Post by RealPitBull on Feb 6, 2008 13:14:55 GMT -5
Pit Bull Attacks Prompt Richland Code Review
www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992912064017974&ShowArticle_ID=11460502081099413
Committee to Discuss Issue Feb. 26.
BY ERIC K. WARD
Richland County’s animal control rules are lax compared to the city of Columbia’s, but that could change following a few pit bull attacks in Northeast Richland last year.
County Councilwoman Val Hutchinson, who represents the area, says she has asked county staff to look at the county’s animal control ordinance, talk to animal care groups about it and recommend whether it ought to be strengthened.
Hutchinson acted after pit bulls killed a dog and a cat in separate attacks in the Briar Cliffe neighborhood in 2007. Also in Northeast Richland last year, two chained pit bulls broke free and attacked and injured a county animal control officer.
“In suburban neighborhoods it’s an issue,” Hutchinson says, citing safety, noise and sanitation concerns. “It affects a lot of people’s lives.”
Richland County has neither a limit on the number of animals nor restrictions on chaining an animal. File photo
A council committee plans to discuss the issue Feb. 26. Hutchinson says she would like the full council to take it up as well.
Speculation has swirled that Hutchinson will move to ban certain breeds of animals, but she says that is not the case.
The city limits a household to two dogs. And if a dog is tied up in the city, it must be on a restraint at least 10 feet long and no more than 4 feet from the property line. City code also prohibits chaining an animal for more than nine hours.
The county has neither a limit on the number of animals nor restrictions on chaining an animal.
Some say Richland should.
“I think the county should make it illegal to own dogs that have shown a propensity for unprovoked violence in residential areas,” says Philip Yarchuk, a Briar Cliffe resident who says a pit bull killed his cat in July. “Pit bulls are about the only ones that are like that.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recommends that chaining and breeding animals be illegal and that households be limited in the number of animals they can own.
Dogs are social pack animals and leaving one chained causes it to go mad, says Laura Brown, a PETA spokeswoman at the group’s headquarters in Norfolk, Va. “I mean these animals are like a ticking time bomb if they’re chained,” Brown says.
About 100 communities across the country have enacted anti-chaining ordinances because of attacks, she says.
As for pit bulls, they are the most abused breed of dog, Brown says. Because of that fact, and persistent pet overpopulation, PETA advocates banning breeding and limiting the number of animals per household. “We’ve found that that’s the best way to protect the animals,” she says.
www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992912064017974&ShowArticle_ID=11460502081099413
Committee to Discuss Issue Feb. 26.
BY ERIC K. WARD
Richland County’s animal control rules are lax compared to the city of Columbia’s, but that could change following a few pit bull attacks in Northeast Richland last year.
County Councilwoman Val Hutchinson, who represents the area, says she has asked county staff to look at the county’s animal control ordinance, talk to animal care groups about it and recommend whether it ought to be strengthened.
Hutchinson acted after pit bulls killed a dog and a cat in separate attacks in the Briar Cliffe neighborhood in 2007. Also in Northeast Richland last year, two chained pit bulls broke free and attacked and injured a county animal control officer.
“In suburban neighborhoods it’s an issue,” Hutchinson says, citing safety, noise and sanitation concerns. “It affects a lot of people’s lives.”
Richland County has neither a limit on the number of animals nor restrictions on chaining an animal. File photo
A council committee plans to discuss the issue Feb. 26. Hutchinson says she would like the full council to take it up as well.
Speculation has swirled that Hutchinson will move to ban certain breeds of animals, but she says that is not the case.
The city limits a household to two dogs. And if a dog is tied up in the city, it must be on a restraint at least 10 feet long and no more than 4 feet from the property line. City code also prohibits chaining an animal for more than nine hours.
The county has neither a limit on the number of animals nor restrictions on chaining an animal.
Some say Richland should.
“I think the county should make it illegal to own dogs that have shown a propensity for unprovoked violence in residential areas,” says Philip Yarchuk, a Briar Cliffe resident who says a pit bull killed his cat in July. “Pit bulls are about the only ones that are like that.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recommends that chaining and breeding animals be illegal and that households be limited in the number of animals they can own.
Dogs are social pack animals and leaving one chained causes it to go mad, says Laura Brown, a PETA spokeswoman at the group’s headquarters in Norfolk, Va. “I mean these animals are like a ticking time bomb if they’re chained,” Brown says.
About 100 communities across the country have enacted anti-chaining ordinances because of attacks, she says.
As for pit bulls, they are the most abused breed of dog, Brown says. Because of that fact, and persistent pet overpopulation, PETA advocates banning breeding and limiting the number of animals per household. “We’ve found that that’s the best way to protect the animals,” she says.