Westminster Council Gets Tough With Vicious Dogs : Regulations: A new law permits the destruction of dangerous dogs. But the mother of a boy mauled in February says the ordinance should have been drafted sooner.

Nearly two months after two 100-pound Rottweilers mauled a 6-year-old boy, the City Council this week unanimously approved a vicious-dog ordinance that officials believe is the strictest in Orange County.

The new law allows animal control officers to destroy a dog that is declared vicious if the animal is involved in an unprovoked attack that severely injures or kills a person.

The ordinance also requires owners of vicious or potentially dangerous dogs to obtain $200,000 in liability insurance and establishes fines of up to $1,000 for not maintaining such insurance.

“We’ve made the ordinance as strong as we could,” said Councilwoman Joy L. Neugebauer. “It strengthens our animal control officer’s ability to protect the people in our community from vicious and potentially dangerous dogs.”

The ordinance, approved Tuesday, followed public pressure to enact stricter dog laws in hopes of avoiding incidents such as the Feb. 3 attack on Jeffery Kerley. Jeffery was playing with a friend in the street when the dogs escaped from a neighbor’s yard and bit him on the arms, legs, back and buttocks. He received 75 stitches.

Jeffery’s mother, Debra Kerley, applauded the council’s action, but expressed regret that the ordinance came too late to help her son.

“I’m happy that the council took action as fast as it did but it’s still after the fact,” Kerley said. “I wish there was a way we could be more preventive. Even with the new law, a dog can’t be declared vicious until after it attacks someone, so it’s that first person who loses out.”

The ordinance establishes a three-member Potentially Dangerous or Vicious Dog Review Board that will study all reports of dog attacks submitted by the city’s animal control officer. The board will determine whether a dog is vicious or potentially dangerous.

A dog involved in a less serious attack can be labeled “potentially dangerous” and its owner ordered to cage the animal. If the dog continues to show aggressive behavior, it may be ruled vicious by the board. Dog owners can appeal the panel’s decisions in Municipal Court.

The board will consist of a resident, a licensed veterinarian and a certified dog trainer or animal behaviorist. Panel members will be appointed by the City Council to serve two-year terms.

The Rottweilers that attacked Jeffery were returned to their owner after a 10-day quarantine. Debra Kerley said her son’s emotional recovery has been slowed by knowing that the dogs are still across the street.

“His stitches came out three weeks ago so on the outside he’s fine,” Kerley said. “But it still bothers him that the dogs are still there and it bothers me too.”