WBR council discusses beefing up dog laws
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PORT ALLEN — The West Baton Rouge Parish Council on Thursday discussed ways to strengthen laws regarding possession of dog breeds deemed to be vicious.
The issue arose after recent dog attack incidents in the parish and another in nearby Morganza, where a young boy was killed by dogs owned by a neighbor.
Councilman Keith Washington Sr., who brought the issue before the council last month, stressed the need for improved stringency.
“We’re having serious problems here and in surrounding areas,” Washington said. “It’s in our best interest to get something done as soon as possible. We have a good ordinance in place, but it needs to be fine tuned.”
Parish President Riley “Peewee” Berthelot said he reviewed control laws in Brusly and Addis to find aspects from each that could be incorporated into a revised parishwide ordinance.
“In Brusly, they can either have the owner have the dog destroyed or have that dog banned from the town,” Berthelot said. “Our current parish ordinance is similar, but there are differences.”
Addis’ law has even tighter restrictions, Berthelot said, calling for permits to own certain breeds of dogs and having insurance on such dogs.
Parish Attorney Louis Delahaye told the council he feels there should be one uniform ordinance that covers all areas of the parish, including municipalities.
He also suggested the council form an animal control board, with representation from municipal and parish governments, to address such issues.
Brusly Mayor Joey Normand said that he was willing to work with parish government toward a stronger ordinance. He suggested conferring with neighboring parishes to gain feedback on how to approach the issue.
Councilman Gary Spillman said that the current ordinance gives the parish authority to destroy an animal found to be vicious. However, he added that he does not want a law to group all dog owners together.
“There are some very good owners out there,” Spillman said. “I don’t want to penalize those doing the right thing.”
Berthelot asked the council to form a subcommittee to research the situation. The committee will consist of representatives from Brusly, Addis and Port Allen, as well as council members Washington, Lisa Johnson and Ricky Loupe.
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