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Lancaster Passes Mandatory Pit Bull and Rottweiler Sterilization Law

Anti-Gang and Dangerous Dog Law
Lancaster, CA - The City of Lancaster unanimously passed a mandatory sterilization law for pit bulls and rottweilers. The new ordinance is also designed to discourage gangs (and owners of dangerous dogs) by imposing strong penalties on the owners of dogs deemed "potentially dangerous" or "vicious." Under the new law, dogs that act aggressively unprovoked may be considered "potentially dangerous" and required to meet the following conditions:

Chapter 6.04 - Animal Control Regulations
Ownership of Potentially Dangerous Dogs (Section 10.37.130)

  • Proper licensing, micro-chipping and vaccinations
  • Secure on-property confinement, which must be inspected and approved
  • Muzzling and leash restraints when off-property
  • Completion of approved dog obedience course training
  • Mandatory spay or neutering
  • Mandatory liability insurance policy of $300,000
  • All services performed by the City shall be paid prior to the release of the dog, including the costs of the hearing

A dog may be deemed "vicious" if it has been trained for fighting or inflicts injury or death. If so, the vicious dog could be destroyed if deemed a significant threat to the public health, safety and welfare, according to the new ordinance. If the dog is not destroyed, the owner of the vicious dog would adhere to the same conditions of a potentially dangerous dog with more stringent requirements to secure the owner’s property and confine the vicious dog.

Chapter 6.08 - Mandatory Spay Neuter Program
Statistical Reporting (Section 6.08.100)

The new ordinance also includes a vital element that is often forgotten by municipalities. Section 6.08.100 states that the director (of Animal Control) "shall measure the effects of this chapter by compiling statistical information on dog bites. The information shall, at a minimum identify dog bites by severity, the breed of dog involved, whether the dog was altered, and whether the breed of dog was subject to mandatory spay and neutering requirement of this chapter."

Last year, so many loose pit bulls roamed the streets of Lancaster that Mayor R. Rex Parris ordered Los Angeles County Animal Control to implement a Pit Bull Sweep Operation to pick up the potentially dangerous dogs. Combine this with the fact that Lancaster is situated near 5 fatal pit bull attacks in the past 3 years, and it comes as no surprise that the city enacted a breed-specific sterilization law in combination with a tough dangerous dog law.

Related articles:
View More California Cities with Breed-Specific Laws - DogsBite.org

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8 thoughts on “Lancaster Passes Mandatory Pit Bull and Rottweiler Sterilization Law”

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  4. Save suffering pit bulls by curtailing breeding
    ————
    As someone who has spent 25 years rescuing pit bulls from conditions we wouldn’t visit on our worst enemies, I applaud the city of Lancaster’s adoption this week of an ordinance requiring all pit bulls to be spayed or neutered.

    http://www.dailynews.com/editorial/ci_11576438

  6. The stockholders of companies that produce and sell Euthasol aren’t going to like this…

  8. He should run for Governor of California!

    Another good idea: These dogs should be tattooed in the ear and required to have a unique color/shaped license tag on their collar so that any animal control officer, law enforcement officer, or citizen could visually recognize them from a distance as having a "dangerous dog" determination and a muzzle requirement while away from the owner's property. Beside the muzzle, there could be consideration for a body harness requirement. Such a harness would give the immediate possessor a greater capacity to control the dog, as well as giving any by-stander or victim something easier to grap should the dog escape the control of the immediate possessor. The harness could also be designed to have the capacity to carry special written warnings: "DANGEROUS DOG", similiar to messages on the harnesses of police K-9s and service dogs.

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