Animal-rights advocate seeks update to Girard’s tethering law

January 25, 2016 at 9:54p.m.

GIRARD

The city’s tethering law went into effect more than 60 years ago, and the time is past due for city council to take concrete steps to update it, an animal-rights advocate contends.

“They have been dragging their feet for a couple of months now,” said Bev Spicer, administrator for Nitro’s Ohio Army, an grass-roots animal-rights group with about 2,000 members.

Spicer and about 25 others were on hand for an outdoor rally before council’s meeting Monday in the administration building on South Market Street. The protest was to call city officials’ attention to what protesters see as the need to update the law, which has been on the books since 1953.

Spicer said she and others want to see stricter enforcement regarding handling complaints of dogs and cats being confined and left outside too long in excessive heat or cold and other extreme weather, or when severe weather alerts are posted.

Also, police and humane agents should have greater authority to protect animals from abuse and neglect, including more power to issue fines or, in more egregious situations, confiscate the pet, Spicer continued. She added that she’s been trying to get council to take action since last fall, before cold weather set in.