Breed-specific bans unlikely to affect Alachua County dog owners
By WILL PAFFORD, Alligator Writer
March 25, 2008
Although a new state bill may give local governments the power to ban certain breeds of dogs, local officials say they have not seen evidence that would support banning certain breeds in Alachua County.Florida House Bill 101, which has been proposed in Tallahassee, would lift an 18-year-long restriction banning local governments from prohibiting their residents from owning “dangerous dogs” based on breed.
Florida House Rep. Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, who sponsored the bill, said it just gives local governments the authority to ban certain dogs but does not force them to.
“It gives them a complete arsenal to protect the citizens,” he said. “Whatever authorities want to do, they should have the authority to do it.”
Currently Florida, Texas, California, New York and eight other states do not allow breed-specific legislation.
Gainesville defers to the decisions of the Alachua County Commission for dangerous animal law.
“I personally do not support, just from my own standpoint, banning dogs by breed,” County Commissioner Paula DeLaney said.
DeLaney said while the commission would have the ability to get involved, she has not seen any evidence that certain breeds of dogs are more dangerous than others. In addition, Alachua County already has laws in place to deal with dangerous pets, she said.
Many animal specialists and owners agree that current local laws based on the behavior of individual dogs are more effective in protecting people from danger.
Lin Santerfeit, an investigator for Alachua County Animal Services, said the laws in Alachua County are adequate.
According to the Alachua County Animal Services Ordinance, a dog is considered dangerous when it has attacked a human, injured or killed a companion animal, been used for dog fighting or chased a human unprovoked.
Once a dog is considered dangerous, the dog must wear a collar indicating it is a threat, and the owner must post signs on the property to warn others.
“The law is already there,” said Jude Piccola, president of the Society to Protect Animal Young-Legislation, Education, Enforcement Inc. in Ft. Myers. “Ban the deed, not the breed.”
Piccola said while the bill does not target any specific breed, she is worried it might lead communities to outlaw bigger breeds, like her Doberman pinscher.
City Commissioner Jack Donovan was on the public safety committee two years ago when the city investigated dangerous dogs and proposed rules for dog owners.
Donovan said that most of the time, when evaluating why a dog is dangerous, “owner misbehavior seems to be the first place you go.”
He said he has not seen any data to suggest one breed of dog is more dangerous than another.
Santerfeit also said it is not possible to tell if a dog is dangerous based on its breed.
“There is some really good in every breed, and there is some really bad in every breed,” she said.
However, according to a study conducted by Animal People, an online publication about animals, pit bull terrier is the deadliest breed based on newspaper reports from 1982-2006.
According to a September 2000 study by the Centers for Disease Control, while other breeds have fatally attacked people, rottweilers and pit bulls were responsible for 67 percent of dog bite-related human fatalities in America between 1997 and 1998.
A report published by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded that although it appears pit bulls and rottweilers are more deadly to humans, determining a dog’s breed is usually difficult.
Therefore, even if a ban were passed, it could be difficult to enforce.
Kenneth Phillips is a personal injury lawyer based in Beverly Hills, Calif., who specializes in national dog bite laws.
Phillips said that although the Florida bill would not require any local government to ban dogs by breed, governments that do are addressing the problem shortsightedly.
“It is a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that needs a broader solution,” he said.
Banning a breed of dog to combat dog attacks is like trying to reduce gun crime by banning all Smith & Wesson firearms, he said.
Miami-Dade County is the only Florida county with a breed-specific ban, which prohibits pit bulls. The ban was instituted before local governments were prevented from doing so.
Thurston said he created the bill after a woman complained to her homeowner’s association that she was scared to walk in her neighborhood because of loose dogs.
“You got old ladies afraid to walk around,” he said.
Alachua County resident Jay Jolicouer, who owns a Labrador retriever, said it’s not fair to determine if a dog is dangerous based on its breed or size.
“I’ve been bitten by four dogs,” Jolicouer said, “three poodles and a mutt.”
