Mobile Explores New Laws
Mobile, AL - After a series of recent dog attacks, -- two involving pit bulls in the same week -- city officials are looking at new dog laws that range from requiring stronger enclosures for dangerous dogs to an outright ban on pit bulls. City Attorney Jim Rossler said he's compiling information on other cities' dangerous dog laws to show council members the range of possible regulations. Councilwoman Connie Hudson believes that reviewing these options is a good start.

The push for stricter laws is being spearheaded by resident Kathy Brown, who has spoken to the council twice this year on the topic. Brown said she first confronted the issue last year, when she received a call from her crying daughter, who had returned home from a walk to find that a pit bull had broken into her screened-in porch and killed her cat. The attack made Brown think about what would have happened if her daughter and grandchildren had been home at the time.

"You don't get bitten by a pit bull, you get mauled," she said.

Brown asked council members to consider the recent Anniston ordinance. The ordinance declares pit bulls as "vicious" and requires: registration, special confinement, hanging "Vicious Dog" signs, $100,000 in liability insurance coverage and forbids the breeding and selling of the dogs. The "vicious" definition also includes any other dog "which because of its size, physical nature or vicious propensity is capable of inflicting serious physical harm or death to humans."

Brown said she likes the law because it allows owners to keep their pit bulls, but it requires them to take pre-emptive measures to keep them constrained.

Related articles:
09/26/08: Fultondale, Alabama Passes Pit Bull Ban