The city of Kosciusko is now considering an animal ordinance that adds restrictions rather than completely banning owning certain dog breeds such as pit bulls.
“I’ve checked with a lot of other cities around us — Winona, Philadelphia, Brandon — they have a restriction on pit bulls,” said Kosciusko Mayor Tim Kyle.
Carthage, he said, does ban pit bulls completely. Carroll County has an ordinance that includes guidelines for owning a pit bull but does not ban the dogs.
“It’s up to the aldermen — we can totally ban them, or we can put some restrictions in place, but we do need to do something,” said Kyle at the board’s meeting on March 7. “Our proposal tonight is we can do what these other cities have done, and you have to meet these qualifications to have them. They can’t be out in the yard chained; they have got to be in an enclosure, or they can be in your house. You have to have insurance on that dog.”
Several Kosciusko residents attended the Board of Aldermen meeting to speak out against a ban. The board was expected to vote on the ordinance but chose to look into an ordinance that would include restrictions rather than banning the dogs and will consider an updated ordinance during a future board meeting.
“I think we need to put some restrictions,” said Alderman-at-Large Earl Price. “I don’t think we need to ban them. There are a lot of people who have dogs. You’ve got one, and you love that dog and if we ban them, you’ve got to get rid of it. If we put some restrictions in there, you could at least keep your dog; you just have to abide by the rules.”
Pit bulls were the most talked about since Kyle said that’s the breed that the city has the most issues with. But the restrictions would be on more than just that breed.
The dogs that would have restrictions include pit bulldogs, dogs belonging to the breed of dogs commonly referred to as pit bull dogs, American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, bull terrier, chow chow, Doberman pincher, Rottweiler, shar pei, Staffordshire bull terrier, wolf hybrids, cane corso and any type or breed of dog used as guard or attack dogs. Other dogs breeds that show aggressive behavior in public that could be a potential risk to the public will also have restrictions.
A stricter animal ordinance, Kyle said, is needed.
“We hate to have to do this, but we have a duty to the public to have a safe environment to walk, and there are a lot of streets in this community that are not,” he said.
Kyle said he welcomes suggestions from the community.
“This is not a closed-door deal here, but we have to do something for the safety of our community,” he added.
