The controversy continues to grow over a pit bull ordinance that was presented to the metro council meeting Tuesday night. It was only scheduled for a first reading, but the new proposed ordinance has already generated so much controversy, e-mail and phone calls to the metro council, that several supporters and protesters showed up at the meeting to voice their concerns. WAVE Investigator Connie Leonard was there.
Talk of a breed specific ordinance had pit bull owners clawing to get to metro council members. "It's not the dog's fault, it's the people!" complained Lauren Claypool, a pit bull owner.
Those against the measure say laws already on the books aren't being enforced. Miranda Waddell told the council bad owners are responsible for the two deaths in Louisville in the last two weeks, not the animals.
"In each case, if these dogs had been handled in a responsible manner, someone may not have died," Waddell said.
But, many metro council members say something has to be done.
"We have a lot of complaints that people cannot just walk down their sidewalk," said Councilman Bob Henderson.
That was the complaint of Louisvillian Connie Ulary, who said in two years' time she's had no luck prosecuting the owner of a pit bull who attacked her.
"The dog is still on Second Street," she said, "living in the same apartment with all the children, and walking up and down the same streets we walk up and down, and I don't feel safe anymore."
Some supporters maintain the law should be breed-specific to pits only, and even support an outright ban.
"They snap because they've been over bred and there's no way even for the responsible owner to know which one of their dogs is going to do this," said Barry Norris.
Ordinance sponsor Cheri Bryant Hamilton says talk of a ban like the ones in Denver, Miami and Cincinnati has come up. "I'm hearing that from several council people, and we're going to look at everything."
One alternative suggested by Dr. Robert Dahlem is a new medical procedure that stops dangerous breeds with strong jaw muscles. "By taking the canine teeth, which are the injury teeth, back, which we do, and rounding off the tips, they cannot do anything more than pinch."
The veterinarian told the council it won't harm the dog and could be a common procedure when dogs are spayed and neutered.
But such altering is something most breeders and owners of show dogs won't support. "Having any kind of breed-specific legislation violates the Constitution," said one opponent.
Others complained that maintaining $500,000 in liability insurance is impossible. "There's not an insurance company in the world that's going to insure me with that," Claypool said.
Council members maintain the ordinance is not a knee-jerk reaction to the two recent deaths. Several council members say they've been researching options for the last year because of complaints in their districts.
They admit Animal Services is already understaffed, and know adding employees must be considered.
They are inviting all opinions from the public and planned to begin setting up dates for public hearings on Monday.