BY SARA CASTELLANOS
The Aurora Sentinel | 0 comments
AURORA | City officials could discuss the possibility of amending an ordinance to allow pit bulls as service dogs in the city at an executive session as early as Oct. 11, according to a city attorney.
The announcement of the meeting comes after officials from the U.S. Department of Justice said earlier this summer that any dog that is trained to do work or perform tasks for disabled people should be classified as a service animal, under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“The Department of Justice expressed an opinion that breed-specific legislation, or breed bans, should not be applied on a blanket level to service animals,” said Charlie Richardson, the city’s attorney.
City officials have drafted an ordinance that would accommodate all types of service dogs, but Aurora City Council members must first be briefed on the issue, and then the potential ordinance change must be sent to a committee for public and employee input, Richardson said.
At the Oct. 11 meeting, council members will be briefed on the ongoing litigation that originated when Aurora resident Allen Grider filed a lawsuit against the city in March. Grider, a Vietnam War Veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, said the city can’t mandate how his service dog is maintained, even if the dog is a banned breed. Grider and two Denver residents filed a class-action lawsuit against Aurora and Denver in March and are seeking damages of more than $75,000.
A social worker suggested that Grider acquire a therapy pet to alleviate his symptoms, and he got his pit bull in 2003.
“She’s my protector,” Grider said during an interview earlier this year. “I can’t sleep if she’s not here. If I’m tense, she’ll bother me until I calm down.”
But in November 2009, the city’s animal control officers seized the dog because it was a banned breed.
The city eventually determined that the dog was a service dog, and after about five months the dog was released to Grider, on the condition that she wear a muzzle in public, among other restrictions.
The lawsuit was filed by the Wheat Ridge-based Animal Law Center shortly after the dog, Precious, was back with Grider.
“We believe there are an number of damages that occurred because of what Aurora did in this situation, by taking his dog away from him,” said Grider’s attorney, Jennifer Reba Edwards. “As long as these pit bull ordinances have been in place, they have been in violation of the ADA.”
City officials from Denver are set to review a proposal Monday that would allow pit bulls as service dogs within the city.
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A personal note from Sussie:
I personally love Pit Bulls. They are terriers and terriers make great Service Dogs.