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132 <br />19 <br />Tethering Committee Report July 30et, 2007 <br />The Tctbermg Committee is recommending a taming ordinance because there is good reason to <br />believe limited or controlled tethering can alleviate the harm to animals and hardship to people that <br />can be associated with the practice of tethering. By limiting tethering to a given number of hours <br />within a tweet -four- -hoot period, such an ordinance would reduce the risk ofuncontrolled contact <br />between dogs and people, which. is sometimes responsible for dog attacks and bites, and it could <br />improve or enhance the overall conditions and care of dogs themselves. <br />Experience of Other Jurisdictions <br />The Tethering Committee's recommendation to limit tethering is not without precedent and is <br />consistelt with the efforts of other jurisdictions in North Carolina and beyond to control or prohibit <br />the practice of tethering. These precedents include state laws as well as local ordinances, and <br />together they provide compelling evidence that tethering cam be successfully regulated m a variety <br />of different ways.6 <br />As part of its information gathering, the Committee reviewed tethering ordinances in the North <br />Carolina counties of Catawba, New Hanover and Scotland., along with several North Carolina <br />townships, and interviewed officials in three of those Jurisdictions! The information gathered in <br />this manner indicates that efforts to restrict or prohibit tethering elsewhere in North Carolina have <br />been quite successfuL The ordinances proved to be enforceable, and they appeared to actually <br />reduce rather than increase the time requa+ed by humane investigators to attend to animal <br />complaints. <br />According to interviews with animal services officials from Catawba County, Now Hanover County <br />and the Town of Lauriaburg in Scotland County, there were few, if any, unintended adverse <br />impacts. Dogs were not surrendered by their owners, cethanized or just set fee as a result of the <br />6 See } rJ/www.he eanimals ca®/ t_ ;djaLSislatian.aso foe complete fist ofju dsddims w»h tdha%g <br />ardiaaa= <br />7 See Append x M North Carobna Covatie s and Townships vd& Te&eriag Onfi=cxs, and App =ft III: Notes from <br />k4mviam with North Carolina JurMotions with Tdhermg Ordoanoes: Cmduc ted by the Tdhaft Cammnttm <br />- 11 <br />