2012/07/25 Council Agenda Packet

to help stop dog attacks, with the focus frequently on banning pit bulls. However, a smarter approach is to examine the statistics in the community, seek citizen input and weigh the factors involved in the attacks. What Factors Are Involved in Severe Attacks? The CSI Impact on Breed- According to Delise, now with the National Canine DiscriminatoryImpact Research Council, the fatal dog attacks that occurred in the Ordinances•• Doggy DNA United States in 2006 had these commonalities: • 97 percent of the owners did not neuter or spay their dogs. • 84 percent of the attacks involved reckless owners— Recently, DNA testing became owners who abused or neglected their dogs, failed to available to determine a dog's contain their dogs or improperly chained their dogs. heritage. These scientific advances • 78 percent of the owners did not maintain their dogs as have impacted breed identifications pets (they were used as guard, breeding or yard dogs). by animal-control wardens, police In lieu of drafting costly breed discriminatory laws, public officers and even veterinarians. lawyers must decide if legislation targeting the If aforementioned factors would be more effective. a city or state has adopted a breed- discriminatory law, the burden of Restrict Reckless Owners from Harboring Dogs proof is on city officials to prove It makes sense to restrict or even ban reckless owners from that a dog is a member of the owning a dog—any breed of dog—because any dog can targeted breed, either through bite. And reckless owners, like reckless drivers, are often preponderance of evidence or in recidivists. Creative public lawyers have already realized some cases—if there are criminal this. penalties—beyond a reasonable doubt. In 2007, the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, passed an ordinance targeting reckless dog owners. St. Paul pet In Kansas City, a man won his owners cited more than once for abusing or neglecting an eight-month legal battle with the city animal can't legally own another pet under the ordinance. to keep his dog,Niko, after DNA The law targets pet owners who train their dogs to fight, testing proved Niko wasn't a pit puppy-mill operators and reckless dog owners. Reckless bull, as the animal-control wardens dog owners can't register a new animal if their dogs are had asserted. Niko was housed at removed twice in a five-year span. City law requires all animal control for the entire eight dogs more than three months old to have a license that months of the court case, at a great costs $50 a year; the cost is reduced to$10 a year if the cost to the town taxpayers. Niko, a animal is spayed or neutered. mixed-breed dog, is now back home after the ordeal. Also in 2007, the city of Tacoma, Washington, created an ordinance regulating"problem pet owners." A person who Breed-discriminatory laws now need commits three or more animalcontrol violations in a 24- to take DNA evidence and its cost month period can be declared a problem pet owner and into account. forced to surrender all of their animals. Encourage a Community-Policing Approach to Animal Control Since Calgary, Alberta, enacted and enforced a new aggressive-dog ordinance, the city has experienced a 56 percent decline in aggressive-dog incidents and a 21 percent decline in biting incidents in just two years. Calgary does not discriminate against particular breeds of dogs but focuses on protecting the public from all aggressive dogs regardless of breed. The city's animal-