City considers mandating spaying, neutering of pit bulls,
Chihuahuas
Responding to a spike in local attacks involving pit pulls as
well as an increase in abandoned Chihuahuas, Hollister officials
are working on an ordinance that would require that those breeds be
spayed or neutered.
City considers mandating spaying, neutering of pit bulls, Chihuahuas
Responding to a spike in local attacks involving pit pulls as well as an increase in abandoned Chihuahuas, Hollister officials are working on an ordinance that would require that those breeds be spayed or neutered.
“We’ve had a spate of pit bull attacks where we’ve had dogs attacking dogs, dogs attacking humans and dogs attacking humans and dogs,” said Police Chief Jeff Miller, noting that many of those attacks involved unaltered dogs. “We’ve also had several dangerous dog hearings, predominantly involving pit bulls and pit bull mixes. We need to do something to ensure public safety.”
The Hollister City Council this week authorized City Attorney Stephanie Atigh to draft an ordinance that would mandate the spaying and neutering of pit bulls and Chihuahuas. In 2009, according to Hollister Animal Control, those two breeds accounted for 41 percent of intake services, which includes confiscation, disposal of dead animals, euthanization, surrendering of animals by owners and the pickup of strays.
For the first time in approximately 20 years, animal control recently has had to euthanize un-adopted stray or abandoned Chihuahuas, according to a report presented to the council.
“In the last couple of years there has been an explosion of the pit bull and Chihuahua population,” said Julie Carreiro, Hollister’s animal control supervisor. “People are breeding them and just not being responsible. They’re both real popular dogs, but there are getting to be too many of them.”
The animal shelter works to have animal rescue organizations take in the Chihuahuas, but the sheer number of them makes it difficult to place all of them, resulting in the need for euthanization.
“Shelters are full, too, and rescues are taking more of other types of dogs, so when we have 10 Chihuahuas there’s just no place for them,” Carreiro said. “It’s unfortunate we have to euthanize any of them.”
Many pit bull owners, Carreiro noted, are not properly caring for their dogs, either letting them off a leash or having improper fencing to contain them.
“Most incidents involving pit bulls involve owner irresponsibility,” she said. “Either the dog broke out of a fence or the person was out front with their dog without it being on a leash.”
Spaying and neutering can help reduce the aggressive tendencies of dogs, Carreiro said. However, even if dog owners are willing to have their animals spayed or neutered, the cost can be prohibitive.
“It’s kind of a Catch-22 with the economy being bad,” Carreiro said.
More dog owners are allowing their animals to breed in the hopes that the litter can be sold, while many owners find it hard to pay what can be a $300 bill to spay or neuter a pit bull.
In her report to the council, Atigh said the city recently has experienced “a surge in dog bites and dog attacks arising from dogs running at large.”
“Statistics show that unaltered dogs are more likely to bite than altered dogs” and that more than 90 percent of human fatalities from dog bites were caused by unaltered dogs, she reported.
Since 2008, the city has filed nine petitions to declare dogs dangerous, as permitted by municipal code. Two other dogs were surrendered before the city filed the paperwork to initiate the dangerous dog process, which can involve appeals hearings in superior court. Of the 11 dogs deemed dangerous by the city, 10 of them were pit bulls and 10 of 11 cases involved injuries to adults or injuries to or the death of other domestic animals.
“It has long been known that pit bulls and pit bull mixes can be dangerous dogs,” Miller said. “It seems like the ones that are unaltered are the ones that are more likely to attack or bite.”
In February, for example, animal control officers responded to at least four calls involving pit bulls.
In one incident, officers responded to Recht Street on a report of an attack on a dog and the dog’s owner by a pit bull. The victim was walking his dog on a leash when a loose pit bull confronted and bit him and inflicted mortal wounds to the man’s dog.
Less than two weeks later, on Feb. 19, an at-large pit bull attacked a leashed dog near Monterey and Seventh streets and later that same day another loose pit bull attacked a man in the front yard of his El Toro Drive home. About five hours later, animal control officers responded to another call about a pit bull running lose on Sally Street. When officers chased the dog to its home, they found two other pit bulls tethered to a tree and living in poor conditions.
State law prohibits a city or county from labeling a specific dog as inherently dangerous or vicious, Atigh said, but cities can “take appropriate action aimed at eliminating uncontrolled and irresponsible breeding of animals” such as enacting breed-specific ordinances mandating spay or neutering programs.
The specifics of Hollister’s proposed ordinance have yet to be determined, though similar spay and neuter programs in San Francisco and Lancaster require that dog owners seeking an exemption from the rules must obtain a breeding license, allow the city to inspect the premises where the dog will be kept and allow the city to evaluate the dog. Both ordinances also exempt animals from being spayed or neutered if they are under a certain age, have a high likelihood of being hurt or killed by the process or are a service or show dog.
The ordinances also limit the number of litters per year, set the minimum age at which a female dog may have its first litter and regulate the sale or transfer of unaltered dogs or puppies.
In those other cities, violations of the ordinances are punishable by criminal or administrative citation or civil action. Unrestricted dogs that are impounded may be released to owners only after they have been spayed or neutered.
The dog breed-specific spay and neutering ordinance is expected to come before the city council within the next month.
