John Stemple, the city’s chief inspector, said members of the code enforcement team last Thursday learned of an unregistered pit bull tethered in the yard of a home on North Woodbridge near Davenport.
The city now requires owners of five breeds of dog — pit bulls, presa Canarios, Rottweilers, German shepherds and bull mastiffs — to pay a one-time $20 registration fee with the city or face fees. The new ordinance, enacted in July, also forbids owners of any breed of dog from tethering their pets to outdoor objects.
Members of the Saginaw Code Enforcement Neighborhood Improvement Cooperative, or SCENIC, first warned the owner to abide by the new laws, Stemple said.
By Friday, a neighbor informed city officials that the pit bull broke free from its chain tether and was menacing a postal worker, Stemple said.
Both SCENIC and workers with the Saginaw County Animal Care Center responded to the call, but it was a SCENIC worker who spotted the pit bull roaming the neighborhood, Stemple said.
In a display of precise parking, the officer aimed his SCENIC vehicle for the chain the dog was dragging, capturing the broken tether beneath the car’s tire and stopping the animal in a driveway, Stemple said.
Animal control workers then picked up the dog and housed it at the Saginaw County Animal Care Center, 1312 Gratiot, he said.
Stemple said city workers later contacted the owner — who claimed he is only home during late hours of the evening — and arranged to issue him two $100 citations on Wednesday evening.
One citation is for not registering the animal and the other is for tethering the dog.
It’s unclear whether the owner plans to reclaim the pit bull.
City Clerk Diane Herman said owners had registered 515 “dangerous dogs” in the city.
While the law went on the books early last month, officials said they planned to wait to issue citations until after July 31 so the city could establish protocol and provide training for workers who will handle the citations.
(The Saginaw News - August 1, 2011)