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Thursday, December 24, 2009


Putnam County Pit Bull Ordinance Passes; Standing Ovation from Citizens

Community "Win"
Bancroft, WV - Earnest D. Hunter, who carries an old fishing rod to defend himself against dogs in the Putnam County community, was among about 20 Bancroft residents at a County Commission meeting Tuesday to support an ordinance that prohibits pit bulls, mixed-breed pit bulls and any other dogs deemed vicious from running loose. County Commissioners passed the ordinance 2-1 and received a standing ovation from the Bancroft residents.
Congratulations Bancroft residents for taking back your community!
The ordinance requires owners of pit bulls and other dogs deemed vicious to keep the dogs on their property with a six-foot enclosed fence or keep them on a four-foot leash. A vicious dog, as defined in the ordinance, is a pit bull or mixed-breed pit bull or a dog that chases, bites, or attempts to chase or bite, without provocation, a person or another domesticated animal, or exhibits unprovoked aggression. Violators face up to a $1,000 fine for the first offense.
"The owners won't listen," Phillips said. "They don't care."1
"We all like dogs. The problem is we have people not taking care of them," said Bancroft resident Jay Phillips. Residents have tried to talk to the dog owners, he said, but the animals are still let loose. He said the community is terrified of the dogs, and it's only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed. On December 4, Lowell Bowden of Lindside, West Virginia (about 135 miles away) died after suffering a violent attack by loose pit bulls.

1Phillips' comment, "They don't care," nails the issue. Owners of these types of dogs do not care about your safety, your child's safety or that you may be forced to walk with mace and a golf club. They simply do not care.

Related articles:
12/20/09: Son of Rosie Humphreys Starts Campaign to Ban Pit Bulls in Flora
12/09/09: 2009 Fatality: 70-Year Old Dies After Violent Maiming by Pit Bulls
11/20/09: After Fatal Pit Bull Mauling, the City of Prescott Bans Pit Bulls
08/18/09: 2009 Fatality: Infant Killed by Pet Pit Bull in Hardy County

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9 comments:

Blogger cravendesires  |  12/24/2009 2:46 PM  |  Flag  
"Violators face up to a $1,000 fine for the first offense."

awesome news! if more cities/counties would adopt these strict fines for first time offenders, i think there would be an increase in compliance with leash laws.

Anonymous Anonymous  |  12/24/2009 7:50 PM  |  Flag  
I second that! I was once told by a council person that they didn't want fines raised because their "neighbors thought they were too high". Of course! If you like to keep your dogs off leash, you want to keep the fines LOW - just in case. We need these laws in every town in Colorado! Bancroft might just be the smartest town in the nation tonight.

Anonymous FormerAKC  |  12/24/2009 10:13 PM  |  Flag  
The dangerous dog lobby -- the AKC and every imaginable "Responsible Dog Owner" type group -- always steps in to ensure that THIRD WORLD fines are issued to owners of off leash dogs ($10 to $15 dollars max!).

These groups do NOT want dog owners to have ANY responsibility -- "They don't care" about anything else!

http://www.dogsbite.org/blog/2008/07/in-parts-of-pennsylvania-3rd-world-dog.html

Anonymous Anonymous  |  12/25/2009 4:17 AM  |  Flag  
Good to see the failure of the Pit Bull Community to self regulate bite them in the azz.

Anonymous Anonymous  |  12/25/2009 9:36 AM  |  Flag  
Leash laws mean nothing. Any dog can escape his collar. You need slip collars or harnesses to make sure dogs can't escape. A leash law also won't prevent the death of the children of dangerous dog owners.

Anonymous Jenn  |  12/26/2009 6:30 AM  |  Flag  
Hitting the dog owners with as many citations as possible also helps -- get them on public nuisance, no city tags, no rabies tag, no rabies vaccination, running at large, dangerous dog -- whatever ordinance they've broken, get your animal control to cite them. They'll be stuck with $1,000+ in fees and court costs. Many times they'll simply turn the dog over to animal control to avoid owing even more money (due to the restrictions placed on them for their now-declared dangerous dog).

BUT THE KEY IS TO FORCE ANIMAL CONTROL TO DO ITS JOB. There are too many of them who don't want to do the "extra" work of really going after these owners so it's up to us to insist that they deal with these problem animals - and owners.

Anonymous Anonymous  |  12/26/2009 4:31 PM  |  Flag  
If involved in any kind of incident with a dog problem where animal control doesn't do its job, GET AN ATTORNEY TO CONTACT ANIMAL CONTROL AND THEIR BOSS (city council, mayor)

Very often the failure animal control officers think they can push the average citizen around, but when an attorney is documenting them, they start following the law and enforcing the law!

Anonymous Anonymous  |  12/29/2009 8:58 AM  |  Flag  
Citations can only go so far. There is someone on a dogster forum who lives in the UK and has a neighbor who has a pitbull (illegally) and a new baby. The pitbull is known in their neighbor hood to be dangerous, the neighbor has said that the dog has snapped and growled at the baby.
This person is wondering(!) if they should report the dog to animal control/police.
The first person to respond said "NO!" Because of BSL!!!!

HOlY COW!

I wonder if I will be reading about this baby's death on dogsbite in the near future....

But, this community has taken a step in the right direction, now if only every other place can get on the band wagon.

OpenID trigger770  |  5/06/2010 8:17 PM  |  Flag  
Sadly, the pit bull propaganda machine went to work on council members who recently altered the newly passed ordinance and removed the "breed-specific" pit bull language. ONE DAY AFTER they altered the ordinance, a man was attacked by two pit bulls -- the same two pit bulls that inspired the new ordinance!

A man from Putnam County is recovering after two pit bulls attacked him Wednesday Night. The Putnam County Humane Officer tells WSAZ.com two pit bulls attacked a man along Rolland Street in Bancroft. Chief County Humane Officer Jon Davis says the dogs are now in the county's custody and will be put down. The victim is expected to be okay, but he did suffer several lacerations. This attack happened just a day after Putnam County Commissioners made changes to the county's dog ordinance. Back in December, county commissioners approved the ordinance with breed specific language that targeted pit bulls and dogs with a pit bull mix. But on Tuesday, the commission went back and re-wrote the ordinance and took out the breed specific language....Officer Davis also tells WSAZ.com these two pit bulls involved in Wednesday's attack were the same two dogs that led to the ordinance. Davis says these dogs have also attacked a teenager in the area.

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/92971789.html

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