ALL ANIMAL LOVERS PAY FOR SOME DEADLY DOGS.

Byline: Phyllis M. Daugherty Local View

STATE Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, has introduced Senate Bill 861 to permit local jurisdictions to control the overpopulation of certain breeds of dogs through local spay/neuter ordinances. This bill should be supported wholeheartedly by anyone who rescues, owns or shelters dogs or lives in a community where dogs are kept.

Animal-control statistics demonstrate that we are dramatically improving our efforts to lower euthanasia rates nationwide. However, 60 percent to 70 percent of dogs that overpopulate our shelters are of a few aggressive breeds.

Because these dogs must be kept one per kennel, so that they will not maul or kill other animals waiting to be adopted or reclaimed by owners, they disproportionately and unfairly monopolize space that could hold numerous abandoned or relinquished animals long enough for them to have a second chance for a home.

Every breed and every individual dog has endearing characteristics. But currently the breeds that can be exploited for their inherent aggression toward other animals or for their territorial proclivities are being produced and misused at an alarming rate.

Those breeds that can be used to guard criminal activities or used in the very lucrative ``sport'' of dog fighting are bred indiscriminately and sold or given to humans who are evil, irresponsible or merely ignorant of warning indicators in the behavior of the dog.

Unfortunately, even well-intentioned and caring owners often misinterpret, overlook or excuse signs of innate aggression in a beloved pet. Consequently, we are experiencing a tragic and horrifying increase in unprovoked attacks on humans, as well as on other animals.

Recently, a 91-year-old Orange County woman had her arms torn off in an attack by the family's pit bull while she was feeding it. In June, a 12-year-old boy was killed at his home in San Francisco in a similarly heartrending incident.

More recently, while a young mother was filling the water pan for her grandparents' Rottweiler in Glendale, the dog attacked her, tore her 16-month-old baby girl from her arms and killed the child.

Certainly these are aberrations and not characteristic of thousands of loving pets of pit bull or Rottweiler breed. However, it still must not be accepted as ``normal'' behavior for any dog or any breed. Killing a baby cannot be justified or dismissed merely because the dog was possibly reacting to the child's cries and treating it as prey.

A child should be able to be carried in a parent's arms or run down the sidewalk without having to worry about an unprovoked attack from a dog. We all should be able to walk though our community and work or play in our yards without such worry. Our helpless and innocent pets should be able to be taken for a walk or just to sleep on the porch without being mauled or killed.

Insurance companies are increasingly denying coverage or excluding specific breeds of dogs from homeowners' policies because of the increased damage that can result from attacks by dogs shown statistically to be involved in the most vicious and lethal attacks. This punishes all dog owners and all dogs.

Speier's bill humanely would allow control of any specific breed by spay/neuter ordinances, rather than allow an obvious and undeniable problem to reach proportions that will cause a public outcry that could result in banning entire breeds.