Owners of Vicious Pets May Land in County Jail House in Crackdown

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved strengthening regulations on vicious dogs and their owners, including imposing criminal penalties on any owner who fails to control a dog known to be dangerous.

Acting after publicity about attacks by pit bullterriers and other dogs on hapless neighbors and passers-by across the state this summer, supervisors ordered the county counsel to make local animal control laws as stiff as possible.

The board approved a recommendation that could require the owner of a dog deemed vicious to obtain $100,000 in liability insurance or post a $35,000 bond.

Another proposed tightening of the laws would make a dog owner whose pet menaces other people liable to misdemeanor charges, with a possible penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. An owner can now be charged with only an infraction, which typically carries but a small fine similar to that for a traffic violation.

Supervisors told county counsel to work with the Health Care Agency, which oversees the Animal Control Department, on the tougher proposals and return in 90 days.

3,873 Dog Bites Reported

Last year, 3,873 dog bites were reported to and investigated by county animal control officers, according to an agency staff report.

“This large number of reported bites has been relatively constant over the last five calendar years, never varying more than 4% above or below the 1986 total,” the report said.

However, since many bites may go unreported, the report concluded that “the actual number of bites occurring in the community is undoubtedly much larger, and there is clearly an ongoing, serious problem with respect to aggressive and biting dogs.”

But Ron Hudson, chief of special services in the Animal Control Department, said the additions to county law are “just in there to give the ordinance clarity.”

In the past, Hudson said, animal control officials generally waited for an animal to bite or attack someone before it could be declared “vicious.” While he said that county law did not require officials to wait until a bite occurred, the new language would make that clear.

According to officials, 20 dogs in the county have been declared “vicious,” a declaration that allows animal control workers to require an owner to muzzle, chain or confine the dog to prevent attacks.

Hudson noted that a pit bull in Huntington Beach was declared vicious in June, even though it had not attacked anyone.

Shirley Carey, a neighbor of the Huntington Beach animal and an activist in the fight to get the county to toughen its laws, told supervisors Tuesday that she had some quarrels with the new law.

But she said she is happy that the county has agreed to study the necessity of computerizing animal control records.

“Without this up-to-date method of record keeping, I feel that you are jeopardizing the safety of your animal control officer and also are impeding the ability of the citizens to obtain accurate records regarding dangerous dogs,” Carey said in a statement she distributed to supervisors.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said that Carey had contacted her office about the need for updating the county law on animal control, which was adopted in 1975, and had been “very helpful.”

The county handles animal control in unincorporated county territory and also for 17 of the 26 cities in Orange County.

Hudson said that Costa Mesa, La Habra, Santa Ana, Seal Beach and Westminster have their own animal control officers but that the officers use the county animal shelter in Orange to house dogs they impound.

Irvine, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and San Clemente have their own shelters as well as animal control officers, he said.

To develop the tougher laws, Hudson said county officials contacted 14 cities across the country and several California counties, as well as the Humane Society of the United States, for guidelines on regulating vicious dogs.

He noted that while local laws require that a dog outside a house be leashed or behind a fence, somehow under the control of its owner, state law says a dog can be off a leash as long as it is on the owner’s property.

County Counsel Adrian Kuyper told supervisors that state law takes precedence over county laws. But Carey told board members that at least two state legislators are considering amending the state law.