Sunday, May 10, 2009

Dogs Can Bite!

Recently, a Pit Bull bit a teenage girl pretty severely from what seemed to be an innocent encounter with a friend of hers that recently got this new 9 month old dog. From this incident and past experiences several folks called out to ban the breed of Pit Bulls from Highland Park. First upon hearing this dialog and violence that occurred I struggled with immediate ways we could protect our citizens from this kind of violence and fear.

Banning any specific breed is NOT THE ANSWER. We need to hold the owners responsible as well as educate citizens how to approach strange dogs. Pit Bulls are not wild animals and I have witnessed many of these dogs to be kind and great family pets. I have also witnessed dogs of this breed and dozens of others to be very aggressive and not approachable by humans and/or other animals. I have been bit on more than one occasion and in all instances I could have avoided that confrontation if I had been smarter. Most all dogs I have ever witnessed want to please humans and provide unconditional love to their owners and friends. Also, most dogs, like humans don't like to be touched by strangers until they have a chance to evaluate the individual and be sure they are friend and not foe. I have two Portie's, love my dogs, and fully understand why they call these critters mans best friend.

People should not buy animals to use as weapons against others. If they are bent in that way, they better be sure that they don't cause injury or fear to others in our community. We should deal with this matter of intimidation and violence in any form in a proactive manner. We need to take a strong stance to prevent any offensive behavior in our community.

We are looking at our dangerous animal ordinance and seeing ways we can prevent owners from exposing our citizens to intimidation and violence by using their pets as symbols or soldiers of violence. We need to be sure that consequences of this neglect and misuse of animals is severe and direct. Educating our citizens on how not to approach a strange animal is also important to keep our children and ourselves safe when dealing with pets....

While this discussion is not on our current meeting agenda, staff has been instructed to look for best practices on this matter for presentation to the City Council........Stay Tuned!