AURORA, Colo.—A dog owner is challenging rules in the Denver suburb of Aurora that force her to lock her pet in a crate during car rides and muzzle it during walks.
The rules ban pit bulls and several breeds with the same physical traits as pit bulls.
A lawsuit filed in federal district court contends the ban is unconstitutional, vague, and unnecessary. It was filed by the American Canine Foundation on behalf of Florence Vianzon Sasek.
The ban applies to Sasek’s 5-year-old American Staffordshire terrier, but she was allowed to keep it under a grandfather clause. Sasek maintains her dog is not violent and has never bitten anyone.
“She’s a great, sweet, gentle dog,” she said.
Still, she has to pay the city $200 a year for a license, muzzle or lock the dog up when traveling and keep a 6-foot fence around her property.
The trial was to start Monday.
Aurora City Attorney Charlie Richardson said the city’s ban has already survived a challenge in state court. He said the city would show in federal court the ban is lawful.
City records show eight attacks on humans by dogs covered by the ban in 2006 and 11 in 2007. All other dogs accounted for 123 attacks on humans in 2006 and 150 in 2007.
Denver also has a ban on pit bulls that was implemented in 2005. Under those rules, owners have the choice of moving out of the city or having their dogs put to death. Commerce City and Lone Tree issued their own bans after Denver.
A challenge to Denver’s ban is pending in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Other states, including New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Arkansas and Ohio, have upheld challenges to their pit-bull ordinances.
———
Information from: The Denver Post,
