Home › Forums › Open Discussion › awful legislation
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
February 19, 2009 at 1:05 pm #589836
littlebrowndogParticipantTake a look at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5870&year=2009
This bill would direct Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs to kill any loose dog without tags on their collars during certain months of the year. Now I have been a part of the extensive conversations here about off leash dogs and I absolutely do not like them. But there is also a place on this blog for announcing lost dogs and I know we all do our best to help see that they are found. I am a diligent pet owner but there are no tags on my dogs’ collars. Their names and our phone numbers are embroidered on their collars and their tags are on their leashes. That is because we do agility with our dogs and tags on their collars could get caught on the equipment and choke them. And of course they are microchipped. But I know that people have posted here about their lost dogs with no ID on their collars or sometimes no collars at all.
Granted it sounds like this legislation would affect dogs outside of city limits—but does anybody here ever take their dogs to Marymoor Park? Or camping or hiking? Or compete in agility trials, which with only a few exceptions that I know of take place in the country outside of city limits? Or stop at a rest area alongside a rural stretch of highway? Dogs can get terrified by something and take off and there they are, running in the jurisdictions of sheriffs.
This bill is supposed to receive a hearing tomorrow. I have contacted my legislators to ask them to oppose it and telling them of the unintended consequences. I hope you will consider doing the same. Yes I want vicious loose dogs to somehow be controlled, but I don’t want my innocent lost pets to be killed.
February 19, 2009 at 3:55 pm #658487
CMParticipantLBD, this is only an amendment to an existing law. This has beenon the books for years, and this amendment is removing the responsibility of the dog owner to kill their own dogs if the dog kills livestock.
Not supporting the bill, just clarifying.
February 19, 2009 at 9:30 pm #658488
JoBParticipantif this is an existing law, something needs to be done about it…
i know it is designed to stop loose dogs from harassing livestock… but it appears to be unnecessarily discriminatory towards dogs who may not be causing any problems but for whatever reason are no longer wearing their collar.
February 19, 2009 at 11:40 pm #658489
alki_2008ParticipantLooks like the original text included “which shall be found killing any domestic animal” and that text wasn’t carried through to the revised bill? The revised bill sounds like sheriffs have the “duty” to kill any roaming dog that doesn’t have a tag.
Seems overly harsh and open-ended, IMO. Does it mean the sheriff should kill the dog right there on the spot…or that they should try to catch it, take it to animal control, and then euthanize it? If the sheriff beats it with a shovel, then does this bill imply that’s okay? And what if the “metal identification tag” isn’t noticeable to the sheriff…like some of those sewn in ones? Heck, what if the ID tag is plastic?!
Something with as dire of consequences (ie, dead dog) as this bill should have a bit more detail.
Just my 2 cents.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.