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2 <br /> 1. Owners and custodians of aggressive dogs maintain a minimum distance—say 25 feet— <br /> from other pets and people. This requirement may be imposed by an Animal Control <br /> Officers on the basis of a reported incident or for"dogs recognized as being aggressive." <br /> 2. Owners and keepers of aggressive dogs be required to muzzle their dog even if the dog <br /> is not declared dangerous when a "dog recognized as being aggressive" lives in <br /> circumstances involving close contact. <br /> Critical Considerations <br /> Attachment III is a memo from the Animal Services Advisory Board Officers regarding Mr. <br /> Williams' concerns and proposal. The memo outlines in detail the reasons the Animal Services <br /> Advisory Board, the Animal Services Director and the Animal Services staff attorney do not <br /> support adding further regulations to the County's Unified Animal Ordinance. <br /> Three primary reasons may be summarized as follows: <br /> 1. Canine aggression absent a bite is already adequately addressed: It is indeed addressed <br /> both by Orange County's Ordinance and state laws for dangerous dogs. Under North <br /> Carolina's General Statues (67-4.1), there is a provision for declaring a dog potentially <br /> dangerous if there is no bite to a person: "Approached a person when not on the <br /> owner's property in a vicious or terrorizing manner in an apparent attitude of attack." <br /> An aggressive dogs that does not bite a person is also addressed by two sections of the <br /> County's Ordinance. Under the dangerous animal section (4-42 (b) (3)), an animal may <br /> be declared potentially dangerous if"it has attempted to bite a person or cause physical <br /> harm through a bite(s)to a person" without being provoked to do so. Under the public <br /> nuisance section of the Ordinance (4-45 (b) (2)), a dog may be deemed a nuisance for <br /> "[h]abitually or repeatedly, without provocation, chasing, snapping at or attacking <br /> pedestrians, bicycles, persons lawfully entering the property to provide a service, other <br /> animals being walked on a leash or vehicles even if the animal never leaves the owner's <br /> property......" <br /> 2. Additional due process requirements: Any restriction imposed on an owned animal <br /> would need to involve some checks and balances on the agent imposing the restriction. <br /> In other words, there would need to be an appeal available to the owner of the animal <br /> required to be muzzled or kept at a distance from others. Given that mechanisms <br /> already exist for addressing aggressive dogs even when they don't bite, this would be <br /> unnecessary and burdensome. <br /> 3. Further restrictions may be perceived as excessive regulations: Orange County already <br /> regulates dangers animals to a greater degree than many and quite possibly most local <br /> jurisdictions in North Carolina. It does so on the basis of the additional requirements <br /> and restrictions for these dogs contained in the County's Ordinance rather than only <br /> relying upon state law. These provisions were subject to considerable discussion during <br /> 2 <br />