KOLD News 13 live, local and late breaking-Reach of South Tucson dog ordinance still in question
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By J.D. Wallace - email
South Tucson now has new rules regarding dogs in effect, but the resident most effected by the ordinance is trying to find a way around one aspect of the new law.
The Tucson Dog Protection Act was approved by South Tucson voters last month.
"(We're) absolutely thrilled people of South Tucson came out, did the right thing," said Susan Via, chair of the Tucson Dog Protection Act.
"I was kind of shocked it passed," said Tom Taylor, CEO of Tucson Greyhound Park, which is in South Tucson.
The initiative requires that dogs be in their crates no more than 18 hours a day, that their meat either cooked or not from animals that were dead before slaughter, and that female dogs not be given steroids, which keeps them from going into heat and makes them easier to handle around male dogs.
"The dogs are just going to have a better life," Via said.
"We're buying all the equipment, the cookers to cook the meat, we're paying for all the shots," Taylor said.
The track is also looking into taking the dogs outside of South Tucson for steroids.
"We will not take them into Tucson and have them (get their shots) if (South Tucson) tells us that's not going to be legal," Taylor said. He admitted that even if such a move is permitted, it is a way of skirting the initiative that voters approved.
"Oh, absolutely, absolutely," he said. "If you had a dog in South Tucson and you need to get it treated, and it needed to have a steroid, you would take it into a vet in Tucson and have it treated."
"I'm not sure they're going to find a lot of ready, capable veterinarians in Tucson that will help them skirt the law," Via countered. If the track should find a way, she still considers the initiative to be a success.
"We educated the people about why steroids were bad, we're energized," she said.
The Arizona Department of Racing said that its staff at the track will report violations of the ordinance and provide witness testimony if necessary. However, the department also said that is does not have the resources to investigate violations of a rule that is not its own.
