Richard Hinson has heard of one dog too many riding in — and falling off — the back of pickup trucks.
On Wednesday, Hinson asked the Emporia City Commission to ban dogs from the bed of a moving truck. Even the best-trained dogs, he said, can’t compensate for a sudden stop.
“When a vehicle stops, there’s no training to it,” he said. “A dog is going to come off and get hurt.”
Hinson has lived in Emporia for more than 30 years. The issue’s been a sore spot with him for a while, but he didn’t start thinking about a law until recently. After friends started mentioning that they had seen dogs falling out, he decided it was time.
“Human beings have to be seat-belted when they’re in a car, and we treat our animals just like human beings,” he told commissioners. “I’m really concerned about animal safety.”
City law forbids children from riding in the back of a pickup, but currently says nothing about animals.
Commissioners were interested in the issue, but wanted to see more study about how other cities handled it. And Mayor Jim Kessler had doubts about how enforceable it would be.
“I remember my father-in-law,” Kessler said. “That was his thing, his blue heeler in the back of his pickup truck.”
Commissioner Tom Myers pointed out that a driver with a dog might cause a hazard by being overly careful on the road.
“It’s kind of like when you’ve got your kid with you and throw your arm in front of them,” he said. “It might cause the driver to not stop as quickly as they should in some situations and cause an accident that way.”
Imo McCosh of the Humane Society of the Flint Hills said she wanted to see the city go farther and forbid dogs from any open-ended vehicle.
“We have two issues here,” she said. “One is animal cruelty and the other is public safety.”
The Emporia Police Department has one full-time and one part-time animal control officer.
Animal control officer Jon Cavallo said that in a truck with the sides and tailgate up, a well-trained animal should be all right — although if the dog stands on the “truck box” in the back, it could still fall out of a cornering vehicle. Safety harnesses can help, he said.
Cavallo also noted the problem of enforcement.
“Nobody’s going to stop for animal control and that would be a burden on patrol officers,” he said.
Myers said the discussion showed the need for more animal control officers. There should be at least three, he said, not 1 1/2.
“There are parts of the day that are routinely uncovered, because there’s no one to fill that time slot,” he said. “We really need to consider putting those positions back.”
bdprotheroe (anonymous) says...
I like this suggestion. We need to look after our four-legged friends, too.
April 12, 2007 at 2:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )