It’s a week for pet projects at the Emporia City Commission.
On Wednesday, commissioners will consider two animal-related proposals. One would raise fees at the animal shelter while the other would broaden the “vicious animal” law to include animals who kill a pet or other domestic animal.
Of the two, the vicious animal proposal has stirred up the most discussion. It was initially suggested by Tricia Segobia of Emporia in October, after a neighbor’s dog named Spike killed a former pet of hers and then a friend’s dog. The second dog was killed just after Spike had been released from the pound.
According to City Attorney Blaise Plummer, the new ordinance would allow an animal to be considered vicious if it killed a pet or domestic animal without provocation while off its own property. Under those circumstances, a judge could order the animal to be destroyed after a hearing.
Plummer said the ordinance would not apply to animals that injure or cripple a pet without killing it.
“It has to kill to go before the court and be euthanized,” he said.
Segobia had also proposed that “dangerous breeds” such as pit bulls be required to be insured and registered with the city. At a recent study session, city commissioners decided not to pursue any breed-specific policies and the draft ordinance does not include any breed restrictions.
The new fees at the animal shelter, if adopted, would follow a plan presented to the commission last month. Under those guidelines:
• Pound fees would be $10 a day for the first offense, but would go up by $10 a day for each additional time the animal had to be impounded. The maximum would be $40 a day.
• A new $30 “surrender fee” would be charged to anyone giving up an animal to the shelter. Presently, there is no charge for this.
• A $10 license fee would be charged for spayed or neutered dogs and cats and a $20 fee for unaltered. The current fees are $3 for spayed or neutered pets and $10 for unaltered ones.
• Adoption fees would go up to $130 for an unaltered dog, $100 for an unaltered cat, $50 for a spayed or neutered dog, $30 for a spayed or neutered cat, $50 for a puppy and $30 for a kitten. The fee is now a flat $20. Puppies would also require a $60 deposit and kittens a $30 deposit, refundable when the animal is spayed or neutered.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the city commission chambers, 518 Mechanic St.
maeandru (anonymous) says...
So, if a known dangerous breed such as the pit bull, which is KNOWN to be used in dog fights, just, oh lets say ,injures or cripples a child, we should not euthanize said vicious animal,? and the parents should bear the burden of providing health care of said child, and not the vicious dog owner? When you speak of a vicious animal killing a COMPANION animal IT IS just as if it were someones child. And IT IS only a matter of time before its a human child. Do some research, look at other cities that already deal with this problem. Several children have been KILLED,or severly disfigured by dogs known to be used for dog fighting, or dogs who have lived at the end of a chain thier entire lives with little human contact. Why do you think some cities have time lengths on how long one is allowed to chain a dog ? If you are already starting to see problems with vicious breeds, you already have a problem that needs to be addressed , and a few simple fines will not correct what has already started. If your city does not correct the overbreeding of dogs, you will have a populist of dogs for the dog fight breeders to use as bait dogs.
December 20, 2006 at 1:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )