Mashpee voters put leash on pit bull restrictions, Cape Cod, MA

Mashpee voters put leash on pit bull restrictions
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By MATTHEW M. BURKE
mburke@capecodonline.com
October 20, 2009
MASHPEE — There was a collective sigh of relief among dog owners at Mashpee High School last night after residents resoundingly voted down a proposed pit bull bylaw at the annual fall town meeting.
The proposed bylaw would have prohibited residents from owning more than one of the dogs, would have made it mandatory that the dogs be spayed or neutered, forced owners to get expensive liability insurance, and placed the responsibility on the owners of mixed breeds to prove that their dog is not a pit bull through DNA testing, among other restrictions.
The article was placed on the warrant by petition and lacked the support of the finance committee and selectmen.
In the end, it was defeated by a deafening voice vote after 239 registered voters sped through budget adjustments and changes to the town's zoning code.
Those against the bylaw turned out in force, far outnumbering those who were for it, with some nonresidents coming from as far as Plymouth to speak to the merits of the dogs.
"I'm very happy," Mashpee resident Michelle Storm said after the vote, as dog lovers petted her 3-year-old female pit bull and service dog Bugsy. "This is a big relief off of my chest. We have another (pit bull) and I medically need (Bugsy). I don't know what I would do if one of them was taken away."
The warrant article made waves in recent weeks as residents and animal activists challenged the legality and restrictiveness of the proposed bylaw's language.
The article was added by petition after Ashumet Road residents Carmen and Melissa Shay, who have two young girls, tried unsuccessfully to prevent a neighbor from moving next door with six of the dogs.
The proposal, which was modeled after a bylaw already in place in Canton, gave animal control officers the power to impound and even euthanize dogs whose owners were not in compliance or suspected of not being in compliance.
The Canton bylaw has yet to be challenged in court.
"We did what we thought was best for our family," Melissa Shay said after the vote, adding that her house is now for sale. "I'm done. My girls are safe."

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091020/NEWS/910200315


Judy Chevalier
Fight BSL & MSN, Help The Animals
Pit Bull Positive, BSLWorkshop, UAOA-URDOG, Pet_Law, GAPet-Law