CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas —
Interim President of Corpus Christi Animal Care Services William Cox said that the city's new requirements for dogs that are considered dangerous or aggressive will offer a better level of safety for residents.
You may remember back in late June when 40-year-old Lewis Flores was mauled to death by a pack of dogs while walking down Monkey Road in Rockport. Then in early September, an Orange Grove man was mauled by two pit bulls. Thankfully, he survived the attack.
"We're just looking at what's happening in the communities around us with aggressive and dangerous dogs. We want to be proactive to protect our community from any of these potential maulings or endangerment from aggressive dogs," he said.
Cox said residents can fill out an affidavit notifying his team if they have been harmed or impacted by a neighbor's pet. From there, the case gets handed to investigators.
"So, it's just a very specific protocol. They're going to look at the behavior, the nature of the injury, or the injuries, if it was provoked or unprovoked," he said.
Cox said once a ruling is made and a dog is deemed aggressive or dangerous, that pet will have to be registered and housed in a secure enclosure. The pet owner will also have to provide a certificate of public liability insurance for $100,000 for that pet. They will also have to purchase a special florescent leash, collar, and additional signage to put around their home notifying neighbors of their pet's status.
It is important to note that these ordinances don't target any specific breed.
"This is a dog that is deemed by Corpus Christi Animal Care Services as dangerous or aggressive that would fall under these criteria, not because you own a specific type of breed. I mean you could have a small, fluffy dog that has been deemed aggressive or dangerous as much as you could that pit bull," he said.
Cheryl Martinez, resident of People Assisting Animal Control said she is happy with the changes that are helping people to identify dangerous or aggressive dogs.
"I think that the city needs to be confident to be able to walk down the street and a lot of the time they're not because they're afraid of animals and afraid of being attacked. There are many areas where there are problems like that. I think this is a step in the right direction to inform the community so that they know what to be careful with," she said.
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