A Chicago alderman will ask the city council Wednesday to revisit city dog laws after a jogger was brutally attacked this month by two pit bulls.
Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) plans to introduce a resolution on Chicago's dangerous dog ordinance during the city council's first meeting of the year.
The resolution asks that Chicago's health protection, public safety and consumer protection committees hear public and expert testimony to make recommendations for legislation to reduce the number of animal attacks.
"There may be any number of triggers that cause animals to attack," the proposal reads. "A pack of dogs may act differently from how they normally act individually. Animal behaviorists believe fatal dog attacks are caused by a myriad of factors such as the personality of the dog."
Fioretti pointed to the recent attack of 62-year-old Joseph Finley as reason to look again at Chicago's laws. Finley told reporters on Tuesday he was beginning his third lap along Lake Michigan when he noticed the dogs. He tried to maneuver around them, he said, but they attacked.
"These were not just regular dogs. No. These dogs attacked in a way of dogs that have been trained to kill," he said.
Fioretti called the incident "appalling" and pointed to several other attacks, including a 56-year-old man mauled to death in 2010 in his South Side home and a 48-year-old woman jogger killled by two dogs in Dan Ryan Woods in 2003.
Earlier this month Fioretti said some residents called for a pit bull ban after Finley was attacked. When asked if he agrees with a ban, Fioretti said he wasn't sure.
"I know a number of calls we received here in the past 24 hours all said ban pit bulls," said Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd).
But he's sure about a new look at protection laws.
"It is incumbent upon this legislative body to re-examine the ordinances concerning animals deemed dangerous to ensure that adequate safeguards are mandated and enforced," the proposal reads.
Last month a pit bull ban separated a former Chicago police officer from his service dog. An Iowa judge ruled in favor of an injunction to allow Snickers, a pit bull mix, to immediately be reunited with owner James Sak.
