Dogs with violent histories may be euthanized
Morgan Hill – Vicious dogs that nearly kill other animals could face being euthanized by the city, and their classification as a “dangerous dog” could be raised as the Morgan Hill City Council approved a recommendation to toughen the city’s ordinance dealing with these dogs.
In a unanimous vote Wednesday night, council members acted on a recommendation from the Public Safety and Community Services Committee to strengthen the city’s current “dangerous dog” ordinance.
City staff and City Attorney Janet Kern will develop an expanded ordinance to bring back to the council for approval.
The committee recommended making it easier for a dangerous dog to be euthanized.
The other provision the committee recommended to be added to the ordinance is that certain convicted felons or people who have owned dangerous dogs in the past would be forbidden from owning dogs.
There have been many incidents involving dog attacks in the past two years. In August 2005, MHPD Officer Mike Nelsen was forced to shoot a pit bull that charged him after reportedly escaping from its yard and charging a neighbor. In November 2005, another officer shot a pit bull at a home on E. Main Avenue after it escaped from its backyard enclosure and, with another pit bull from the same home, attacked a dog walked by its owner down the street in front of the residence. The same dogs attacked a woman earlier in the year.
In July 2006, two teenagers were injured trying to rescue the family cat from an attack by two pit bulls that entered their home. In August 2006, a pit bull nearly killed a Lhasa Apso after it came into the home of the other dog through a pet door and attacked it.
Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming said the committee at first considered focusing on a breed, but rejected the idea.
The committee’s recommendation, he told council members, is to “tighten up” the current ordinance. What they would like to see, he said, is “lowering the threshold” of a level 3 dog; in other words, the cat and the Lhasa Apso that were nearly killed by the pit bulls, had they died instead, could have been the reason the dogs that attacked them were declared level 3 dogs and therefore euthanized. Because the two animals survived the attacks, the dogs were classified as level 2.
According to the city’s current municipal code, if a dog has been designated a “level-one potentially dangerous dog,” it must be restrained by a physical device or structure when outside the owner’s home that prevents it from getting off of the property. When off the property, the level-one dog must be on a leash under the control of someone who is at least 18 years old and is physically able to control the animal.
A dog determined to be “level two” has even more restrictions. When off the owner’s property, the dog must be securely muzzled and leashed and must be in harness rather than wearing a collar. The leash cannot be longer than three feet and the leash cannot be attached at any time to an inanimate object, such as a building, tree or post. The person holding the leash must be 18 years old and physically able to control the dog.
While on the property, a level-two dog must be either inside the owner’s home or in a building or secure enclosure, with secure sides and top. It must be locked with a key or combination lock. The ordinance even specifies the depth that the sides are imbedded in the ground, not less than two feet, and the height of the fence surrounding the enclosure, not less than six feet.
Cumming said that even with a strengthened ordinance, there would be the possibility of appeal by the owner before the dog is euthanized.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@mo*************.com.
