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
“Are they adopting Nazi methods of determining “breeds”? If an animal is only half Doberman or Pitbull, does that make it equivalent to a “full” bred animal?”
Yes and very few people are capable of truly assessing a dog’s actual breed[s].
Most lab mixes are mistaken for Pits, as are other broad-skulled breeds.
I have seen things claimed as “Dobermann mix” that were absolutely laughable.
They are not the only black and tan dog on earth.
Pack of Chihuahuas attack Fremont cop
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Pack-of-Chihuahuas-attack-Fremont-cop-2585196.php
I just saw a lady who was at least in her 70s with a boxer in her car at Safeway today
Cool...:)
This was the first “black” Boxer I’ve ever seen.
Technically, it was a reverse brindle because Boxers lack the gene for the color black but she was *gorgeous*.
Her person was messing with leaves in the yard and she was standing nearby, in a perfect show stack.
Great conformation.
Very elegant girl.
I might stop in one day an talk dogs with him.
Imagine how you’d feel if you knew your poor, loving, loyal dog was -ill- and you killed him for it.
I cannot imagine a bigger betrayal than that.
Listen to this song then go cry your guts out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGnPj-Ty2Ew
The first dog you picked was American Pit Bull Terrier. It took you 0 seconds, and 1 attempt to find the Pit.
;^)
That is derived from extremely old, universal legends.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/defender/babysave.asp
You should hire yourself out to shelters.
Think of all the dogs you could save.
:)
Did I claim it was true? It's just a song. And I don't give snopes any traffic, ever.
I was not implying anything bad.
I just thought you might enjoy the history behind it.
I first read it as a Welsh legend.
Snopes may suck but they had the best list of all legends involving that, sometimes it was not even a dog and wolf.
Unfortunately, I cannot copy and paste the list of variants from Snopes so you don’t have to go there to read it.
It is really a fascinating and powerful universal tale.
Some things need to be banned.
Comparing firearms and dogs is quite a stretch.
I will support a ban on AR-15s when they begin to run amok and attack people unprovoked.
If your normally docile AR-15 suddenly jumped up and shot itself at your 3 year old nephew, wouldn’t you get rid of it?
>>> We have one of those little yappers. Best burglar alarm there is. Damned thing has taught the bird to bark too. You get both of them going at the same time, and you can’t hear yourself think.
LOL! Please post video of that, if you have it!
Years ago, one coworker dropped by the home of another, a fellow who lived out in the country. The visitor let himself into the house. He got the heebie jeebies, tho, when his attempts to hail his friend were met only with a voice calling out “I love you” from the direction of one room. He up and left.
The disembodied voice turned out to be that of the family’s parakeet.
It’s really not so much of a bark, but a squawk. Every time the dog barks though, you get a squawk along with it, at the top of it’s little lungs. Annoying, but effective.
Are you saying your woman wants to live there? I can think of a lot of things rather than living in that awful neighborhood. How about selling both of your houses and finding another neighborhood closer to your job? I’d be looking today.
That is for certain.
I can think of a lot of things rather than living in that awful neighborhood.
It's not the neighborhood. The neighborhood is decent enough. It's the surrounding neighborhoods and the city itself.
There are advantages and disadvantages to living in most any large city. Employment opportunity is the big advantage here. What's more, the jobs tend to pay more and the cost of living is actually less here than in the small town where my country house is located. The criminal element is the disadvantage. It's just something you deal with. All the wheels have lock nuts. The yard is surrounded by a six foot chain link fence with a Doberman Pinscher patrolling. I am always packing when I am out and about and my head is always on a swivel. We have implemented a few other security measures as well that I won't even go into.
How about selling both of your houses and finding another neighborhood
Someday we will definitely do that but for now, we have dug in and will make the most of this situation and then leave on our terms. It's looking a lot like Colorado or Arizona.
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