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Published January 13, 2015
This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," December 28, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.
GREGG JARRETT, GUEST HOST: They are wanted in two Florida counties where Web sites are posting their mug shots and showing maps of where they live. The catch is, they're dogs. That's right, dogs, who have either severely bitten a person or a pet, or chased someone in a menacing fashion. And the idea is to protect people.
But is this going too far? There are critics out there. Let's ask Kenneth Phillips, who is a lawyer who specializes in dog bite law, I never knew such a thing. Lisa Peterson, spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club. She brought along beautiful Olive, who's sitting on her lap here. Hi, there, Olive. Olive wants to weigh in on this, but is not going to. She's invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
All right, Lisa, let's talk to you first. What does the Kennel Club think of this program?
LISA PETERSON, SPOKESWOMAN, AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB: Well, the American Kennel Club likes the idea of placing the responsibility with the dog owner. It's at the right end of the leash, with the owner, not with the dog.
JARRETT: Yes, Kenneth, these county-run Web sites, I must say, seem to be working. I note the statement of a Seminole County, Florida, official who said, "We've not had a single report of a dog running loose since their Web site went up. Owners have become more responsible, more aware that they're being watched." I mean, look, it's working, isn't it? So do you have a problem with it?
KENNETH PHILLIPS, LAWYER: I don't really have a problem with it. But I think in order to avoid dangerous dogs, there are really three other things you have to do. And those are, you've got to talk to the kids in the neighborhood, the adult neighbors, and also, the postman.
Because you're going to get as much information from them as you're going to get from this Web site. In fact, you're going to get more because they're going to tell you about the dogs that are about to bite people, as opposed to the ones who have been adjudicated in dog court as having already been.
JARRETT: So you don't see any legal woes with this thing, right?
PHILLIPS: No, I don't think there are any legal problems with it at all. In fact, I think it's a good idea, but don't misuse it.
JARRETT: Lisa, how about this? I mean, I'm playing devil's advocate. Brevard County, for example. If your dog end up on the list, the owner has to pay — and this is pretty stiff — $300 fine, they have to have a tattoo on the dog or an implant microchip that identifies the dog as menacing, dangerous dog. They've got to be sterilized, and then you have to purchase a $100,000 liability insurance policy.
And then this is the one I love. The dog has to wear this permanent tag on it in red that says, "I bite." Of course, if you can read the tag, you're already bitten. Not Olive, of course, don't mean to offend you, Olive. Is that maybe going a little too far? That's a lot of penalties, isn't it?
PETERSON: Well, it may be a lot of penalties to some. But being a dog owner is a responsibility. And you have certain rights that you have to uphold, and it also becomes a public safety issue. So people who are irresponsible dog owners, it kind of forces them to look at their actions and make them more responsible for the dogs that they have control over.
JARRETT: Kenneth, you may well know about what happened recently. It was last week and it was in the Chicago area. There was a savage mauling of six people by three pit bulls. So now, I mean, everybody's in an uproar, understandably, and they're talking about laws that would actually outlaw the breeding of certain animals or the ownership of certain breeds. For example, pit bulls, obviously. What do you think of that?
PHILLIPS: Well, I think that the problem here is that you cannot really take a bite out of the dog bite epidemic by eliminating certain breeds. You just can't, because instead of those dogs biting, it will be other dogs biting. Because a lot of the problem has to do with the people.
I mean, dogs bite for a variety of reasons, not because they were born to bite, but because they're not healthy, not trained, not socialized. For all these other reasons. And even the behavior of the victim is involved in many cases. So it's just a taking a little, little tiny measure to simply outlaw breeds.
JARRETT: Should there be felony charges against owners that have dogs that bite people and injure them severely? What do you think, Lisa?
PETERSON: Well, there are felony laws out there now for people who do things with their cars. So really, dogs are considered property. So the same law sort of applies to them, to.
JARRETT: And of course the famous San Francisco case in which there was a murder and manslaughter conviction — second-degree murder, I think it was, in a big dog mauling case there.
All right, Ken Phillips, Lisa Peterson, and Olive, who, you know, said so much with her beautiful face. She didn't have to utter a single word. Thanks very much. Lassie would have.
PHILLIPS: You're welcome.
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