City outlaws dog breeds
Here we go again, this time in the city of Wapato in the state of Washington, which has banned several breeds of dog -- pit bulls, pit bull mixes, mastiffs, Rottweilers and American bulldogs, attaching a fine of up to $500 for violation of the new ordinance.
As the entry just below this one shows, it's not the breed, but the humans raising a dog that determine it's viciousness. But places like Wapapto aren't researching deeply enough to realize that, and instead are taking what they see as the politically popular approach.
Wapato's City Council members unanimously passed an ordinance Monday that outlaws ownership of those breeds and imposes a $250 fine for the first offense and $500 fines for each subsequent offense. The only exceptions are for trained service dogs and for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizens by the American Kennel Association.
Council members hesitated to act on the proposed ban earlier this month, the Yakima Herald reported, and had been exploring other ways to outlaw "vicious dogs." But support for the ban increased after a dog chased people and cars through town until it was shot and killed by police.
The city, which has no animal control office, has seen two children seriously hurt by dogs in the last four years. Last year, a 4-year-old girl was hospitalized after being mauled by dogs in an alley behind her home. In 2004, a 4-year-old boy nearly lost his arms after being viciously mauled by a pack of stray dogs that invaded his grandmother's yard, just outside the city limits.
Comments
That's cool. As long as they outlaw irresponsible owners and grandmothers who leave young children outside, unsupervised, right? The same way cars are deadly weapons when used incorrectly, so are strong animals with teeth. My cousin fell down the steps once and broke his leg when he wasn't be supervised - should they be forced to put in a ramp and ban stairs? Where is ANYONE'S SENSE OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY??? If anyone has any ideas, besides an internet petition, I am all ears. this craziness has to be stopped. Is anyone doing anything?
Posted by: Marie | June 19, 2008 4:45 PM
I think it is just so stupid to ban certain breeds of dogs just because some irresponsible people decided to raise a vicious dog. What do you think is going to happen now that they banned these breeds of dogs. The same stupid people are going to find a new breed of dog to raise to be vicious, it is never going to end until the owners are stopped, not the breed of dogs. Pretty soon we will not be able to own any large dogs because of stupid pet owners. Why punish dogs for how they were raised? Dogs are not born vivious because of their breed, it is people who choose to make their dogs vicious. That is the true problem.
Posted by: tammy | June 20, 2008 10:30 PM
From reading the news accounts, this situation is clearly not an animal problem. It is a people problem. You can get rid of all the dogs, but you will still have the same irresponsible people. While there is no animal control officer, I assume there is a means of enforcement for rabies vaccine compliance. Is there no county control? There are a number of other options that could be considered by the city leaders: Ban dog chaining; enact a leash law; make micro chipping mandatory for all dogs; make it mandatory for all dogs to be kept indoors; ban ownership of a vicious dog; limit the number of dogs per household except by permit; serious violators can be fined and banned from dog ownership.
It's just common sense, you cannot fix the animal problem without fixing the source of the problem.
Posted by: DAM | June 23, 2008 10:43 PM
Well, I'll never go to that town. The council is purely ignorant. Don't ban the poor, innocent dogs, ban the people who teach them to be that way.
Posted by: Star | June 30, 2008 1:03 PM