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Decision due on doggone ordinance (Manhattan,
KS)
Decision due on doggone ordinance
Life might not be the same for dogs viewed as dangerous and their owners
after the City Commission approves an ordinance regulating them Tuesday.
The selection of one of three ordinances city staff plans to recommend
follows months of debate about what kinds of dogs pose a danger to the
public and what steps dog owners should take to minimize those risks.
The presenters are Curt Loupe, director of Parks and Recreation, which
oversees the city's animal shelter; assistant city attorney Katharine
Jackson, and management intern Brian Williams.
The three have been members of a Dangerous Dog Task Force formed at
the request of the commission to hammer out several unresolved
issues, the biggest being whether the city should pass
breed-specific legislation declaring a dog "dangerous" because its
breed is judged to have a propensity for violence.
The city considers a dozen breeds of dogs to be potentially
dangerous, with the German Shepherd added to the list under one of
the newly proposed ordinances.
According to Williams and other city staff, task force members —
veterinarians, animal shelter staff, Humane Society and Manhattan
Association of Responsible Canine Ownership representatives and
others — couldn't agree on whether breed-specific legislation was
right for the city. Opinions vary as to whether dogs should be
labeled "dangerous" because of their breed, or whether their actual
behavior and history of violence should be the determining factor.
This also was a sticking point for the commissioners.
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