs would be allowed to be confined by an electric fence or electric collar, the draft states.

The definitions that would classify a dog as dangerous were not changed by the drafted amendments, but the wording was changed so that any dog who meets the characteristics 'may' be classified as dangerous, rather than 'shall' be classified as dangerous.

These characteristics include any dog that has inflicted a severe or fatal injury on a human being, killed a domestic animal without provocation, dogs owned or kept primarily for dog fighting, any dog that has bitten a human being without being provoked or a dog that chases or approaches a person who is not on the dog owner's property in a menacing way, according to the drafted ordinance.

Overall, Cockrell said he thinks the legislation created will fit with Lee's Summit's community standards

"It is a hybrid of what other communities are doing but it still fits Lee's Summit values," Cockrell said.

He said the legislation will probably go in front of the entire City Council in late September.

http://www.lsjournal.com/articles/20...ews/01dogs.txt