Backing for Tough Leash Law Withdrawn

Pressed by dog owners who let their animals run free in Laurel Canyon Park, the Los Angeles Animal Regulation Commission on Monday withdrew its support for the inclusion of tougher penalties for leash-law violations in a proposed package of city laws to crack down on dangerous dogs.

The proposal, which will be considered by the City Council early next year, would allow the city to revoke a dog license if there are two violations in a year--with any impoundment of the dog or issuance of a citation to its owner counting as a violation.

Repeat violators could, therefore, be required to give up their pets or face misdemeanor prosecution for maintaining a pet without a license.

Under the current law, leash-law violations are treated as infractions subject to $46 fines.

City animal-regulation officials said tougher penalties are essential to prevent dog attacks on humans because most dog bites are caused by free-roaming dogs.

Sparked by Attack

The proposal grew out of the mauling of a grandmother and two small children by an unleashed pit bull in Sylmar last year, but has become caught up in an ongoing dispute between animal-control officers and dog owners at Laurel Canyon Park, in the Santa Monica Mountains above Studio City.

“Our only concern is to prevent bites before they occur and we believe a tough leash law will help us achieve that goal,” said Michael Burns, district supervisor for the Department of Animal Regulation.

In September, the Board of Animal Regulation Commissioners went along with that theory, voting in favor of making the tougher leash-law penalties a part of the dangerous-dog package. Other parts of that proposal would allow the impoundment of any dog that has attacked someone or that has been judged dangerous.

Commissioner Arthur L. Margolis later asked for reconsideration of the part of the package dealing with the leash law, and the commission held a new hearing on the issue Wednesday.

At the hearing, opposition was led by leaders of ParkWatch, a group whose members frequently use Laurel Canyon Park. They said they feared that the tougher leash-law rules would be used against them to raise the stakes in the yearlong department crackdown on people who let their dogs run free in the park.

Burns denied that was the intent.

“You have to trust us,” he told the commissioners. “We are not out there trying to be vindictive.”

But Margolis said he believes the tougher penalty would give animal-control officers too much power and could be abused.

Commission Vice President Martin B. Hochman said the proposal was made with too little information and should be considered separately from the dangerous-dog problem.

With one member absent, the commission voted 4 to 0 against adoption of the tougher penalties.

Robert I. Rush, general manager of the Department of Animal Regulation, said he would still recommend that the City Council enact the tougher penalties when it takes up the dangerous-dog proposal early next year.

“The leash law is critical,” Rush said. “I’ve got to press on.”