Agenda - 09-22-2008 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3( commented to me that their dogs seem happier and easier to take care of. I hope that Orange County decides to pass a tethering ordinance, you will be making the lives of your residents safer and improving on the lives of many deserving dogs.° Pat Sanford spoke at the last meeting and said that she is a member of the ASAB and she supports this amendment. All of the members of the ASAB are from Orange County. Sandi Coy is the Chairperson of Responsible Dog Owners of the Eastern States. She is also the new CEO of the United Responsible Dog Owners International. She is from Kentucky and was asked by residents of Orange County to come and speak. She said that she came tonight to try and set a few myths to bed. She said that laws of this sort are very difficult to enforce and they tend to give another law on the books that people are not going to follow. It is almost impossible to enforce, especially if there is a short limit for tethering. She said that a lot of the groups that try and start the anti- tethering movement have usually quoted a study done by the CDC, which was done in 1994 and is called, "Which Dogs Bites, aCase-Controlled Study of Risk Factors.° This study was done on dogs that were taken in by Denver Metro Animal Services in 1991, so the study is already 17 years old. She said that the information is probably not still pertinent. Also, there were lots of exclusions in the study. The study started out with 991 dogs, and by the time the exclusions were done, the number was down to 357 dogs. She said that there are many flaws in this study. After this study was done, with all of the flaws, and the authors even said that the study was flawed, the Animal Rights Movement still uses it. She quoted something from the study: "One hundred and sixteen were aggressive when they were approached in their fence. Only 64 of the tethered dogs were aggressive. Our results, however, showed no significant difference in the behavior of dogs chained and those not chained, suggesting that chaining was not likely to have been the result of aggressive behavior." Deanna Rowan is a resident of Orange County. She supports this ordinance amendment. She said that this is not an animal rights agenda issue; it is a humane treatment of dogs' issues. She said that no one wants to take away anyone's right to have dogs and to hunt. The concern is how the dogs are being kept. She said that the first part of her life was spent in Georgia and Alabama where hunting is a way of life, and she had a lot of close friends that had hunting dogs, and none of them were chained or tethered. She said that this is not about the hunters, but about the hundreds of dogs in Orange County that are chained 24/7, exposed to elements, rarely contacted by their owners, and are subjected to abuse and neglect. Kitty Lynn said that she has rescued hundreds of dogs. She said that chained dogs often become aggressive and territorial for a lack of love and nutrition. They will attack children who enter their territory. She read the names of some children that have been killed or injured by dogs all over the United States. She said that more and more communities are passing laws that regulate the practice of tethering animals, and Orange County will not be the first. She read the names of some cities that have done this. She spoke in favor of the ordinance amendment. Phillip Pennell said that his feelings run deep on this issue. He said that, from the list of children read by Ms. Lynn, there were only a few that were killed by tethered dogs. He said that Person County has a dangerous breed law that Orange County needs to have to contain these types of dogs. He said that he has searched and not once has a hound ever inflicted wounds, but they were mostly from dangerous breeds. He brought out a chain to show the County Commissioners what the Orange County law is with aten-foot chain. He said that aten-foot chain would allow 400 square feet of movement, versus 100 square feet with aten-foot pen. He read from the summary from 23