LATEST NEWS & UPDATES
- Mobile County Dangerous Dog Law Passes
See the article below but the local version (for Mobile County) of the
Dangerous Dog Bill has passed both house and senate. Rep Fincher sponsored
this one and the state level version which is identical to the Mobile County
version. This should help our state version pass both houses, so please
call your representatives and ask them to support HB 384 which both Rep
Fincher and Ward are pushing for us!
You can read the full bill by opening the attachment (it is a .pdf file)
If you do not know how to contact your legislator, just go to
http://www.legislature.state.al.us and on the left side you can put in your
zip code and it will take you to your legislator's information.
Let's make 2008 the year we make this needed legislation happen!!!
Rea Cord
President
Alabama Humane Federation
www.alabamahumanefederation.org
More From The Press-Register
Legislature passes dangerous-dog bills
Measures sponsored by Rep. Chad Fincher, R-Semmes
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN
Capital Bureau
The Alabama Legislature passed two bills Tuesday allowing Mobile County
voters to decide if they want a law authorizing local officials to declare a
dog dangerous and hold its owners responsible its behavior.
The bills, which the House had approved previously, were passed by the
Senate on Tuesday. They now await the governor's approval.
One bill would allow residents to vote on a local constitutional amendment
to establish a county dangerous-dog law. The second measure includes the
specifics of the proposed law.
Sen. Rusty Glover, R-Semmes, said there have been dog attacks in the
unincorporated areas of Mobile County with little in the law to force owners
to control their animals to "protect innocent children and neighbors."
In 2006, a Semmes man was attacked by two dogs, but the animals were
returned to the owner because there was no law regulating the dogs behavior
in an unincorporated area.
The bills, which would only affect unincorporated portions of Mobile County,
were sponsored by Rep. Chad Fincher, R-Semmes.
If approved by the voters, the measures would allow animal control or other
law enforcement officers to impound dogs at the owners' expense if
authorities consider the animals to be a threat to public safety or if they
believe the dogs were involved in an attack.
The district attorney's office would petition Mobile County District Court
to declare a dog to be a nuisance or dangerous if the animal has "caused
damage to or disturbed the real or personal property of a human being
without provocation."
Dogs, which a court determines to have caused serious physical injury or
death to a person, would be "humanely euthanized."
If a district judge determines a dog that has not hurt a person to be
dangerous and a nuisance, the owner would be required to follow a series of
steps to ensure the animal is restrained when outdoors and that its
dangerous disposition is identified with a tattoo or a microchip injected
into the dog.
The owner also would be required to take out an insurance policy or surety
bond -- at least $100,000 -- and pay an additional annual registration fee
-- to be established by the county.
If dog that has been declared dangerous attacks a person without
provocation, it would be put down and the owner could face up to two years
in prison and a maximum fine of $5,000.
Dog owners could appeal the district court ruling to Mobile County Circuit
Court.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1207127765148770.
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http://update.al.com/adv_al/newsletters/al/subscribe.htm - HB384-intDangerousDog-Statewide.pdf
SB5 94, Dangerous Dog bill was introduced in the Senate today by Sen. Myron
Penn, email myronpenn28@hotmail.com .
This is the same bill as HB 384 introduced in the House by both Rep Chad
Fincher (and his email is emj@alhouse.gov as there is a mistake on the
website - thanks Karen for sharing this) and Rep Cam Ward, email
camjulward@aol.com .
You can read both bills by opening the attachments (.pdf files). I added
the sponsors email addresses so you can send them a thank you note for
introducing this needed legislation on our behalf.
Please ask your own legislator to vote for these bills and if you do not
know how to contact your legislator, just go to
http://www.legislature.state.al.us and on the left side you can put in your
zip code and it will take you to your legislator's information.
We now have this bill being worked in both the House and Senate so let's
make 2008 the year we make this needed legislation happen!!!
HB384-intDangerousDog-Statewide.pdf
SB594-intDangerousDog-Statewide.pdf
Questions or comments? Get in touch with us at:
hselco@bellsouth.net
Mailing Address:
Alabama Humane Federation
c/o Rea Cord
2280 Weldon Road
Tallassee, Alabama 36078