SWAN-Elgin

ELGIN — In the wake of a Chihuahua being mauled to death by two pit bulls in May, some local residents want the city to toughen its animal control laws or even consider an outright ban of the breed.

While city leaders ponder what steps to take, suburban Buffalo Grove, the city of Denver, and a Utah-based animal welfare group offer examples of what has been done elsewhere and what costs might be associated with such moves.

Elgin requires that dogs be leashed when not on an owner’s property. An owner can face a $50 fine for an unleashed pet. Elgin’s code also requires vaccinations and fencing, and can require an owner to turn over a dog deemed to be a public danger or if suspected of biting someone.

Buffalo Grove appears to have more bite in its rules. The village has had “dangerous animal” restrictions on its books since 1997, along with specific regulations for those who own pit bulls and Rottweilers (see accompanying story).

“Since 1997, we have had more than two dozen animals declared either ‘potentially dangerous’ that needed to adhere to additional restrictions; or ‘dangerous,’ which required that the animals be removed from the village,” said Brian Sheehan, Buffalo Grove deputy building commissioner/health officer. “I think our ordinance is a proactive approach with an emphasis on owner responsibility.”

The breed-specific regulations came about “after a Rottweiler was purchased by a resident,” Sheehan said. “During that time, there was a lot of news coverage of several dog attacks. This, coupled with the residents’ own research into this and other breeds of dogs, led some neighbors to request that the village take a proactive stance and ban these specific animals.”

According to Sheehan, village staff “looked at what types of restrictions or bans were currently in place across the country and abroad. We also conducted research into the various dog attacks that had occurred to see if there were underlying causes found. During the public hearing and testimony, there was a lot of material brought in and distributed that helped in our research.”

The process encompassed several public hearings and board meetings, and took six to eight months from start to finish, Sheehan said. The restrictions have not been challenged in court, he noted.

That isn’t the case in Denver. The Mile High City banned pit bulls 20 years ago, after dogs mauled a minister and killed a boy in separate attacks.

The state of Colorado passed a law against specific breed bans, in 2004, and Denver temporarily suspended its regulations. The city began to enforce them again in May 2005 after the court system ruled in its favor as a home rule town.

But in late May of this year, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit filed by three former Denver residents who moved out of the city to avoid having their dogs euthanized.

While a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit in March 2008, a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit said the residents could proceed on their claim that Denver’s breed-specific prohibition is irrational.

Published accounts vary, with some claiming that animal control officials in Denver have euthanized between 1,000 and 3,000 pit bulls since 2005. Some reports state that the city has not had any attacks like those that spurred the ban in 1989. Others say the ban has not resulted in a decrease in the number of dog bite incidents.

While Denver has paid to defend its legislation in the court system, the Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society commissioned a recently released study claiming that the costs of enforcing such bans on a national level would exceed $450 million.

The 25-year-old group advances nationwide animal welfare initiatives and works with shelter and rescue groups around the country with the goal of finding homes for pets. It has been in the news for the work it did to rehabilitate the pit bulls that former football star and convicted felon Michael Vick was raising to fight.

An online calculator is offered as part of Best Friends’ aforementioned research on “breed discriminatory legislation.” The research, conducted by Brooklyn-based economist John Dunham & Associates, estimates that a town such as Elgin would have almost 20,000 dogs, with about 1,400 of those “pit bull type dogs.” The annual costs associated with a ban in the city would be more than $130,000, according to the study’s estimates.

“Pit bull bans are enormously expensive and ineffective,” said Ledy VanKavage, senior legislative analyst for Best Friends. “And if breed-discriminatory ordinances are passed, people who love their pets will fight the government’s arbitrary identification of their dog, making them even more difficult to enforce.”

VanKavage, who lives in southern Illinois not far from St. Louis, also noted that it can be difficult to tell the lineage of a mixed breed dog without DNA testing. She also feels the issue is with humans, not any specific dog breed.

“This is America,” she said. “Responsible owners should be allowed to own any dog they choose, and irresponsible owners should be prevented from having dogs.”

© Copyright 2009 Digital Chicago, Inc.

Elgin animal control Officer James Rog takes control of a pit bull following an attack on a small dog and its owner along Gertrude Street in late January 2008. A 53-year-old woman was injured in the attack while trying to defend her 11-year-old, 8-pound dog from the pit bull.
(Courier-News File)