I found Dog Watch, which is a good site for keeping up with pet related legislation.

Two items leapt out at me, the first being this:

The city council is considering a strict breeding ordinance that could severely impact your ability to breed and show dogs.

Key Points of the Proposed Law:
· Professional animal care permits and annual inspections for anyone involved in breeding animals. A city business license would be required in order to apply for the permit.
· Those who breed without first obtaining a permit will be required to pay a litter fee and furnish the receipt number to pet purchasers who request it.
· Mandatory spay/neuter for all dogs and cats unless owners obtain an annual unaltered animal permit.
· Prohibits owning more than any combination of four dogs and cats unless residents purchase a multiple animal site or kennel permit.
Fee schedules and penalties will be established by the city at a later date.

In typical nanny fashion, the response to pet overpopulation is to legislate fees, licenses and penalties on everyone.

The second article, which is more disturbing, is this one from Maryland:

Hagerstown residents who own pit bulls would have to register them with the Hagerstown Police Department within 60 days or risk losing them under an ordinance Police Chief Arthur Smith on Tuesday asked the Hagerstown City Council to adopt.

Under the proposal, there would be only one 60-day period during which pit bulls could be registered.

At the close of the registration period, pit bulls could not legally be moved into Hagerstown, and unregistered pit bulls already in the city would be illegal.

In both cases, the owners would be required to forfeit the animals to the city, Smith said.

This is also the same type of thing governments do when banning certain guns. Older guns are grand-fathered but must be registered or risk the threat of confiscation. More:

Smith said the registration should be required for pit bulls because the animals are bred to be more vicious than other dogs.

“When it bites, it attacks in a more dangerous way than any other breed. It does not just bite you – it bites you and holds on,” Smith said.

Neither statement is true. Pit bulls are no more dangerous than any other dog as long as the pit bull, and the other dog, are both appropriately socialized. And pit bulls, despite urban legend, do not have the magic power to lock their jaws.

Because pit bulls are fierce, they are the animal of choice for drug dealers, Smith said. The dogs have become one more thing for officers to worry about when they conduct searches, he said.

Smith said that since drug dealers tend not to stay in one place for long, he does not think most dealers would go through the process of registering their dogs.

Since they admit one target of the legislation won’t comply anyway, what’s the point? And even if there is a door-to-door confiscation of pit bulls, drug dealers will switch to another breed (just like dog fighters did in Detroit).

The ordinance would require pit bull owners either to keep the animal indoors or, when outdoors, confined in an enclosed, locked pen with either a top or with all sides at least 6 feet high or muzzled and kept on a leash.

Again, the similarity to gun bans is astonishing. Not a lockbox, but in a pen.

Under the law, a dog owner would have to show proof of current liability insurance in the minimum amount of $50,000 for bodily injury or death of any person.

Now, this is just silly. Any large dog can do damage to anyone. It’s about owner responsibilities not breeds.

I am also remiss in mentioning that I’ve reconsidered my stance on the AKC. I think that it’s up to responsible pet owners to address puppy mills and unethical breeders. In addition, I found this AKC resource that also follows canine legislation.

It seems the AKC is pretty successful at lobbying against Breed Specific Legislation and kudos to them for that. In addition, the AKC has successfully lobbied for many laws in many states that legislate that a dog’s breed can not be a determining factor in deciding if the dog is dangerous.

I now have something else that they will have to take from my cold, dead hands.

Update: Not the face of a killer

Posted in uncategorized on August 6th, 2003 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |