Dogs
Deserve Better provides these links
to other dog advocacy sites. We hope you find them useful!
Please
e-mail us
if you'd like your site added. Dogs Deserve Better will be doing
a basic check of your site to make sure it is legitimate, and then
we will post your link.
*Disclaimer:
Posting of site does not necessarily mean endorsement of the site.
Chaining Makes Dogs Dangerous
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=9627074&nav=5kZQ
Now here's a different approach - see highlighted quote
ALBANY, GA (WALB) - State law in Georgia defines a vicious dog as any
dog that inflicts severe injury on a human without provocation, but to be
declared vicious, the dog must have bitten people on at least two
occasions.
Some cities don't think the state laws go far enough.
They've enacted stronger local laws to deal with dangerous dogs.
In September, two American bulldogs attacked and killed an Australian
Shepherd in the Indian Oaks Subdivision. The shepherd's owner shot and
killed one of the bulldogs. That incident raised concerns about dog
dangers in Leesburg. Since then, the City Council has put more teeth in
its dogs ordinance to prevent future attacks on humans.
"We said
potentially dangerous dogs would include not just those that attack human
beings but also those that would attack other domestic animals, because
that's a good indication that the dog is fairly dangerous," said Burt
Gregory, Barnes, Nesmith, Edison, and Gregory in Americus.
Albany Humane Society Officials say not enough communities deal with the
issue, they say only about half of Georgia's 159 counties have animal
control officials, leash laws, or ordinances to protect against dangerous
or vicious dogs. "Some of the cities had not taken the steps
Leesburg had taken to update their ordinance and still had very minimal
ordinances on the books," said Gregory.
The Albany City
Commission isn't one of them, in fact Leesburg based its new law on
Albany's ordinance which also goes further than the state law definition
for dangerous and vicious dogs.
"They went as so far as to add
that if a dog is chained then that can be considered a potentially
dangerous dog without there having to be an actual injury or provocation
of injury," said Nathan Davis, Albany City Attorney. They also
regulate enclosures, so dogs don't become enraged. "They set a minimum
size of 200 square feet, the theory being that's maybe large enough that
the dog can get some exercise and not feel so confined and be dangerous,"
said Davis.
In Dougherty County last year alone, there were 67
dog bites cases reported, although none were classified as a vicious
attack.
Leesburg's ordinance will require pet owners to register
their dogs with the city if they bite another domesticated animal making
them a potentially dangerous dog. They could also face fines and
necessary liability insurance.
Marie Belanger
National Area Rep Coordinator
Dogs Deserve Better
www.dogsdeservebetter.org
www.mothersagainstdogchaining.org
http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/donations.html
. |
