Posted on 11/24/2014 9:59:54 PM PST by Altariel
MOREAUVILLE, La. (KALB News Channel 5) -- A family in Moreauville is pleading with their village to overturn an ordinance that would force them to get rid of their beloved family pet.
On October 13, the village passed an ordinance that states if you own a pit bull or a Rottweiler, you must get rid of it by December 1 or they will take it for "disposition."
News Channel 5's Brooke Buford (Twitter: @brookebuford) has the story.
O'Hara Owens is trying to spend as much time as she can with her beloved pit bull, Zeus, before the village she lives in promises to take him away from her and dispose of him on December 1.
"If anything ever happened to him, I would just shut down," she said.
O'Hara suffers from severe neck problems and has been forced to wear a halo brace and use a wheelchair.
She says Zeus acts as a sort of "therapy dog," providing love and support for her and her other brothers and sisters.
"I can sit here if I'm in pain, he comes and he notices it before I even make any noise," she said.
But, Zeus has been blacklisted as a "vicious" breed in Moreauville.
On October 13, the village voted to ban pit bulls and Rottweilers.
A letter was sent out to owners saying that if they didn't get rid of them by December 1, then they would be taken for "further disposition."
"The breed is not vicious," she said. "It's the owner. It is the way that you raise them."
O'Hara's parents tried to fight the passing of the ordinance at the meeting, but were outnumbered.
They say no one has ever complained about their dog and it has never bitten anyone.
"I asked the question, well what if I don't give you my dog?" said Joanna Armand, O'Hara's mother. "(Chief of Police) Scott Lemoine said they would come and get the dog and the dog would be disposed of and we would be fined."
News Channel 5 reached out to village to hear its side of the story.
Alderman Penn Lemoine said the ordinance was created to appease several residents.
"We had several residents that were complaining about not being able to walk along the neighborhoods because these dogs were basically running along town," Lemoine said in a phone interview.
We asked Lemoine about dog attacks...
"There have been, but I don't think they're documented," he said.
And, if they plan to kill the dogs they collect on December 1...
"I'd rather not elaborate on that," he said.
"Is that what it is? Are you going to kill the dogs?" asked reporter, Brooke Buford.
"If that's what the ordinance says, then that's what it says," Lemoine responded.
Lemoine told us he owns a German Shepard. But, he only considers pit bulls and Rottweilers as "vicious."
He also says what the town is doing is completely legal.
O'Hara Owens and her family say they plan to continue to fight for Zeus.
"Like I told them, they're going to have to take him from my cold, dead hands before they get a hold of him," Owens said.
Alderman Lemoine says if there's a strong enough public outcry about the severity of the ordinance he says he would consider possibly changing it.
The next council meeting is December 8.
If you would like to sign a petition to overturn the ordinance, you can through the family's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/savingzeusybaby?pnref=story
Do you live in Ferguson?
funny thing is, I have another very nice house 80 miles away in a relatively crime free rural setting. If I moved back there, I would have to give up a lot-job, woman, etc. We were over at the local shopping complex (a block away) a few nights ago and, as ususal, a POS junkie came up to us with the ususal BS hard luck story looking for money to buy heroin or meth or whatever. Before he even finished, I told him no and not to come any closer to us. He started swearing loudly at us with his hands hidden under his jacket. I had my hand on my Glock 29. Never a dull moment.
Nope. Toledo, Ohio.
Rottweiler? Those act with how they are raised. A neighbor’s rott, Brutus was very sweet. Took care of it when they went on vacation
Any dog can be like that. And they are not set off without a cause—not necessarily a cause one can see right away.
When dogs meet other dogs, the territorial instinct can kick in without warning, or seemingly so if the signs are not heeded. A dog on a leash feeling territorial will pull hard in an attempt to challenge the unfamiliar dog.
It’s definitely bad owners.
Lots of pits are trained to be territorial and aggressive by drug dealers, too.
I’m inclined to agree with you.
Pit bulls and Rott’s were recognized by British breeders, as unstable dangerous dogs.
Tragedic satistics seems to support the premise:
http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics.php
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2010/10/29/dangerous-dogs.html
I Love dogs.
However, I’ve always wondered why mainstream families would welcome such a highly dangerous breed dog - four legged lawsuit, into their midst?
PS. Very bogus argument posted on this thread comparing opposition to highly dangerous breed dogs, with those wanting to ban guns. Dogs are unpredictable and have a mind of their own. Guns do not.
At 13, my first Dobermann stopped my pedo uncle from ever touching me again.
I’ve had them for 40 years, now because I *owe* them.
Even here, in crime-free Appalachia, we had a “spree”, a couple years ago.
*Everybody* along RT 40 got hit, including my neighbor’s shop, not 30 feet from my house.
They even broke into cars and stole anything worth half a damn.
My unlocked car, with an iPad, 2 iPods and and iPhone went untouched.
Why?
Because late at night, the Dobermanns [whose images are prominently displayed on signs outside] went batsh*t at the window facing the lane.
Several weeks later, the thieves came back to steal what peoples’ insurance companies had replaced.
Odin, the male, growled at the window again so I the opened the front door and let him loose in the yard.
I heard him snarling out behind the house where the motorcycle/machine shop is and then heard the sound of leaves crunching up over the ridge.
Never saw who it was but the dog was really miffed he’d gotten away.
Apparently whoever it was thought they could skirt around and hit us from behind, where the dogs would not see them.
As if.
Oh, and the neighbors got hit again, that night.
People even ‘joked’ that we must have known the perps because they never touched us.
Yeah, right.
Since the dawn of time, dog has protected our homes.
How is it possible to outlaw anything, retroactively?
Some only fight for the right to own the things *they* love.
They never realize it’s ALL connected.
Your dog that protects your home.
Your gun that protects your home.
Your knife that protects your home.
And so it goes.
Eventually, they’ll be outlawing sharp sticks because nothing else will be left.
LOL
Where do you suppose this little girl would be without her dog?
yeah, they do have a way of communicating their concerns to people who come to close to the fence, don’t they?
300 years of breeding not just to fight, but to kill. Sorry, but nice feelings won’t win over 300 years of selective DNA. Those “sweet puppy dogs” hit 2 1/2 years old, and some sort of inner clock detonates inside them.
Yup.
If I had it to do over again, I’d have let Seven, the girl out.
She is totally humorless about strangers.
;D
Do you support a nationwide ban on AR-15 rifles because so many people consider them to be “badass” guns?
Wow.
Ours is six and she hasn’t exploded yet. She must be defective...
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