Sioux City Journal

County looking at vicious animal ban

2:02 PM

By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, July 22, 2008

After the Sioux City Council gave first-round approval Monday to more oversight of pit bull ownership in the city, on Tuesday two Woodbury County supervisors said the county needed to pass a similar ordinance.

Supervisor Larry Clausen said he feared the county could become the area where pit bulls and other banned "vicious" pets would end up. Assistant county attorney Loan Hensley said Woodbury County Disaster and Emergency Services director Gary Brown was once asked by the city's Animal Control center to find a rural home for a troublesome animal from the city.

That's an outcome Clausen or board chairman Doug Walish said should not happen.

"I don't want (the county) to be a dumping ground for vicious animals from the city limits," Walish said.

Clausen and Walish instructed Hensley to work with the city attorney's office and to bring an ordinance back to a board meeting in the near future.

Read more of this story Wednesday in the Journal's print edition and online.

Story Comments

Tracey Franco wrote on Jul 23, 2008 12:37 AM:

" A breed ban is NOT the answer. All large breeds can and do cause injuries and worse. I believe there are better solutions than banning the breed. For instance, yes, register them, maybe that way we can get the owners that are irresponsible and those that don't register, spay and neuter should have a stiff fine at the least. This would certainly cut down on the owners who shouldn't own any dog, let alone a strong breed. All this ban will do it punish the people who DO take pet ownership seriously and the people who don't will keep right on doing what they are doing. The answer is stiffer laws regualting the owners, not banning the breed. I cannot believe that the council is voting this through and now apparently the county has caught the media hype as well. This is no different than racial profiling. "

rural_living wrote on Jul 23, 2008 12:05 AM:

" unfortunately, I think they already had their minds made up before they went to meeting........ weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/mutts/blog/2008/07/the_most_aggressive_dog_breeds.html ..... www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html ..... www.forpitssake.org/ ..... www.forpitssake.org/douja.html "

Tim wrote on Jul 22, 2008 11:35 PM:

" Not only will this ordinance pass, it will pass on a unanimous vote. The county will then respond by unanimously passing a similar measure. If a member of the city council or a county supervisor votes against this measure it will likely result in their defeat at election time. The vast majority of the residents of this city can clearly see this issue and understand that given the large number of incidents tied to this one breed, which comprises a very small number of the total dogs registered in the city. They will also see the long term trend of this pattern being repeated in countless other communities, resulting in some of them having already banned this vicious breed. "

pitBULL wrote on Jul 22, 2008 8:08 PM:

" this is an OUTRAGE!!!!!!!as an owner of two very lovely female staffashires i find this very appalling....residents need to stand up to this proposal asap before its too late!!! all dogs bite and can be trained to do so.....i think the council need to register with the residents and get muzzled them darn selves!!!!! and put them out of a job and take them out of this cities limits for this ludacris talk....but im sure if this was aimed at the breed of dog that they owned,THIS WOULDNT HAPPEN!!!! i hope this DOES NOT PASS.... "

poor Iowa wrote on Jul 22, 2008 7:39 PM:

" Maybe the city council members should be put out of city limits, or euthenized, for vicious attacks on the Mayor??????? "