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from The Telegraph
September 1, 2007
Authorities crack down on loose dogs
By DENNIS GRUBAUGH
The Telegraph
ALTON — Police are putting the bite on dog owners who are letting their pooches run loose.
A team of police and animal control officers took to the streets Thursday night handing out citations and hauling off several trouble-causing dogs.
“We impounded six dogs; five of those were pit bulls,” said Lt. Mike McNamara of the Alton Police Department, who is in charge of the Nuisance Abatement Task Force.
A couple of the dogs evaded the officers, included one that managed to pull out an embedded tranquilizer dart and head for the hills.
In all, three police officers and two animal control employees worked a cross-section of streets — ones where several calls have been logged, between 5 and 8 p.m.
“We took our animal control complaints over the past several months, and we tried to target those areas,” McNamara said.
Ten people received 18 citations overall. Among the charges were failure to have city animal licenses, failure to display tags and failure to restrain animals.
Most of the fines are $25 per citation, unless owners are being cited again. Then, it's $75.
McNamara said owners would be smarter with a simple investment in city tags, which cost $10 for unspayed animals and $5 for spayed or neutered ones.
Among the streets visited by officers were Fountain, Spring, Union Park, Pearl, Central, Henry and Union.
dennis_grubaugh@thetelegraph.com
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