We reported last July that a group in Savannah had rallied 1000 signatures on a petition seeking breed-specific legislation.
Officials are assuring residents that ‘bully breed’ dogs are not the subject of their foreseeable changes to the current policy.
Savannah City Council is reviewing the dog policy in effort to strengthen Animal Control ordinances. According to Lt. Brenda Boulware of Animal Control, “We want to strengthen ordinances, making owners more responsible.”
After several dog attacks in the area, stricter guidelines on owners of dogs declared dangerous is a community-safety necessity. While the proposed changes to the ordinance is not targeting a breed, it is targeting temperament.
According to Boulware, the misconception that there is one free bite is incorrect. A dog can be classified as dangerous or potentially dangerous after the first bite, or before it bites. The changes to the ordinance would make a court appearance mandatory for owners who are cited for ‘dogs at large’ as well as making failure to register their animal with the city an offense resulting in a citation.
Chatham County (where Savannah is located) has already adopted the proposed changes that Savannah officials are considering. That ordinance can be viewed here.
http://www2.wsav.com/news/2012/sep/25/changes-dog-ordinance-city-council-vote-ar-4626261/
SAVANNAH, GA —
It’s a possible policy change that could affect all Savannah dog owners.
Several dog attacks in the area, including a vicious one in Treat Park last year that left a little boy severely injured, some concerned neighbors in the community have asked for a crack down on certain breeds.
But supporters of the changing city ordinance are more focused on the behavior of the dog, not the breed of the dog.
Savannah City Council is currently reviewing their dog policy, and many of you—our viewers– were worried that they will pass breed specific legislation, targeting “bully breeds” — that is any kind of bull mix, including pit bulls. Lt. Brenda Boulware of Animal Control sets the record straight.
“We want to strengthen Animal Control ordinances, making owners more responsible.”
Fred M. Kray
krisdiaz9
Stop BSL 
Let us all hope that this becomes the trend around the country and the world in response to citizens asking for pit bull bans and/or restrictions.
Pingback: Anonymous
This isn’t the whole story… A group here has been in this fight for a year now. Our City Hall is in the middle of huge scandle and corruption. The mayor put together a panel with a few council members, the Lt of AC, and the two citizens that are pushing for BSL. We have asked to have two experts assigned to this panel and because the citizens who are pushing for BSL are friends of key individuals at City Hall we have been ignored. Our proposed changes to the ordinance was tossed by the City Manager which was force to resign today. All request for documents have been ignored and the logs of them are being sent to the Attorney General tomorrow. To watch the “closed to citizens” workshop on Aug 23rd you will see the truth. The Lt spoke for her bosses to the news which was damage control. They media even stated we were going after the AC which was completely untrue. We have been working with AC to stop all talks of BSL.This is not about dogs to the players pushing for BSL, its about being a community leader. I’ll leave you with a few videos to check out.
The pit bull talks start around the 30 min mark:
http://savannahgovtv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=a6e6948d7c115b7bba95abae5043e3a9
The woman pushing for BSL Cheryl Labon:
The good Rev. Smalls with all the political ties and basically says who gets elected here in Savannah:
These are also the individuals who have been to Atlanta to push their agenda.