CALIFORNIA -- Riverside County should not need another case of injury or death before addressing the danger from vicious dog attacks. The Board of Supervisors should adopt an ordinance that would help lessen the likelihood of mauling by aggressive dogs, and prompt more responsible behavior by pet owners.
The board is slated to discuss the proposed ordinance on Tuesday, and plans to hold a public hearing on the issue on Oct. 8. Supervisors in April asked county staff to draft new rules on pit bulls, after a series of violent attacks on county residents by such dogs. The ordinance would require sterilization of pit bulls and pit bull mixes that are at least four months old. The rules would allow exceptions for registered breeders, dogs that law enforcement uses, and dogs too sick to be sterilized. The county would enforce the ordinance through dog licensing requirements and through routine animal control efforts. The rules would only apply in unincorporated areas.
Riverside County has solid reasons for concern. So far this year, the breed has been responsible for mauling an 87-year Jurupa Valley woman in January, killing a 91-year-old woman in Hemet in February, injuring a 76-year-old San Jacinto woman in March, attacking a 57-year-old Hemet woman in April, hospitalizing a 15-year-old Corona girl in May and mauling a Riverside woman this month.
Reliable statistics about dog attacks by specific breeds are scarce, but six serious attacks in less than a year is a disturbing record of carnage.
Any dog can bite, but pit bulls’ powerful jaws make their attacks more dangerous than those of most other breeds. Pit bulls also fill the county’s animal shelters. County officials say the breed accounts for one-fifth of the dogs the county impounds, but they often go unadopted — which is why pit bulls make up 30 percent of the dogs euthanized by the county.
Rules such as Riverside County proposes can help reduce the number of dog bites and ease strains on shelters. Research from the Centers for Disease Control suggests that unaltered dogs are more than 2.5 times as likely to bite than neutered dogs, and that unfixed male dogs account for about three-fourths of dog bite incidents.
Such rules can work. San Bernardino County approved a similar ordinance in 2010, and dog bites for all breeds declined by more than 19 percent the following year. San Francisco adopted a spay and neuter ordinance for pit bulls in 2006, and in the following 18 months, the number of pit bulls in shelters dropped by 21 percent, while pit bull euthanizations decreased by nearly one-fourth.
Pit bull advocates say the breed is unfairly stigmatized by sensational news reports and irresponsible owners. Fair enough — but the frequency of attacks just this year suggests that careless pit bull owners and vicious dogs are far too numerous. And cracking down on pet owners after an attack is not an acceptable substitute for steps to prevent injury or death.
Besides, the county is not proposing to ban the breed, but merely to require sterilization — with reasonable exceptions for legitimate cases. Given that spaying and neutering can reduce aggressiveness and cut down on the number of unwanted animals that die in animal shelters each year, sterilizing pets is good policy, regardless of the breed.
Most dogs are no threat, of course, and no ordinance can stop all dog attacks. But the county has clear evidence of the danger from some dogs — and of the need to help protect area residents from those animals.
(Press Enterprise - Sept 22, 2013)
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