IA: No pit bulls in Britt

KIMT News 3 – City council member Dwight Leerar says it’s the town’s way of being proactive.

“It’s one of those stories — you can’t please everybody but you have to try to watch out for everyone, try to be careful,” Leerar said.

American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and Stafford Bull Terriers cannot live in Britt city limits. Despite that, nearly two weeks ago the pit bull discussion came up on the City Council agenda.

“We never knew of any pit bulls in town. If they have them, they were keeping them pretty quiet. Never had any neighbor complaints, but it finally came to our attention, yes there’s possibly some in town,” Leerar said.

Leerar says the goal is to get police to enforce the ordinance better. Animal advocate Sybil Soukup doesn’t agree with targeting a specific breed.

“All it does is continue and perpetuates a bad rap that against a specific breed, including our friends the pit bulls. We prefer a vicious dog ordinance which allows law enforcement officials to label any breed of a dog vicious if it exhibits vicious behaviors in the community,” Soukup said.

Soukup, executive director of the Humane Society of North Iowa, knows the bad rap pit bulls get. When a town bans a breed associated with pit bulls, Soukup makes sure they’re not sending these pets to those communities, along with helping families residing in towns like Britt find their pet a home if it comes down to it.

“First of all, it affects the owners of anybody that has a pit bull because they’re forced to make a decision to give up on my beloved pet that I’ve had how many years or do I move out of town? Those are their choices,” Soukup said.

Soukup says law enforcement would have to test animal DNA to prove the breed, costing around $60. She wants community leaders to consider keeping in mind it’s not necessarily the dog but the owners.

“They are very, very, loyal and affectionate dogs but their loyalty is what gets them in trouble,” Soukup said.

“We want to be proactive; it’s really bad to hear after it happens. You hear these stories about a family saying the dog never showed any aggressiveness,” Leerar said.

In Mason City and Charles City, there isn’t a specific ban in place. If you take your pit bull terrier off your property in Osage, you must muzzle it and leash it.

Minnesota doesn’t allow cities or counties to adopt ordinance against specific dog breeds.

Our KIMT poll showed a majority of you, 86 percent, do not support a ban of certain dog breeds.

By Emily Boster Published: July 27, 2016, 7:03 pm Updated: July 28, 2016, 8:25 am
http://kimt.com/2016/07/27/no-pit-bulls-in-britt/