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Tethering Committee Report <br />DISCUSSION <br />July 30~', 2007 <br />The Tethering Committee is recommending a tethering 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 atwenty-four-hour period, such an ordinance would reduce the risk of uncontrolled 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 />consistent 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 can be successfully regulated in 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 required by humane investigators to attend to animal <br />complaints. <br />According to interviews with animal services off cials from Catawba County, New Hanover County <br />and the Town of Laurinburg in Scotland County, there were few, if any, unintended adverse <br />impacts. Dogs were not surrendered by their owners, euthanized or just set free as a result of the <br />6 See http://www.helpinganimals.com/ga tetherLe~islation.asp for complete list of jurisdictions with tethering <br />ordinances. <br />~ See Appendix II: North Carolina Counties and Townships with Tethering Ordinances, and Appendix III: Notes from <br />.Interviews with North Carolina Jurisdictions with Tethering Ordnances: Conducted by the Tethering Committee <br />11 <br />