Feb 02, 2006 Several Recent Waukegan Pit Bull Attacks Prompt Aldermen to Look at BSL
Waukegan - This article lists several pit bull attacks from 2003 to 2005 in Waukegan and Beach Park.
2003 Aug - Waukegan Police officer was attacked by two stray pit bulls in August and required treatement for injuries to his hand. One of the dogs was later shot and killed by police when it attacked again as they attempted to seize it.
2005 Jul - A Waukegan police officer, responding to a report about a stray pit bull chasing a teenage boy on Winhaven Drive, was forced to fire a shot at the pit bull when it charged at him.
2005 Aug - 49-year-old Beach Park woman was attacked by a pit bull on the 2500 block of North McAree Road. The woman told police she was walking down the street when the dog ran from its yard, lunged at her and bit her on the right hand before being chased off by a bystander.
2005 Sep - Police seized a pit bull and a rottweiler that injured each other in a fight in a garage on Wadsworth Road. In that incident, the pit bull reportedly was on the loose and chased two girls to the roof of a car before attacking the chained rottweiler.
Because of these attacks, Aldermen are considering BSL. 8th Ward Ald. Rick Larsen directed the council's attention to an article in the January edition of the Illinois Municipal League's Review magazine, in which the municipal league attorney Roger Huebner encourages the state to allow regulations aimed directly at pit bulls.
While Hubner wrote that there currently is no Illinois statute allowing municipalities to write breed-specific ordinances, he added that other state and federal courts have upheld the special regulations.
"Cities are writing specific ordinances about specific types of dogs, (and) we should look into it," Larsen said.
North Chicago's ordinance, enacted Monday, calls for such measures as an annual $500 registration fee for a single pit bull and a limit of two such dogs per owner. It also requires that pit bulls involved in a biting incident to be destroyed or removed from the city.
Read more:
Suburban Chicago News
Related posts:
Lake County pit bull attacks
