Mayor Mickey Thompson said the incident could have as easily happened here.
“It is unfortunate,” he said. “But I’m afraid it will continue to happen unless governments and those charged with making the laws have the courage to take action on some of these things.”
A council vote of three in favor and four opposing killed the ordinance which would have allowed people to keep and register pit bulls they already owned, but banned owners from acquiring new pit bulls. People moving into the city would be banned from obtaining or bringing in pit bulls.
Those already in the city would have to be registered with the Douglas County Animal Control, with the owner paying a registration fee and showing proof of $300,000 in liability insurance he would be required to carry to cover bodily injury or damages the dog might cause.
There were also confinement stipulations and a requirement that pit bulls be muzzled in public.
While the ordinance did not pass, Thompson said he would expect similar requirements in a dangerous dog ordinance to which he appointed an ad hoc committee to draft.
Council members LaShun Burr-Danley, Terry Miller and Larry Yockey were appointed to the committee. They, along with Councilman Sam Davis, opposed the pit bull ban.
Speaking to the committee at Monday night’s council meeting, Thompson said that the ordinance must include identification of pure and mixed breed dogs which have statistically been found to cause injury to other animals and people.
Again, he pushed for the registration and insurance components the previous ordinance required and added a training requirement he said the committee could not omit.
“I also want to make it clear that the proposed ordinance must include mandatory registration of such dogs and that their owners must show proof of appropriate insurance and completion of appropriate owner training in order for said dogs to be able to live within the city of Douglasville,” Thompson said.
He vowed to veto any dangerous dog ordinance adopted by the council that didn’t include those provisions.
The committee will report back to the full council on Oct. 28.
THANK YOU, some one is finally making sense as numbers dont lie!!!
American Temperament Test Society, Inc.:
Passing Rates by dog breed:
COCKER SPANIEL 81.9% passed
SHIH TZU 78% passed
COLLIE 79.7% passed
CHOW CHOW 71.4% passed
GOLDEN RETRIEVER 84.6% passed
AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER 86% passed
AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER 83.9% passed
Diane
There are 32 breeds of dogs that are commonly misidentified as "pit bull types". BSL has NOT worked anywhere and has proven to be extremely costly to boot. There is not a single professional organization that agrees with it.
Discrimination and profiling based only on LOOKS is not the way to go. Look to Calgary's animal by-laws. It is the ONLY city in North America where dog bites and attacks have steadily decreased and it's law are FAIR and Just to ALL citizens. Calgary makes individual owners accountable with severe penalties and animal control pays for itself and is NOT a drain on city taxpayers.
Seems like SOME have actually done their homework and YOU should also. Witch Hunts are NOT the way to go.