Why it might be mandatory for you to spay/neuter your dog
On her routine morning walks through her Desert Hot Springs neighborhood, Kyle Horricks says she sees no people, just big dogs roaming around. Saturday, they came closer.
“They came running, so I started yelling at them and flailing my arms. They showed their teeth. I kept moving back and yelling, they kept getting closer and closer. They got close enough to start nipping me on my feet,” Kyle Horricks said.
Next thing she knew, 79 year-old Horricks was on the ground.
“They started biting my legs and arms and one got a pretty deep gash in my foot. I was very helpless because they were very strong dogs. I don’t know what to do except keep yelling,” Horricks said.
A neighbor helped Horricks, who then went to the hospital with deep cuts. The owner signed the dogs over to the county, and the dogs were put down. Horricks deals with physical and emotional scars, but some small consolation is the county’s current initiative.
“The board of supervisors is asking riverside county animal services to come up with an ordinance that will mandate pitbull owners to have their dogs fixed,” John Welsh of Riverside County Animal Services said.
For the sake of public safety.
“There are a lot of other dogs that probably bite more often , but unfortunately, pitbulls send folks to the hospital,” Welsh said.
Here’s the main reason the county thinks this will work.
“Animals of any breed, but in this case pitbulls, that are sterilized, have the tendancy to roam less. If they’re fixed, they’re not out there looking for other dogs to engage in what animals do,” Welsh said.
“It seems like human nature to not do anything until catastrophe happens. Like guns,” Horricks said.
Seeing that 69% of dog attacks kill people, Horricks is a lucky one. So, she says better late than never.
The department of animal services now has to create an ordinance, which could take a few months and will need approval. This potential mandate would only affect unincorporated areas of Riverside County and it would be up to each desert city if they want to comply.
