Authorities mum on time, method for pit-bull checks

SIOUX CITY -- Authorities charged with seizing Sioux City's unregistered pit bulls won't talk about how and when they plan to make their rounds, especially after one delinquent pet owner challenged them Monday to try to take his dog away.

"I'd like to see them try and come and seize him from me," Gerald Robbins told the Journal after the City Council refused to grant him more time to bring his dog, Bowzer, into compliance.

Of the 559 pit bulls and pit-bull mixes registered and licensed in the city last year after the City Council enacted a ban on the breed, 106 remain without registration and license renewal after this year's March 31 deadline, according to the city clerk's office. Under the city ordinance, those dogs are to be seized and euthanized.

The city sent letters to the owners in December to notify them of the original March 1 deadline to reregister their pets, then granted a 30-day extension because 234 dogs still hadn't been reregistered. Robbins told the council Monday he had received his notice but didn't realize he'd missed the deadline until friends told him about it.

Now, he and other owners who failed to comply with the ordinance can expect a visit from city police and Sioux City Animal Control officers, but Police Capt. Lisa Claeys said Tuesday authorities don't want to give advance notice about when or how dog checks will be made.

"We won't say how we will do that," Claeys said.

Councilman Aaron Rochester, who proposed the ban in 2008, said Tuesday he had not anticipated the measure would mean sending police and Animal Control officers into potentially dangerous situations with irate pet owners. His concern was to cut down on the number of pit bulls and pit-bull mixes running at large, he said.

"You might remember right before we voted on the ban, two pit bulls attacked a mentally challenged boy who was getting off a bus," he said.

Regarding officers' safety in seizing the unlicensed dogs, Rochester said: "They need to do whatever they can to make sure we don't have a problem. I have no clue why people didn't register their dogs."

Mayor Pro Tem Tom Padgett expressed "slight concern" for officers' safety but added: "They have the ability to deal with any situation that comes up. I will be talking to Capt. Claeys and Chief (Doug) Young.about what their plan is now."

Meanwhile, the founder of a local group that places family-friendly pit bulls in out-of-state homes, is outraged at owners' disregard for the city's registration and licensing requirements.

"We've got these people out there that are choosing the death of their dogs in lieu of paying a $10 license fee," Brenda Iwen, founder of Pit Bulls for Justice and chairman of the Animal Control Advisory Committee, said. "And they claim to love their dogs. ... I don't know what else the City Council could do."

BREAKOUT

How many pit bulls?

After the City Council enacted a ban on pit bulls and pit-bull mixes in 2008, 559 dogs grandfathered in under the new law were registered and licensed.

On Tuesday, the city clerk's office reported that 423 pit bulls and mixes had been reregistered and relicensed for 2010 and that 106 had inactive licenses.

That adds up to 529 -- 30 short of the 559 originally registered. Information about the status of those 30 dogs was not available Tuesday.

Authorities mum on time, method for pit-bull checks