Bill Puts More Teeth in Dog Protection
http://bangordailynews.com
February 13, 2007, AUGUSTA, MAINE - When Maine passed the nation’s first "dogs chained for life" law in 2005, animal advocates hoped that dogs chained outdoors 24 hours a day would receive some protection, including from the deep freezes the state has experienced this month.
The law has been so successful that a new bill coming before the Legislature is designed to augment the dogs-chained-for-life guidelines, requiring the animals be let off their leashes periodically and allowing animal control officers to step in immediately when they see a dangerous or abusive situation.
Dogs chained for life are not put out briefly each day, officials explained. They are found mostly in rural areas, chained to dog houses or rusted cars and never off their chains from birth to death.
"There is no sadder sight than these outcast, forlorn, forgotten animals, relegated to the status of lawn ornaments and virtually ignored by the family," said Robert Fisk Jr., president of Maine Friends of Animals.
Whether people would report dogs chained for life or not was never in question, Fisk said. "The public immediately embraced this law. But we needed the law to have some enforcement powers," he said.
So MFOA is sponsoring a series of 30-second and one-minute public service announcements to get the word out that it could be illegal to chain a dog outside continuously. The ads have garnered at least one abuse call a day to the MFOA hot line, Fisk said. MFOA is an animal advocacy group that has 1,200 members statewide.
"This has been very, very successful," Fisk said. He said the media spots were aimed at educating the public that "dogs chained for life" constitute "one of the most pervasive forms of animal abuse."
Fisk said that dogs chained outside in poor weather or under inhumane conditions were the most frequent complaint his group received, even before the ads ran.
Dogs are pack animals, he said, and when confined to a chain, their behavior suffers.
"Rarely do these chained or tethered dogs receive sufficient care. They suffer from sporadic feedings, overturned water bowls, frozen water bowls, inadequate shelter, and extremes in weather and temperature," Fisk said.
The law exempts Arctic dogs and requires a four-sided shelter and a swivel to prevent chain twisting.
Building on that law’s success, Fisk said, MFOA is going back to the Legislature this session to make the chained-dogs guidelines stricter.
"The first time around, in 2005, we took off a time limit," Fisk said. "This time we are seeking a requirement that would allow the dogs off their tether for at least two hours daily."
Fisk said that MFOA is gathering statistics regarding chained-for-life dogs that will be presented to the Legislature’s Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Conservation to push for a time restriction.
"We also want to make it legal for an animal control officer to seize any animal in danger," he said.
"We have found that once many of these people who are chaining dogs for life realize they are in violation of the law, a lot of people just give them up."
Norma Worley, director of the Animal Welfare Division of the state Department of Agriculture, said Monday that she couldn’t comment specifically since the bill has not been printed.
"But on the surface, it certainly seems to have its merits," she said. "The biggest problem would be that it would fall on the [animal control officers] to enforce.
"Unfortunately, not all dog owners are honest," she said.
Worley said many other states are looking at Maine’s law as a model.
The proposal has not been set for public hearing.
