ORD-2008-069 - Proposed Animal Ordinance Amendment on the Tethering of Dogs

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0 Steven Hopkins said that he is a citizen of Orange County and he has owned dogs all of his life. He asked that there be an exemption for sporting dogs or for homeowners that cannot kennel because most sporting dogs must have daily exercise and must be chained to be in events. He said that putting dogs in kennels will not solve any problems. He thinks that the existing laws should be enforced. Pat Sanford is on the ASAB. She said that she is an animal trainer and she would never tether her dogs because it is not productive in training. She said that for 17 years she did animal investigations for Orange County, and during that time there was a very high number of investigations with tethered animals. She said that it is a human problem and not an animal problem. She thinks that the ordinance needs to pass to help the animals. She understands the sporting dog owners' concerns. She said that she is in support of the ordinance. Jamie Jacobs*is a resident of Orange County and an owner of a pIt bull. She said that she was asked to speak by a friend to share some statistics. She said that her breeder has been breeding pit bulls for over 20 years in the North Carolina mountains, and he was very clear with her about what she needed to do with the dog if she wanted him to become a vicious and dangerous animal, and that was to chain him and leave him alone. If she wished him to become a loving and social animal, then she must provide for him in other ways, which she does. She contains her dog with an Invisible Fence and she takes him for long walks. She said that there is a book sold in pet stores that gives very specific information about this breed, that if they are chained, they will become vicious and dangerous animals. Kris Bergstrand lives in Chapel Hill and was a member of the Tethering Committee and the ASAB. She said that the members learned a lot from the residents of Orange County and they struggled with how to balance the needs of the animals with the rights of the citizens. She said that a number of people think that PETA activists drove the subcommittee to make this recommendation and she disagrees. She is a veterinarian and she cares about the humane. treatment of dogs. However, public safety is very important to her. She said that the subcommittee got feedback from animal control professionals in the state who said that they did not find it to be more work or more costly to have tethering ordinances; they noticed a decrease in dog bites, a decrease in puppies, and a decrease in surrenders. She thinks that the benefits that other jurisdictions in the state have seen from restricted tethering would do well in this County. Susan Kelly lives in Carrboro and she has two dogs, which are tethered because they dig under the fence and they jump the fence. Both of them are spayed. She said that the dogs have a very nice area to live in, and she does not know what her option v✓ould be other than not letting her dogs outside to play together. . Jacky Rosati is a resident of Orange County and she has a dog that lives inside her house. She is in support of this ordinance and emphasized that it is restricting tethering and not an anti - tethering ordinance. She said that she is also here on behalf of .lane Marshall who could not be in attendance. She read a letter from Jane Marshall: "Dear Commissioners, I have been a dog trainer in Orange County for 20 years. One of my areas of expertise is evaluating dogs for aggression and so I am very familiar with what triggers aggression in dogs. Living on a chain deprives a dog of his basic needs and causes high levels of stress and frustration. Frustration is a pre- cursor to aggression. This is a very dangerous type of aggression as the dog is in a highly aroused emotional and hormonal state and will target anything moving nearby. The unfortunate victims of chained dogs are often unsupervised children who wander into the dog's space. Mutilating injuries are usually sustained in these situations.