Mayor Thomas M. Menino vowed yesterday to push for state legislation to restore power back to the city to regulate pit bulls and other dogs deemed dangerous.
“We have an ordinance on the books and we tried every mechanism we can, but the owners of those dogs have to have some responsibility also,” Menino told the Herald. “We tried the legal way and we’ll continue to try. We know that they’ve caused some mayhem in our neighborhoods.”
The Herald reported yesterday the city officials have tracked 49 pit bull attacks so far this year. That number already has surpassed the 48 total last year, when a state animal-rights law nullified Boston’s 2004 pit bull ordinance. The rule required owners to register their pit bulls, muzzle them in public, post “beware of dog” signs on their property and keep no more than two of the breed on their premises.
A bill to allow municipalities to deem certain dogs dangerous based on attack data has sat in the Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government since a June 4 hearing. State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester), committee chairwoman, declined comment yesterday.
The MSPCA, which successfully lobbied for the animal-rights legislation, questioned Boston Animal Control officials’ argument that the ordinance made it easier to rescue the breed from bad owners.
“The last contention has us scratching our heads because no law enforcement or animal control agency can go into any home without cause, so to claim that the ordinance was beneficial because (animal control officers) could then swoop in and rescue dogs in distress without an official complaint being filed is not accurate,” said MSPCA spokesman Rob Halpin.
