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Animal rights advocates push Girard on pit bull, tethering laws
By Sarah Lehr
GIRARD
Animal-rights advocates have become some of the most-frequent attendees at Girard City Council meetings, touching off sometimes heated conversations.
Activists, some of whom do not live in the city, have opposed Girard’s ban on pit- bull terriers and called for tightening up tethering laws they say would prevent pets from being tied up outside during extreme weather.
Animal advocates began speaking out against pit-bull bans in several Mahoning Valley communities, including Youngstown, Boardman and Poland, after an August 2015 incident in which Canfield police responded to a neighbor’s complaint about a pit bull. A few days after the police visit, the owners returned their dog to a kennel.
Canfield City Council eliminated its pit-bull ban in a 4-1 vote in November that revised its vicious-dog ordinance.
In Girard, activists have asked council for a similar amendment. A “breed-neutral” ban of vicious dogs would also mirror an Ohio House Bill, adopted in 2014, that removed pit bulls from the state’s vicious-dogs’ list, advocates say.
Though Girard’s zoning committee agreed to review the issue, officials have said the pending merger of Girard’s Health Department with the Trumbull County Combined Health District will delay any action.
Bev Spicer of Girard, an administrator with animal-rights group Nitro’s Ohio Army, says she’s willing to wait on the pit bull ordinance, but the tethering issue can’t wait because of extreme cold predicted in coming weeks.
She asked council this month to pass emergency legislation to prevent dogs from being tied up outside in the cold.
“I’d ask anyone here to stay outside all night in this weather and then see how you feel,” she told council.
Council President Reynold Paolone said council needed more time to consider tethering laws, especially since three new members joined council this year and committees have been reorganized.
Several laws on the books in Girard outline criminal offenses for animal abuse, neglect or abandonment.
One ordinance stipulates that cruelty includes “impound[ing] or confin[ing] an animal without affording it, during such confinement, access to shelter from wind, rain, snow or excessive direct sunlight if it can reasonably be expected that the animal would otherwise become sick or in some other way suffer.”
Ohio laws also prohibit animal cruelty and neglect, but the protesters argue that current law is not explicit enough on tethering.
Mayor James Melfi questioned why protesters are now discussing tethering given that they originally addressed council regarding pit bulls.
“We’re deviating a bit here,” he said.
Melfi, who described himself as a lifelong dog lover, said the city responds to every report of animal abuse and urged residents not to take matters into their own hands.
He added that he sees the pit-bill question as a safety issue.
“The decision that everyone here has to make is do we amend an ordinance to allow an intimidating animal, vicious or not,” he said. “You’re asking everyone here to lessen the safety factor for our residents because you’re not the one who’s going to respond to a home when a pit bull is hurting somebody or threatening somebody.”
Melfi addressed comments from the protesters on incidents they said happened in other cities, such as Niles.
“Our jurisdiction is Girard,” Melfi told them. “We can only legislate Girard. ... I believe everyone has a right to be heard, but be accurate and stick to the facts.”