ACTION ALERT: Austin City Council Vote on Dog Chaining Ban Expected This Week

June 4, 2007 : 12:00 AM

Your help is needed NOW to help pass a ban on dog chaining in Austin! Please CALL City Council today and ask them to ban dog chaining...and send an EMAIL reminder tomorrow!

By Lyndon Poole, Chain Free Austin

The draft ordinance to ban dog chaining in the City of Austin is scheduled to go before City Council this Thursday, June 7, 2007. The next few days will be make-or-break for this historic legislation, and the children and dogs of Austin are depending on each of us. So please take these simple but very critical steps to help pass the ordinance. It's crunch time...this is the moment we've been working for...so please act now to help push the chaining ban over the top!

STEP #1
Please CALL each City Council member's office TODAY and leave a message urging support of the dog chaining ban! Council office phone numbers are listed below.

Please make your message short, to the point, and polite. A receptionist will answer the phone and will take your message, along with your name and address (important that they know you're an Austin resident). This is VERY EASY and COMPLETELY PAINLESS...and only takes 2 or 3 minutes per Council member. But it is EXTREMELY important that we call each office. If you can't call today, please call on Tuesday!

Sample telephone message:
"I would like to urge Council Member _____ (or Mayor Wynn) to support the ban on dog chaining. Dog chaining is dangerous for children and cruel to dogs. Thank you very much."

Office Phone Numbers for Council Members and Mayor
Mayor Will Wynn: 512-974-2250
Council Member Lee Leffingwell: 512-974-2260
Council Member Mike Martinez: 512-974-2264
Council Member Jennifer Kim: 512-974-2255
Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley: 512-974-2258
Council Member Brewster McCracken: 512-974-2256
Council Member Sheryl Cole: 512-974-2266

STEP #2
Please send an EMAIL reminder to each City Council member on Tuesday to encourage support of the dog chaining ban! Email addresses are listed below.

Please put something very short and clear in the subject line of your mail, such as: Please Ban Dog Chaining. The body of your email only needs to be two or three sentences. Also, please mention that you live in Austin (if you do), and please include a thank-you in your message.

If you would like to include more specific points in your email, here is some sample information to consider.

Sample points for email message (please use your own phrasing) :
- Please vote to support the dog chaining ban this Thursday.
- Dog chaining makes dogs more aggressive.
- Dog chaining is dangerous for children.
- Dog chaining is cruel to dogs.
- Dog chaining is often associated with dog fighting. A dog chaining ban would give law enforcement one more tool to combat dog fighting.
- Dog chaining does not make neighborhoods safer--the opposite is true. Secure fenced enclosures, humane treatment, and strong enforcement are the answer.
- Austin should join the growing list of humane communities that have banned dog chaining.
- A charitable fund is being set up through the Austin Community Foundation to help offset the cost of dog fencing materials for low-income families.

• If you need additional information for your email, please visit our website: Chain Free Austin website

Email Addresses:
Mayor Will Wynn: will.wynn@ci.austin.tx.us
Council Member Lee Leffingwell: lee.leffingwell@ci.austin.tx.us
Council Member Mike Martinez: mike.martinez@ci.austin.tx.us
Council Member Jennifer Kim: jennifer.kim@ci.austin.tx.us
Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley: betty.dunkerley@ci.austin.tx.us
Council Member Brewster McCracken: brewster.mccracken@ci.austin.tx.us
Council Member Sheryl Cole: sheryl.cole@ci.austin.tx.us

PLEASE TAKE THESE VERY IMPORTANT STEPS TO HELP PASS THE DOG CHAINING BAN. We won't have another opportunity to pass this kind of law for a long, long time. Please act now--to help protect Austin's children, and to help relieve the suffering of Austin's chained dogs.

Thank you for your compassion!

For additional information and resources on chained dogs:
• Chain Free Austin website
• Make a pledge to help pay for fencing for low income Austin dog guardians
• Dogs Deserve Better No Chains Community on Best Friends Network
• Dogs Deserve Better website
• Dogs Deserve Better – Unchain the 50 Event

Reprinted with permission by Jennifer Hayes, Best Friends Network
Photo credit: photo by Jennifer Hayes

Comments

June 6, 2007 at 9:44 AM
posted by: jhayes

There's less than a day to voice your opinion to the Austin City Council and Mayor. I just submitted my e-mail to the above e-mail addresses, and it just took a few minutes. Here is a slightly edited version of my letter:

Although I do not live in Austin, I do live just south of Austin. I would like to voice my support of the ordinance to ban chaining dogs in Austin.

I am involved in both animal rescue and spay/neuter and have seen firsthand the damage a dog on the chain can produce. Ignoring the fact that dogs are pack animals and to remain solitary on a chain for its entire life is unbelievably cruel, it also causes behavioral issues, including aggression. Please see the following link from the Humane Society of the United States on facts regarding the teathering or chaining of dogs, http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/animal_abuse_and_neglect/the_facts_about_chaining_or_tethering_dogs.html.

Communities around Texas, including Texas City (and League City is debating it), have joined this humane movement and have banned chained dogs. Please let Austin join them. According to dogfriendly.com, Austin, TX is the #5 city to visit in the United States and Canada with a dog, http://www.dogfriendly.com/server/newsletters/current.shtml. Let's make it friendly for our own Austin canines.

In your upcoming vote, I ask you for mercy and sympathy to "man's best friend" and to please support a ban on dog chaining in Austin.

Thank you for your support.