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Pit bull-only requirements dropped in Wilmington

Jenna Pizzi
The News Journal
Kirk a pit bull mix eligible for adoption, peers from his cage at the Response-a-Bull Rescue and Shelter last month.

WILMINGTON – With all members present voting in favor, the Wilmington City Council stripped specific language regarding pit bull breeds from the city's dog law.

The change removes a requirement for only owners of pit bulls to register their dogs.

Proponents literally applauded the council members following the roll call vote at Thursday's council meeting. All 11 members present voted in favor of the ordinance. Two members were absent. A spokeswoman for Mayor Dennis P. Williams said the mayor supports the legislation.

"We just want the dogs to be treated equally," said Caitlyn Reynolds, founder of Response-a-Bull Rescue Shelter for the Misunderstood.

The change brings the city's animal control laws more in line with those of the state. This is in anticipation that the state will take over animal control responsibilities next year. Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz, the sponsor of the legislation, said that change from a city contract to state animal control could save the city thousands of dollars.

Amanda Rodriquez, who championed for a similar change in 2012, said she moved out of Wilmington because she felt the law was discriminatory to her and her pit bull, Gotti.

"I did not feel comfortable giving my tax dollars to a city that discriminated against me," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, who speaks of Gotti as her child, said she is sad that he passed away before the law was passed.

The vote irked some who said eliminating requirements for pit bull owners jeopardizes public safety.

Maria Ruckle, whose daughter Emily was attacked by a pit bull inside their home in Stafford in September, said she was disappointed.

"I just don't want to see anyone go through what we have been through," Ruckle said.

Nine-year-old Emily, who has scars all along her right arm, shoulder and torso from the attack and subsequent surgeries, echoed her mom's sentiment.

"I don't want anyone to get hurt," she said.

Emily has had too many surgeries to count on one hand to reconnect her right arm and still has a few to go, Maria Ruckle said. She attends physical therapy twice a week and has better movement in her arm than doctors had initially anticipated, yet she struggles daily with the pain, Ruckle said.

Ruckle spoke before the meeting in hopes that Emily's story and her urging might persuade the council members.

"It is a matter of life and death," Ruckle said during the public comment portion, noting Emily likely would have died if not for her sister fighting off the pit bull.

Emily Ruckle visits the Newark Police Department on the way home from the hospital after a severe dog attack in 2014. Ruckle’s family spoke against Wilmington’s removal of pit bull-specific laws.

Ruckle's husband, Todd, a Newark councilman, said he supports an effort to require dog owners to have insurance with coverage of at least $1 million.

But council members supported the change, saying the new law allows for strict requirements for the owners of all dogs, not just pit bulls.

The law was enacted in 2000, after residents expressed concern about the number of pit bulls in the city, said former Councilman Kevin Kelley, who helped to champion the law, which was sponsored by then-Councilman Gerald Kelly.

"Many owners were using them to fight and being very aggressive," Kelley said. "Our original goal was to ban them all together."

Kelley said the council eventually reached a compromise with animal rights groups to implement the breed specific law.

Kelley said he still has issues with pit bulls and doesn't feel that the law should have been changed, but understands that the city needs to bring the law in line with state law so that there can be statewide animal control enforcement.

"I think that normal dogs that run through a neighborhood, nobody worries about, but when a pit bull runs through a neighborhood, everybody is concerned," Kelley said.

Councilman Bob Williams said he would support some revisions to the law, not to include pit bull specific language, but to strengthen the consequences for owners of dogs deemed dangerous.

Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2837. Follow her on Twitter @JennaPizzi.