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City
Steps up Enforcement of Animal Laws
Via:
Louisville KY Courier-Journal
December 8, 2005
Crystal
Sewell rushed out of her Chase Court home into the cold yesterday
morning to confront a Louisville Metro Police officer and animal
control officer who had come to check on her pets.
"You ain't gonna take my dog. You ain't gonna take my dog,"
she said,
racing to the Chow-mix puppy, chained to the fence without water
or shelter.
Sewell told the officers that her dogs -- the puppy and a pregnant
pit bull mix taken inside only minutes before -- generally are kept
inside. But she was cited for several violations, including failure
to license and inhumane treatment.
Capt. Ann Camp of Metro Animal Services said the temperature at
the time --
about 24 degrees, with a 17-degree wind chill -- was too cold to
leave a dog without shelter.
The citations were among several issued during a special sweep yesterday
in
Portland and western Louisville that aimed to crack down on people
who violate the city's animal laws -- regulations under scrutiny
in recent weeks after two deadly dog attacks.
The thinking was that if pet owners were cited, or saw their neighbors
cited, they would work harder to be responsible, licensing their
pets and ensuring humane conditions, said Jackie Gulbe, spokeswoman
for Metro Animal Services.
The officers also were looking for strays in an effort to avoid
situations such as the one that occurred on Nov. 18, when two unleashed
dogs attacked a 60-year-old man who was walking home from work in
the Parkland neighborhood.
In response to recent attacks, Metro Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton
has proposed a law that would require owners of pit bulls and Rottweilers
to carry $500,000 in liability insurance; require such dogs be kept
in 7-foot tall pens; and require the owners to register them with
Animal Services.
Some have argued that such breed-specific laws are unnecessary and
that the
problem of attacks could be resolved if the city enforced existing
laws.
Animal Services Director Gilles Meloche has said the agency's 13
enforcement
officers aren't enough to enforce existing laws -- let alone Hamilton's
toughened proposal.
But Meloche's department got a hand yesterday, with the special
sweep suggested by officers in the metro police 1st and 2nd divisions.
Maj. Bob Johnson, 1st Division commander, said the idea arose as
officers were discussing "quality-of-life issues" in the
area.
He
said some children have been harassed by dogs as they walk to school,
and
police have received reports of animals that have escaped from yards
and of
dogs that are allowed to run.
"We want the public to feel safe," Johnson said, adding
that he hopes to conduct monthly sweeps in the 1st Division.
Gulbe said it's impossible to tell what effect the sweeps will have.
"It's kind of like throwing a starfish back into the ocean.
You don't know if it will help or not," she said.
Yesterday's six-hour sweep resulted in six people being cited for
a number of violations, and six dogs, including four strays, being
impounded.
Sewell
got to keep her dogs. If convicted, however, her citations could
cost more than $500 in fines, plus court costs and license fees.
And 1st Division Officer Paul Foster said he planned to send a late
watch officer past the home to see if the dogs were chained outside
again.
At
another home on 26th Street, Camp and Animal Services Lt. Nita Matheson
impounded a pit bull after finding it chained outside without water
or shelter. Two other pit bulls in the yard had water and shelter.
Foster
said the dogs' owner had told him recently that they are not licensed.
Camp said that the owner would be cited and that the other dogs
would be confiscated if animal control officers returned and found
them still chained
outside. Later in the day, the dogs' owner surrendered one of the
two remaining dogs to Animal Services, Gulbe said.
Under city law, a dog can't be chained for more than one hour per
day unless
the chain is affixed to a pulley or trolley that slides along a
cable, giving the dog more freedom to run.
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By Joseph Gerth
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