Our view: Stay the course on pit bull sterilization
It didn't take long for Beaufort County to face a legal challenge to controversial rules requiring pit bulls and pit mixes to be spayed or neutered.
A little over a month after County Council adopted the rules, a pet owner in greater Bluffton is appealing an order that her dog be spayed.
Gabriela Gonzalez was walking Kyra on Nov. 24 when the dog broke free from the leash and was picked up by someone driving through her neighborhood. The dog was dropped off at the county animal shelter. Gonzalez had to pay $300 in fines to get Kyra back and has filed an appeal in Magistrate Court to fight the spay requirement.
Gonzalez denies her dog is a pit bull or a pit mix. She is an American bully, she says. She adds that Kyra is a show dog and she plans to breed her.
The county, however, maintains that Kyra is a pit mix. The county's ordinance defines pit bulls as "any dog that is an American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, Stafford bull terrier" or "any dog that exhibits physical characteristics" of pit bulls as established by prominent national breed registries.
The dog's breaking loose from its owner gives further ammunition to the county's requirement the dog be spayed.
And the new ordinance does make exceptions for breeders. They must buy a license for $100 a year and provide proper, clean enclosures, adequate food and water, and other protections. They also can't have violated animal cruelty laws in the last five years.
Gonzalez's case should be an interesting one for the court and the first real test for the county's new rules.
The dog world itself is divided on whether American bullies are a distinct breed, but most seem to agree they were originally the result of crossbreeding with American pit bull terriers.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, the county's rules on pit bulls and pit mixes are needed. Too many of the breed or its derivative have wound up in the shelter and ultimately euthanized.
At any given time up to 90 percent of the dogs in the shelter are pit bulls or pit mixes, director Tallulah Trice has said. As of September, 64 of the 92 dogs the shelter put down -- 70 percent -- were pits.
The court challenge may bring up needed changes to the rules or they could be affirmed as is. Either way, the rules have become necessary for public safety, and they are the humane way to prevent the dogs from becoming heartbreaking statistics at the shelter.
Owners of the breed should observe the rules, and the county should continue to enforce them. The county's municipalities should also adopt them to protect the dogs and the public.
This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Our view: Stay the course on pit bull sterilization."