Deep thought
I shouldn't have to move to Cary to live in a neighborhood where i don't have to worry that my cat will be killed by some some idiot's wandering pit bulls if he goes out in the yard.
UPDATE: Animal Control Department says it has caught a black pit bull believed responsible for the Lynch St. cat killing.
UPDATE: Animal Control Department says it has caught a black pit bull believed responsible for the Lynch St. cat killing.
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
12 Comments:
er, toddlers too.
By
andy, at 7:28 AM
Isnt it terrible Barry?
the one Saturday night was on My block! and that was a sweet old kitty that got put down...not to mention the 2 last week, or the one other that was found sunday morning *sigh*
Now i have to worry about hanging out in the yard, or walking the dogs and some rabid thing comes barreling at us. it sucks
By
Vera, at 9:20 AM
I'm hoping that the anti-tethering ordinance will help with this. Some of the dogs that I've seen loose have had part of their tether still attached to their collar, though I haven't seen any loose dogs by my house in many weeks now.
By
Steve Graff, at 10:18 AM
If i still had kids living with me, you can be sure that would be my primary concern. As it is, it's astounding that that our county commissioners don't appear to see the inadequacies in the current animal control system. I'm pretty sure that someone's kid is going to end up mauled or worse before the problem even shows up on their radar.
funny thing is, about 10 years ago, before we had any dog parks in town, i used to take my golden retriever into Oval Park (i lived on Englewood Ave.) early in the morning so she could chase the tennis ball for 15 minutes. When some of my neighbors decided that i was violating the leash law and called the police, they certainly responded quickly enough to let me know i needed to stop. On another occasion, my cat was picked up on my front porch while napping (apparently someone reported her as a stray!).
so i'm not sure if the response to these attacks is inadequate because of where we live in Durham or because things have changed over time. but really, if we can't take care of this kind of problem, it's only a matter of time before some 4 year old is suffering as a result.
By
Barry, at 10:24 AM
I will say I have my own reservations about the strictness of the anti-tethering laws. I had hoped it would be the "30 minute limit" that I had seen in other cities.
but the sheer intensity of it.
the fact that I felt the need to post on my facebook that I hoped well-meaning neighbors didnt call the cops on me when i put either of my dogs on a (supervised) line outside of my backdoor from time to time.
sometimes we have no choice--since i've been dealing with a broken ankle, and at times my husband is at work during walk times.
By
Vera, at 10:52 AM
Well, the law doesn't take effect till the new year. And even then, it'll be 6 months of "education" and "warning tickets" before it becomes a finable offense.
And don't forget, this is Durham. It'll be very interesting to see the statistics on how the tethering ordinance is enforced.
By
Barry, at 11:03 AM
I'm all for the tethering ordinance in principle (or more accurately, I'm not opposed to it) but I don't have high hopes that it will make much of a difference. Like all laws of this nature, the people that will actually modify their behavior b/c of the law were probably not the ones causing most of the problems to begin with.
Probably the best possible outcome is that persistent citing of repeat violators will get them to simply get rid of their dogs.
(I'd be quite happy to be wrong about this, though!)
By
Brian, at 1:16 PM
And the OND listserve just got word about another cat killing last night.
I'm with you barry, any more cats, and it'll be a kid next!
By
Vera, at 1:23 PM
Anecdotal evidence to support that theory: One of my neighbors with the barking dogs (the one who i ended up in mediation with over the problem back in January) was cited not once but twice by the police over a seven day period from last Monday to yesterday for allowing his dogs to bark. The weekend of the 20th saw a 30 hour consecutive barking session. No one answered the door, and the number he had given me to call him at is no longer working.
It took 4 different neighbors calling the police multiple times each, plus about 60 emails to various city and county leaders*, but eventually, the officers were able to reach him and cite him. Then, an animal control officer took his own time to spend time on my block and hear for himself what the deal was. At least one of the dogs was not vaccinated against rabies. After the animal control officer got involved, the dog owner agreed to relocate 3 of his 4 dogs to Wake County (hopefully out in the country, where they won't be bothering anybody.) It's been relatively quiet on the block the past few days.
So yeah, it's possible that the morons can be encouraged to give their dogs up.
It should be pretty clear by now that what's going on in OND and DP neighborhoods is one person letting their dog(s) out to roam overnight. It's so old that it's a cliche, but if the dogcatcher can't do their job, then the local government is a failure. Most people in town don't give a flying fuck whether dogcatching is a city or county function. They just want safe streets. It's not rocket science. It's a pretty straightforward municipal governing task. Why is it so difficult in Durham?
================
* I'm debating whether or not to publish these emails. The amount of finger-pointing, "Not my department's responsibility," What more do you expect us to do?", bullshit from our elected and appointed leaders over what should be a relatively simple process of enforcing the rather decent laws that we have on the books, was embarrassing. A private business that treated its paying customers this way would soon be bankrupt.
By
Barry, at 1:34 PM
How tragic. Durham does seem to have more than it's fair share of aggressive, biting dogs. I was personally bitten TWICE in my own neighborhood by different dogs in a five year time period. That's significantly worse than anywhere else I've lived (and the only dogs bites since I've grown up).
I now live in New England and the only times I see off-lead dogs are when my neighbor is chasing her escape artist. It's a much different attitude up here (as an added bonus I found out that they IMPORT dogs to the local shelters from other states and Puerto Rico because they don't have enough locally produced abandoned and stray dogs. I wish more parts of the country had that problem).
Diana
Beverly, MA
Formerly of Durham, NC
By
Diana, at 4:50 PM
"A private business that treated its paying customers this way would soon be bankrupt."
Geez, Barry...you almost sound like a...libertarian...
;)
By
Brian, at 6:29 PM
Nah - y'all want government to be ineffective. I want it to to do a better job.
By
Barry, at 6:31 PM
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