By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

LB1055 would require dogs designated as "dangerous" to be implanted with tracking chips and would greatly restrict their movement.

Under McDonald's bill, no dangerous dog could be taken temporarily to another county or municipality without a reasonable veterinary purpose. In the case of a permanent move, owners would be required to get written permission from the animal control authorities in both the county the owner is leaving and the one it is moving into.

No state laws currently govern the movement of dangerous dogs between municipalities or counties.

The bill will be discussed during a hearing of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee that will be convened at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Through an aide, McDonald declined to comment this week until after the hearing.

In an interview last month, McDonald said she hoped a tracking system would help owners responsible for dangerous dogs.

"Without that, that dog could be moved all over the state and continue to do what dangerous dogs do, and that's attack," she said.

The bill was created through work with the state's two largest humane societies, as well as other county and animal control officials.

Local animal control officials said the bill would be a huge help in their efforts.

Jerry Schenck, the chief Howard County sheriff's deputy, said the bill would provide valuable information on dogs moving into the county.

Within the past year, the sheriff's department found out about two dangerous dogs that had moved into the county only after attacks were reported, Schenck said. One dog bit a deputy.

"If there had been some information, we would've known the character of that dog," Schenck said. "But we didn't."

Jane Kuehn, shelter manager and lead animal control officer for the Central Nebraska Humane Society in Grand Island, said her group already tries to discourage moves.

For about the past year, the humane society has used routine checkups on dangerous dog owners to find out if they're planning to move out of the county. If they are, a letter is sent to the sheriff's department in the new county, Kuehn said.

The humane society tries to tell dangerous dog owners that they can't leave the county, but without the force of law, there's little means to compel them not to go, Kuehn said. If McDonald's bill is passed, that will change.

"Now we can actually say it is illegal," she said of the proposed provision.

Kuehn said the bill will also help in tracking many of the dangerous dog owners who try to move often to avoid abiding by regulations that require the dogs to be kept in a secure pen.

"This way we have a better track on them," she said.

The bill also clarifies the existing definition of what justifies a "dangerous dog" designation. McDonald proposes that any kind of injury to a human from an attack would merit the label, while under the existing law, the injury must result in a broken bone, "disfiguring lacerations requiring multiple sutures or cosmetic surgery" or a threat to the victim's life or health.

Dogs can also be labeled dangerous if they kill a domestic animal, and the bill would expand that category to include animals in wildlife parks and refuges along with dogs and cats.