The Livingston County Fiscal Court will consider an ordinance putting restrictions on certain dog breeds in the county next month. But Calloway County Humane Society Director Kathy Hodges says the ordinance will likely fall short of protecting county residence from dangerous dogs because no specific breeds are necessarily more threatening than any others.
The ordinance proposal, which will go before the fiscal court July 12, would require a$25 registration fee along with background checks and proof of vaccinations and sterilization. Animals of restricted breeds – American Staffordshire terriers, bull terriers, pitt bulls and Rottweilers – would require implanted identification chips.
The ordinance stipulates that owners of those dogs would be required to purchase$50,000 insurance policies on their animals.
Hodges says a vicious dog ordinance is needed for the sake of public safety, but naming specific breeds can be dangerous.
“Pointing a finger at any particular breed leaves out a lot of dogs that need to be watched,” she said. “It just shouldn’t matter what kind of dog it is.”
Judge-Executive Chris Lasher says the proposed ordinance is not intended to discriminate against particular dog breeds.
Rather, he says, the listed breeds account for almost all of the dog attacks that have occurred in the county.