Marion may ease limits on pitbulls
Staff writer
Marion residents wanting to own pit bulls or a Rottweiler may soon be able to.
Current policy states that dogs are not allowed in the city if they have 51% of one of the breeds.
Such dogs running at large cannot be returned to the owner.
“I don’t think that is right,” police chief Aaron Slater said at Monday’s city council meeting.
Slater proposed allowing dogs of any type to be owned with a provision that vicious dogs not be allowed.
Slater said a pit bull that was nice and should not be placed in the same category as a pit bull classified as vicious.
One concern was whether the city might be liable if it changed the policy and one of these breeds started biting residents.
“If we have a policy, we must enforce it,” Mayor Mike Powers said.
Slater said vicious dogs would still be prohibited.
“My dog is nice, but he can bite someone,” Slater said. He handles the department’s drugsniffing police dog.
Not all dogs can be treated the same way, he said.
“I just don’t want the city to take away dogs from pet owners,” he said.
Pit bulls and Rottweilers can cause more damage than other breeds, Powers said.
He said the city recorded a few dog bites a year.
When a dog is captured for running at large, the animal is checked to make sure it had his rabies shots.
Council member Tim Baxa said that when dogs are seen by veterinarians regularly veterinarians use their expertise to identify whether the dogs are vicious.
Council will consider the policy on the Feb. 2 agenda and is encouraging the public to give opinions.
In other Monday business, the council approved applying for a tourism grant for rhinos that would pay 40%of the cost of adding more rhinos statutes to the city.
Economic Development Director Megan Jones has received 28 pledges from businesses to pay for 60% of the cost for rhinos at the location.