Council to reign in dangerous animals (Baltimore, MD)

[Rene Allegrini]

Council seeks to reign in dangerous animals

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The Baltimore City Council is joining county counterparts in cracking down on “dangerous animals.”

Seeking new restrictions on any animal -- including dogs -- that pose a danger to city residents, councilwoman Agnes Welch (D-9) will introduce a bill Monday requiring pet owners to build stronger cages and use muzzles while walking their pets.

The bill does not single out a specific type of species or breed, instead citing any “dangerous animal” with the “propensity to cause injury.”

The proposed law is similar to a measure proposed by Baltimore County Councilman Vince Gardina -- however his bill specifically targeted American pit bull terriers.

Among the proposed restrictions are requirements that all “dangerous” pets be kept in cages made of mesh wire with a metal roof and that owners walking their pets must muzzle them in addition to using a leash.

Some members of the city council support the measure.

“We’ve had a lot of problems with pit bulls in my district,” said city councilman Mary Pat Clarke.

“I get a lot of complaints about them not being properly restrained or leashed,” she said.
City Council Vice President Robert Curran, who successful lobbied the Dixon administration to beef up the number of city animal inspectors from 14 to 16 this year also expressed support for stricter control of animals.

“In Lauraville we’ve had some dangerous dogs attack other people, and other people’s pets,” he said.

But Joy Freedman, a dog trainer on the city’s Vicious Dog Hearing Board, said that the proposed restrictions are counter productive.

“It would be better to focus on spay and neutering,” she said. “ If you’re forced to have to buy a muzzle and concrete cage -- which is expensive -- we may end up with more loose dogs.”

Freeman said the definition of what constitutes a dangerous pet is also too vague.

“You could have a 6-month-old Chihuahua who barked at someone’s kid, and the dog could be designated dangerous,” she said. "You’re inducing fear in people.”

Council seeks to reign in 'dangerous animals' - Examiner.com

[moz205]

Is it me or do you think since they CAN'T seem to enforce LEASH laws this is an easy way to try to take control. Can they control those muzzle, cage laws better than leash laws?
It drives me nuts when I see an unleashed dog, especially one that has no training or is aggressive, or just plain annoying.

[Rene Allegrini]

As mentioned in the original post. "The proposed restrictions are counter productive." If animal control can't enforce the leash laws with the limited manpower and/or lack of funds, how do they propose to enforce even more restictive laws?

[jlaack]

We have dangerous dog laws here and I think despite their downfalls I would much prefer this legislation than anything breed specific. Typically once a dog is deemed dangerous here the licensing fee is increased significantly over a regular license and there is follow up contact with animal control. There are also standards that need to be met for a dog to be labeled as such--just a barking dog won't be labeled as such.

[Bucky's Mom]

Originally Posted by Rene Allegrini

“You could have a 6-month-old Chihuahua who barked at someone’s kid, and the dog could be designated dangerous,” she said. "You’re inducing fear in people.”

Of course the bigger the dog the bigger the potential damage from a bite - but we all know that SMALL dogs can be dangerous too.

Blame the deed - not the breed

[Casey Jones]

not sure how this works. what constitutes dangerous? barking? growling? as it stands now, if a dog bites someone... that dog is deemed dangerous and usually destroyed. Other than the muzzle, what's the difference? what determines what dog has to wear a muzzle? because it's a pitbull? or rottweiler? isn't that BSL anyway? just seems way to vague.

[jlaack]

Here is the dd legislation in Madison, WI. It doesn't mention breed but deeds. http://www.municode.com/Resources/ga...d=50000&sid=49

While most the dogs that are labeled dd tend to be pitbulls the deed is what constitutes the label. Having read reports of the "deeds" I think most of the dogs fit the label. I don't think any dog has been labeled dangerous without a bite--at least not yet. In most cases the owners are allowed to keep their dogs with restrictions to reduce the likelihood of another incident. I will take this legislation hands down over any BSL.

It was a serious consideration for us and one of the reasons why we moved here. BSL just lost out in favor of Dangerous Dog so I feel safer having my Rottweilers here than someplace that has NO legislation with BSL being repeatedly brought to the table. Here's a good sample article: madison.com

[JonandMichelle]

Subject: ALERT: BALTIMORE COUNTY


The local news channels carried the heated hearing held yesterday afternoon
in Baltimore County.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc....md.co.pitbull
s08oct08,0,760281.story

Of interest, the Baltimore Sun's headline story shows a fireman rescuing a
pit puppy from a row house! Baltimore, Maryland news, jobs, real estate, weather from the Baltimore Sun -- baltimoresun.com

The television news had some interesting snippets. One man spoke and I was
worried what he was about to say as he started, "you pass the junk yard with
the German shephard lunging at the gate, and then you meet a blind person
being led by his seeing eye German shephard. It is not the dog, it is the
use people put them to."

He had me in tears. However, those on the other side of the debate were
quite well spoken, one woman said she didn't go into the lion's den at the
zoo, and she didn't expect the killer animals to be owned by her neighbors.

So, we have to keep the pressure on. Please go to ARC's Paws4Laws Email Advocacy
site, thanks to Jan Cooper and PawVillage, and use the link there for
Baltimore County. Do it today

[Casey Jones]

Thanks for that link JonandMichelle. I've filled out the form and forwarded it to a bunch of other people.

Thanks again

[Casey Jones]

heard this morning on the news that it did not pass. 6-1

[rainstorm]

Originally Posted by Casey Jones

heard this morning on the news that it did not pass. 6-1

I'm glad that it didn't pass.