Louisville ordinance

Stronger limits on pit bulls pondered
Council may get proposal tonight

By Sheldon S. Shafer
sshafer@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

A proposed ordinance designed to make it more difficult to own pit bulls and Rottweilers may be toughened before a vote by the Louisville Metro Council.

Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton, D-5th District, who plans tonight to introduce the ordinance that would require owners of such dogs to keep them restrained at all times and to have $500,000 in liability insurance, said yesterday that she is considering several additional provisions.

And she has the backing of at least five fellow council members, who have agreed to co-sponsor the ordinance -- Leonard Watkins, D-1st; Barbara Shanklin, D-2nd; Mary Woolridge, D-3rd; Jim King, D-10th; and Bob Henderson, D-14th.

"Something has to be done about pit bulls running the street," said Shanklin, who is the council president. "They can pose a dangerous situation."

As originally drafted, the ordinance would require owners of pit bulls and Rottweilers to pay $100 to have the dogs registered with the Metro Department of Animal Services. The proposal also sets rules for fencing, leashing and muzzling the dogs, and requires posting signs alerting the public of a "dangerous dog."

But since filing that draft, Hamilton said, she has considered adding these provisions: barring ownership of a pit bull or Rottweiller in any home with a child under age 18; not allowing more than two pit bulls or Rottweilers per home; and prohibiting any felon from owning one of the dogs. Another possibility is requiring the dogs to be spayed or neutered.

Hamilton said the ordinance will be assigned to the council's government administration committee, which she chairs, for review. She said a public hearing will be held next month, with a full council vote likely in January.

Douglas McGhee, who lives on 42nd Street across an alley from a house that has numerous dogs, including several pit bulls, said he supports the proposed ordinance. "I am afraid (the dogs) will get out," he said of his neighbor's pets. "It's potentially dangerous."

Introduction of the measure follows two fatal pit bull attacks in Louisville in the past two weeks.

A spokesman for the Louisville Kennel Club said yesterday that the group plans to thoroughly review the measure and, if members consider it too restrictive, it may file suit to block enforcement.

Dr. Richard Greathouse, former Jefferson County coroner and a director of the Louisville Kennel Club, said he agrees that "something should be done about pit bulls," dogs that he compared with "guns lying in the street."

Greathouse said he also agrees that pit bulls taken off the owner's property should be muzzled, and that they should be registered with metro government. But he said a requirement that the owners of such dogs have $500,000 in liability insurance "is a little extreme," and he doubted whether many owners would comply with the provision.

Greathouse also said he would be concerned if the ordinance prevented ownership of pit bulls in homes with children under the age of 18.

The key point, he said, is that owners have to be responsible.

One of the toughest pit bull-control laws in the country is in Denver, which in 1989 adopted a measure making it illegal to own an American Staffordshire terrier, a Staffordshire bull terrier or an American pitbull terrier, or any dog that shows physical traits of any of those breeds.

Doug Kelley, Denver's director of animal control, said yesterday that the law, while controversial, was upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court in 1990. He said his department seized about 1,000 dogs last year and about 700 in 2003; the vast majority were pit bulls that were put to sleep, he said. Many of them were strays.

Violation of the Denver ordinance is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or a year in jail.

But Kelley said pit bull owners usually are not penalized if they sign an affidavit that the dog will be transferred to another owner outside the city. The recipient also must sign the affidavit.

Even with the strict law, Kelley said, "There are a lot of pit bulls in Denver."