Crackdown on Owners of Vicious Dogs : County Puts Bite in Animal Control

Concerned about the inability under current law to prosecute owners of vicious animals, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors adopted a set of animal control ordinances Tuesday that will make it easier to mete out justice to irresponsible pet owners and kennel operators.

In addition to administrative changes that elevate numerous infractions to prosecutable misdemeanors, the new ordinances also authorize the Department of Animal Control to require owners of vicious dogs to buy liability insurance in the amount of $100,000 or post a $35,000 bond.

Sally B. Hazzard, director of the Department of Animal Control, said the new ordinances resulted from a study begun in August, 1985, that reviewed the county’s animal control laws. The report recommended a revision of the old laws to make them more uniform.

“We have learned during the last four years that some of the old regulations were vague, with implied powers. The new ordinances clarify all of that,” Hazzard said.

Hazzard said that changing some infractions to misdemeanors will make it easier to prosecute irresponsible pet owners because the department will now be able to ask judges to punish serious offenders with probation, fines, jail time or a combination of the three.

The major changes in the laws focused on kennels, vicious dogs and wild animals, Hazzard said. For example, the definition of a vicious dog was expanded to include an animal that attacks a person, without biting him.

Under the new ordinance, animal control officials are also authorized to summarily destroy a vicious dog or other animal in repeated violation of county animal control laws. Owners of vicious dogs will also be required to notify the department 10 days before changing ownership, custody or residence of their animals.

“Most of the changes in the vicious dog ordinances have resulted from the recent series of attacks by pit bull terriers,” Hazzard said.

Ordinances regulating kennels were also upgraded to clearly define standards that the county’s approximately 100 kennel owners should follow. Kennels will be required to meet minimum requirements for such things as space, heating, lighting and ventilation.

The most significant change in the laws governing ownership of wild animals is that the county will no longer issue permits for such animals.

Owners of wild animals must obtain permits from the state Department of Fish and Game, which has been responsible for issuing these permits all along. However, the county Animal Control Department will continue to enforce laws designed to protect wild animals.