San Francisco Seeks to Curb Violent Dogs
Following the death of a young boy who was attacked by pit bulls, the city of San Francisco will seek to regulate aggressive dog breeds. Mayor Gavin Newsome says he's had enough of such attacks. Emily Meehan reports.
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In San Francisco, the news has been about violent dogs. A 35-year-old woman was arrested and charged 10 days ago with felony endangerment of a child after her 12-year-old son was brutally attacked and killed by the family's pitbulls. There have been other such violent incidents. Now city officials want to change state law to allow the city to regulate the breeding and care of potentially vicious dogs. From San Francisco, Emily Meehan reports.
EMILY MEEHAN reporting:
Since June 3rd, when Nicholas Faibish was killed by his family's two pitbulls, a number of other violent dog attacks have occurred in the San Francisco Bay area. Two weeks ago, an eight-year-old girl and her mother were badly injured and, in a different incident, a baby was attacked by the family dog--all of this on top of the widely publicized and tragic killing of Diane Whipple in 2001 by her neighbor's dogs. Mayor Gavin Newsom says he's had enough.
Mayor GAVIN NEWSOM (San Francisco): Well, it's remarkable in San Francisco that we believe we have more dogs in this city than we do children. We, frankly, have turned a blind eye on some of the lack of cohabitability between the dog owners and lovers and the children's advocates. And I think this is clearly a wake-up call to do that.
MEEHAN: The mayor's task force of city officials issued recommendations earlier this month on what to do about the problem. First, they want to see all dog bites reported to animal control and, if a dog causes injury, the city wants the owners to be held financially accountable. The task force also recommended penalties for unlicensed breeders, fines for the owners of vicious dogs and that pitbulls, specifically, be registered, spayed and microchipped.
(Soundbite of dogs barking)
MEEHAN: But in order to enact these breed-specific regulations, a change in the state code is necessary. That legislation was introduced earlier this month.
(Soundbite of dogs barking loudly)
MEEHAN: At the San Francisco Animal Control Center there are dozens of violent and abandoned animals.
(Soundbite of dogs barking)
MEEHAN: Roughly 70 percent of them are pitbulls. Carl Friedman is the director of the control center and the director of Mayor Newsom's dog task force.
Mr. CARL FRIEDMAN (Director, San Francisco Animal Control Center): There is just not enough right owners for this particular breed of dog. Yes, I get a lot of people coming in who want to adopt them, but let me tell you, a lot of these people just don't pass our screening.
MEEHAN: The combination of the pitbull's physical force, its aggressive tendencies towards other dogs and its popularity has led the city to consider it a target breed for regulation. Denver, Santa Monica and Miami have already banned pitbulls completely. But, according to Friedman, San Francisco has no intention of attempting an outright ban.
Mr. FRIEDMAN: The bottom line is banning breeds don't work. I could ban pitbulls today and the, you know, dog of choice would be Rottweilers. Then what do we do? Ban Rottweilers? And then maybe Chows? And it seems to change every 15 to 20 years.
MEEHAN: Despite the fact that in the past 15 years pitbulls have been the source of the most dog attacks, there are some in the Bay Area who still feel that it's unfair to blame that one breed. Donna Reynolds is a member of a group called BAD Rap, or Bay Area Dog Lovers Responsible About Pitbulls. She says the problem starts with the owners, not the dogs, and that targeting the dogs is a Band-Aid solution to the problem.
Ms. DONNA REYNOLDS (Bay Area Dog Lovers Responsible About Pitbulls): Right now, in our current climate, people have discovered they can make a lot of money selling pitbulls: pitbulls that are a certain color, pitbulls that are a certain size. And so, they're very quickly mating dogs that don't have good temperaments, that aren't stable, that don't have good genetics, simply because they like how they look.
MEEHAN: San Francisco is one of the more dog-friendly cities in the US, with 30 parks and open spaces where its 120,000-plus dogs can run off leash, including beaches, several forts and the Presidio.
Michelle Cove(ph) and five-year-old Tatiana Hanson-Siegler(ph) go to Baker Beach with their dog, Bunny. Michelle agrees with the city's new proposals and is making sure Tatiana learns some basic dog safety rules.
TATIANA HANSON-SIEGLER (Five-year-old): If a dog's hooked and it's laying down, don't pet it because it might be mean or something, but it looks nice.
MEEHAN: The tolerance that people have traditionally had for dogs in San Francisco is not going away, but there is a definite push for the owners of vicious dogs to be more vigilant so that people can continue to enjoy public spaces without fear.
For NPR News, I'm Emily Meehan in San Francisco.
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