New state bill strengthens existing San Antonio law forbidding chains on outside dogs - San Antonio Express-News
Following up on a welfare check about chained animals, Animal Care Services officer Brittany Barnes stopped her city truck at a South Side home to investigate the complaint.
When she looked over the backyard fence, she saw two litters of puppies and five adult dogs; two were tethered, one with a thin-thread leash and the other had a heavy chain around its neck. Another dog on the side of the house was also tethered with a chain.
Barnes cited the homeowner for having more than five dogs on the property and using chains as restraints. According to Chapter 5 of the city ordinance, only humane tethers, including zip lines or trolley systems, may be used and affixed to a properly-fitted harness or collar.
On ExpressNews.com: It’s now illegal in Texas to chain your dog outside. Here’s what you need to know
The citation wasn’t the only thing she left with the resident. She handed him two coated-steel cable tethers, made for dogs weighing up to 250 pounds, and appropriate collars for his pets that did not have them.
During her three years in the field, Barnes has twice come across dogs leashed with metal chains and some secured with a padlock.
“Some of the officers have resorted to carrying bolt cutters for situations like that,” she said. “An animal that has to be tethered has to have a nylon or leather collar around its neck. (With chains) that’s how you get embedded collars. It’s painful — it’s where the skin grows over the collar.”
The citations reflect a bill Gov. Greg Abbott signed Monday that bans using a chain to tether a dog and makes inadequate outside shelter unlawful. The new Safe Outdoor Dog Act adds state support to existing San Antonio laws, passed in 2017, that forbid chaining and decree humane care for dogs kept outside. The new law is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 18, 2022.
Abbott vetoed a similar bill over the summer. He said the proposal, supported by members of both parties, was over-criminalization and micro-managing. After outcries from the public, Abbott added the bill to the third special session in September.
Violating the law is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $500. Repeat offenders now can face a Class B misdemeanor that comes with a fine up to $2,000 and or up to 180 days in jail.
Lisa Norwood, ACS spokeswoman, said the newly signed law is a statute eight years in the making and a law the shelter has championed getting passed at the state level.
“Firstly, the new law further supports what ACS promotes daily,” Norwood said, “that our outdoor pets must be treated humanely.”
Shannon Sims, ACS director, said the passage of the bill was a much-needed and overdue step for Texas. In 2017, Sims testified at a Texas Senate hearing about how chains impact the dogs that are inhumanely tethered. He held up a 10-foot, 20-pound rusted chain to show the legislators an example of a restraint he had seen attached to dogs many times.
On ExpressNews.com: Chaining dogs outside will finally be illegal in Texas as Abbott signs animal cruelty bill into law
While San Antonio and other jurisdictions have ordinances in place to ensure animals “don’t live their life on the end of a heavy chain without proper shelter,” he said most smaller municipal or county jurisdictions did not have the ability to stop this behavior legally.
Sims said the issue was very evident during last year’s snow event when his counterparts in smaller jurisdictions asked what they could do to ensure tethered animals didn’t freeze in the harsh conditions.
“The safe animals act gives animal control and law enforcement the legal recourse they need to help get rid of chaining and ensure that animals have the appropriate shelter in inclement weather,” Sims said. “This is a good day for dogs in Texas.”
source: https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Texas-dog-bill-San-Antonio-laws-16575343.php
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