In reaction to a recent attack on a pet dog by pit bulls, Dare County has adopted a stricter ordinance that allows animal control to keep dangerous dogs away from the public.
Any dog that seriously bites a person, severely injures a domestic animal that's not on its owner's property or threatens to attack a person who is not on its owner's property now can be considered a potentially dangerous animal by the county health department or the county Dangerous Animal Appeal Board.
"If I have a situation that happens, then I can seize, impound and hold an animal," Denise Lambiotte, director of the Dare County Animal Shelter, said of the ordinance the county Board of Commissioners approved Monday.
A 7-year-old Labrador retriever was killed last month at a home in Kitty Hawk by two pit bulls that got into a fenced-in yard, apparently chased it into the house through its dog door and mauled it.
The police cited the pit bulls' owner for violating the leash law, and animal control picked up the dogs. But when the owner came to retrieve them, under the existing law, Lambiotte had no choice but to return them.
Dare County Attorney Bobby Outten said a copy of the new ordinance has been sent to the county's six towns, some of which have expressed interest in passing similar regulations.
The law requires that once a dog is reported to be potentially dangerous, animal control must investigate and report to the health director. If probable cause is found, the director will notify the owner and direct animal control to seize the animal and hold it until a final determination is made. An owner can challenge the report with the appeal board within three days of notification.
Outten said he is also looking into two types of breed-specific ordinances that have passed legal muster elsewhere. One would allow people to own dog breeds such as pit bulls only under certain restrictions; the other would outright ban them.
The proposals will be presented to the Board of Commissioners, probably at an April meeting, Outten said, and if the board decides to move forward on either one, a public hearing will be scheduled.
Any dog left unmanaged can be dangerous, Lambiotte said.
"It's just that pits can do so much more damage," she said.
Pit bulls have powerful jaws that can lock when biting, and they are bred to attack, she said. Although they can be gentle to toddlers, the high-pitched voices of children and their sudden movements can set off pit bulls' predator y instincts, she said.
Dogs such as Labradors and golden retrievers are popular in Dare County, but the number of pet pit bulls in the county is growing, Lambiotte said. No records are kept of the types of breeds given up by owners, she said. Unwanted pit bulls are essentially doomed, with a few exceptions that are sent to reputable rescue groups.
"The Dare County Animal Shelter does not adopt out pit bulls," she said.
Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com
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pitbulls
I am far from undereducated and underemployed. Plenty of people with degrees and plenty of professionals enjoys these dogs just as much as the next. As for the comments made in the article, no where has it been proven that pitbulls jaws have a locking mechanism. They are made just as any other dog are made. I think it's a shame that pitbulls are singled out. What about the owner? I think it is terrible and completely unjust that I may lose members of my family because of their breed. That's modern day racism to me. Besides what do any of you know about my dogs except to stereotype them and show them how the media portrays them. I am not looking for status, I am looking out for the under dog. No one else is going to do it. I don't think that I should be losing my dog for someone else's irresponsibility. You sure won't be writing our story of disgrace and heartache anytime soon. My animals are very well protected and taken care of. Judge the deed not the breed.
Notwithstanding a rare
Notwithstanding a rare exception, I've never seen or known of any but undereducated and underemployed people owning pit bulls and not because they are such cuddly and loving companions but, rather as status symbols, as legal substitutes for otherwise illegal weapons, for dog fighting, or for some combination of the above. How many people have to be mauled by these creatures before we say enough is enough? Now I'm all for a small, intrusive government and am loath to ask for more regulation but, unlike banning livestock in urban areas because it is unhealthy and a host of other things which are otherwise generally hazardous to our health and well being why is there so much resistance to simply banning pit bulls? Is it because our lawmakers do not live in the sort of neighborhoods where people own these animals and so, being unaffected by them, they do not really care? I'd really like to hear from any pit bull owning doctors or scientists out there.