Another dreary, rainy, cold Sunday morning and in less than an hour, in a few blocks the following pictures in this article were taken. Please take a few minutes to truly look into the eyes of these animals. You can actually see the sadness. Once again, dogs are social animals, that is why they are called ” pack animals”. They do not want to be left alone, isolated, outside on a chain.
From the Municipal Code library, Cleveland County NC, Code of Ordinances, Section 3-7 Cruelty to Animals
(h)It shall be unlawful for an owner or keeper of any animal to restrain an animal in an unsafe manner as outlined under G.S. § 14-362.3. In addition, a tether shall be at least ten (10) feet long with swivels on both ends, shall not exceed ten (10) percent of the animal’s body weight and shall be attached to a properly fitting harness or collar to prevent choking, strangulation, unjustifiable pain, suffering or risk of death. A tethered animal shall have access to suitable and sufficient clean water, food and appropriate shelter.
Above is Cleveland County’s current tether law. 1) while in these pictures above, the chains are probably 10 feet long, how many times are they not, and with the hundreds of animals chained, how often can the ACO’s really go out and check all of them? 2) not to exceed 10 percent of the animal’s body weight. I would bet in most cases, if you weighed the chains most of these dogs are hooked to, they would weigh much more than 10 percent. Do the math, a 40 pound dog, chain would be 4 lbs max. 3) properly fitting harness or collar. Many times dogs chained outside, people forget to check the collars and the collars become too tight, embedded over time, some are on choke collars, which can be very dangerous and cause strangulation. 4) access to food, water and shelter. While many times dogs do start out with access, if they are able to wrap the chain around anything, trees, poles, their houses, whatever, it can stop them from being able to get to any of the above. 5) swivels on both ends, I think that is self explanatory and can be seen in the photos and how many are actually chained as to whether there are swivels on both ends.
Here is a scary example. There is a chain around this dog’s neck used as her collar? Then the chain is hooked to a cable. Chains ARE NOT collars. The dog is also eating something off the ground instead of having bowls with food. This is also a female dog. Is she spayed? If not, when she comes into heat, she has no way to protect herself from male dogs.
CHAINING IS INHUMANE
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: “Our experience in enforcing the Animal Welfare Act has led us to conclude that continuous confinement of dogs by a tether is inhumane. A tether significantly restricts a dog’s movement. A tether can also become tangled around or hooked on the dog’s shelter structure or other objects, further restricting the dog’s movement and potentially causing injury.”
- According to the Association of Shelter Veterinarian’s Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters, “Tethering is an unacceptable method of confinement for any animal and has no place in humane sheltering. Constant tethering of dogs in lieu of a primary enclosure is not a humane practice.”
- The American Veterinary Medical Association stated “Never tether or chain your dog because this can contribute to aggressive behavior.”
- The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) concluded in a study that the dogs most likely to attack are male, unneutered, and chained.
Most chained dogs must eat, sleep and eliminate in a small area, are often basically ignored by their owners, fed and watered sporadically partially due to the fact water and food bowls get turned over, suffer from lack of exercise, grass becomes hard ground, collars can become too tight, embedded, can strangle, many times vetting is not received, dogs cannot escape the storms, cold, heat, and are isolated from their family.
Another worrisome issue if you look at these pictures, most of the dogs are located around trash, or things thrown out of the house. People dogs are not your trash. They are living, breathing animals who want to be part of your family. If you cannot take care of them and let them be a part of that family why get them? Please don’t say you want them to guard your house. They cannot guard your house on a chain. All they can do is bark and since they are unsocialized living on a chain, they are going to bark at friend and foe.
And why we need to hang locks on our dogs necks? I will never get it. North Carolina Counties who have banned tethering:
Asheville, North Carolina
Cary, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Clayton, North Carolina
Cumberland County, North Carolina
Davidson, North Carolina
Durham County, North Carolina
Enfield, North Carolina
Forsyth County, North Carolina
Guilford County, North Carolina
Hertford, North Carolina
New Hanover County, North Carolina
Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina
Weldon, North Carolina
Woodland, North Carolina
Can Cleveland County be proactive instead of reactive? Can we put the welfare of the dogs first? How simple would it be to enforce if its not allowed? So much easier than how long chain is, how much it weighs, if it has swivels, etc..
PLEASE UNCHAIN CLEVELAND COUNTY
