Lowell, MA: City Council delays decision on pit-bull ordinance

Posted on January 15, 2009 by | 2 Comments

http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_11450224

City Council delays decision on pit-bull ordinance

By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com
Posted: 01/14/2009 06:45:10 AM EST

LOWELL — An hour of passionate lobbying from animal advocates convinced the City Council to delay a vote on a proposed pit-bull ordinance last night.

[…] Emanuel Maciel, the president of the Animal Control Officers of Massachusetts and Animal Control Officer for the city of New Bedford said breed-specific laws are too difficult to enforce because there are so many mixed breeds.

“In New Bedford the ordinance does not work,” he said. “You take the dog to the vet and the vet says it is a boxer mix, then what do you do?”

Councilor Rita Mercier admitted that she had been leaning toward approving the ordinance, but the evening’s testimony swayed her.

The Council voted unanimously to delay the vote in order to take representatives from the MSPCA, Humane Society, Lowell Unleashed and others up on their offer to work with the city to formulate an ordinance that will work best for all residents.

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2 responses to “Lowell, MA: City Council delays decision on pit-bull ordinance”

  1. Sandy Rodrigues | January 22, 2009 at 12:00 pm |

    Thank you, Mr. Brunelle. As another responcible family who have wonderful, smart, well behaved pit bulls, I also believe in holding owners accountable for their dog’s actions. If 72 out of 73 pit bulls involved in incidents were not on the leash, it is obviously the human’s disregard for the law and they should be held completely responsible for anything the dog does. Maybe a harsher penalty for the PEOPLE who are breaking the law. A dog can’t be expected to know and follow the law, their human is the law to them.

  2. Amanda N | June 11, 2009 at 5:20 pm |

    This really upsets me. Blame the idiot owners, WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DOGS!!! If i lived there i would most definatly be moving to a new town. NO WAY WOULD I PUT A MUZZLE ON MY DOG BECAUSE OF IRRESPONSIBLE PET OWNERS!!