JACKSON, Miss.–IF it becomes law, a new bill being considered by the Miss. legislature would put new restrictions on pit bulls and other dangerous dogs, and their owners. The bill could mean you can be fined or jailed if let a pit bull run free.
The bill also says that pit bulls can be killed by a police officer legally if they are roaming and they don’t have a vaccination tag and the officers cannot successfully capture the dog.
The Dangerous Dog Act also defines dangerous dogs as pit bulls, or similar breeds, and ones that have been known to cause harm when they were not provoked.
The legislative action comes after a year when several prominent pit bull attacks happened in Mississippi that ended in the deaths or mutilation of children.
Under the proposed new law, if you have a dangerous dog, you must keep them locked up in the yard or restrained when you are walking them. And by restrained, the bill says on a short leash, with a chain rated for 300 lbs.
The bill also has stiff fines for aggravated cruelty, with acts consistent with keeping a dog for fighting purposes, like purposefully starving or torturing a dog. But, it is still considered a misdemeanor, with a max penalty of $2,000 for the first offense and six months in jail.
Also, part of the bill says you can still let your dog defend you or your home without getting in trouble and your dog is not going to be considered a “dangerous dog” if it is provoked into an attack by torture or aggravation.
The House bill (HB1261) can be found here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2015/pdf/HB/1200-1299/HB1261IN.pdf
