Forget about absentee ballot brokers stealing elections! Forget about county officials stealing from the public till! Forget about the Miami Marlins ball park boondoggle! Irresponsible dog owners are clearly the greatest menace facing our community.
A pair of Miami-Dade County commissioners are pushing legislation that would publicly shame assholes who don't know how to raise a dog. Jose "Pepe" Diaz and Sally Heyman want to list the names of people who have been found guilty of owning a dangerous dog (be it a chow chow or a chihuahua), along with the name and photo of their cantankerous canine on a web-site maintained by the county's Animal Services Department.
The online registry would also include case numbers for any judicial and administrative proceedings that declared the dog dangerous, as well as a brief description of the incident that led to Fido being branded evil incarnate.
In addition, dangerous dog owners will be facing a $1,000 fine for each of the following offenses:
- Animal fighting or baiting
- Dog bites human
- Dog severely injures or kills a domestic animal
- Dog chases or approaches human in a menacing fashion
- Failing to register a dangerous dog
- Failing to notify Animal Services that a dangerous dog has bitten a human or another animal.
The proposal was briefly discussed Tuesday in the County Commission's Public Safety & Healthcare Administration Committee. It was forwarded for approval to the full county commission, although no date for the public hearing has been set.
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