Family set to lose pit bull on Dec. 1 because of ban

11/25/2014

 

MOREAUVILLE, La. (KALB News Channel 5) -- A family in Moreauville is pleading with their village to overturn an ordinance that would force them to get rid of their beloved family pet.

On October 13, the village passed an ordinance that states if you own a pit bull or a Rottweiler, you must get rid of it by December 1 or they will take it for "disposition."    

News Channel 5's Brooke Buford (Twitter: @brookebuford) has the story.

O'Hara Owens is trying to spend as much time as she can with her beloved pit bull, Zeus, before the village she lives in promises to take him away from her and dispose of him on December 1.

"If anything ever happened to him, I would just shut down," she said.

O'Hara suffers from severe neck problems and has been forced to wear a halo brace and use a wheelchair.  

She says Zeus acts as a sort of "therapy dog," providing love and support for her and her other brothers and sisters.

"I can sit here if I'm in pain, he comes and he notices it before I even make any noise," she said.

But, Zeus has been blacklisted as a "vicious" breed in Moreauville.   

On October 13, the village voted to ban pit bulls and Rottweilers.    

A letter was sent out to owners saying that if they didn't get rid of them by December 1, then they would be taken for "further disposition."

"The breed is not vicious," she said. "It's the owner. It is the way that you raise them."

O'Hara's parents tried to fight the passing of the ordinance at the meeting, but were outnumbered.   

They say no one has ever complained about their dog and it has never bitten anyone.

"I asked the question, well what if I don't give you my dog?" said Joanna Armand, O'Hara's mother. "(Chief of Police) Scott Lemoine said they would come and get the dog and the dog would be disposed of and we would be fined."

News Channel 5 reached out to village to hear its side of the story.    

Alderman Penn Lemoine said the ordinance was created to appease several residents.

"We had several residents that were complaining about not being able to walk along the neighborhoods because these dogs were basically running along town," Lemoine said in a phone interview.

We asked Lemoine about dog attacks...

"There have been, but I don't think they're documented," he said.

And, if they plan to kill the dogs they collect on December 1...

"I'd rather not elaborate on that," he said.

"Is that what it is? Are you going to kill the dogs?" asked reporter, Brooke Buford.

"If that's what the ordinance says, then that's what it says," Lemoine responded.

Lemoine told us he owns a German Shepard. But, he only considers pit bulls and Rottweilers as "vicious."

He also says what the town is doing is completely legal.

O'Hara Owens and her family say they plan to continue to fight for Zeus.

"Like I told them, they're going to have to take him from my cold, dead hands before they get a hold of him," Owens said.

Alderman Lemoine says if there's a strong enough public outcry about the severity of the ordinance he says he would consider possibly changing it. 

The next council meeting is December 8. 

If you would like to sign a petition to overturn the ordinance, you can through the family's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/savingzeusybaby?pnref=story

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