109 HRES 1013 IH: Encouraging municipalities to adopt and U.S. House of Representatives 2006-09-14 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 109th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1013 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 14, 2006 Mr. McCotter submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture RESOLUTION Encouraging municipalities to adopt and enforce effective protections against dog bites, and for other purposes.

Whereas the Congress has sought to protect the public from all safety hazards including dangerous dogs; Whereas there are over 74,000,000 owned dogs in the United States; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded dogs bite nearly 2 percent of the United States population (more than 4,700,000 people annually) and 800,000 bites per year are serious enough to require medical attention; Whereas over 3,000 United States Postal Service mail carriers are bitten by dogs each year, along with an unknown number of meter readers, police officers, and other door-to-door professionals who have regular exposure to numerous dogs; Whereas the average cost of a dog bite (or other attack) resulting in a claim for medical treatment equals $336; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control determined that over 70 percent of dogs involved in attacks are unneutered males; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the American Veterinary Medical Association have all determined the chaining or tethering of dogs continuously is an inhumane practice and creates dogs who are at significantly greater risk to bite; Whereas communities across the country provide subsidized pet sterilization services; and Whereas communities across the country have enacted legislation that bans or restricts the practice of chaining dogs for the purpose of addressing dog bites and dangerous dogs: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— (1)dog bites and dangerous dogs are issues which must be addressed by each community for the sake of community safety and, when addressing these issues, municipalities should consider the many factors contributing to a dog’s temperament and enact model programs and legislation addressing these multiple factors; and (2)dogs who are continuously chained, and male dogs who have not been neutered, are more likely to pose a threat and, therefore, these factors should be a priority for communities addressing dog bite and dangerous dog issues.