Shop LocalWednesday, August 10, 2011
Months of research, planning and debate came to an end Tuesday night when the Fulton City Council voted down a bill containing changes to the city’s animal control ordinance.
After lengthy debate, the bill could not garner the support needed in order to advance to second reading at the council’s next meeting.
Tiffany McBee, a member of the special committee formed by Mayor LeRoy Benton back in April, started off the discussions during the work session by asking council members to keep four things in mind when considering the proposed bill.
Namely, McBee was concerned with accountability for owners, using registration as a way to keep track of animals and promote spaying and neutering and also the issue of chaining and tethering animals for long periods.
Comments
Lang5ton 1 year, 9 months ago
YES!!! Enforce what's in place.
Advocator 1 year, 9 months ago
Yes, enforcement is key. It is my understanding that no charges have been filed or summonses issued for the attack by the two dogs on the postman. Certainly doesn’t appear there is much enforcement of the present ordinance. If the prosecuting attorney does not have the time, will, understanding, or intestinal fortitude to enforce the present ordinance it will be for naught.
I do, however, think there were some positive changes in the proposed ordinance. For the good of all I ask the mayor to get the animal control ordinance committee to continue their work. Just this month a man lost an arm (AZ) and a pregnant women died (CA) in dog attacks so let us not miss this opportunity to put in place an ordinance that could make a difference. Find out what changes are needed so a majority of the council members could vote in favor of it. According to Les Hudson, over 80% of the present ordinance is the same as the proposed one. Maybe incorporating their changes into the present ordinance without throwing the old ordinance out would work. This needs to be a win win situation for everyone.
Committee members talked about educating dog owners. I don’t think you can use threats and heavy handed fines to educate anyone. If you know anything about training (educating) dogs, you should know that these methods do not work. Rewards for things done correctly are the best techniques to get the best results. Make the registration fee onetime of $20.00 if the dog is spayed or neutered, micro-chipped, and a rabies shot up to date. If all three of these requirements are not done for this onetime fee then you must register every year. Which is the greater problem a dog running loose or one that is in his own yard but doesn’t have a license? Should the fines be the same for each? Ask yourselves, how could we set up a fine and registration structure that doesn’t slap the responsible dog owners around.
If the is goal to bring all citizens into the family of responsible pet owners and you want Fulton to be a pet friendly town without dogs running loose and causing other problems, then this proposed ordinance needed to reflect this goal top to bottom.
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