Maryland Delegate Cheryl Glenn has good intentions — she introduced HB 169 to crack down on reckless owners and dangerous dogs. Everyone wants safe, humane communities. But we all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Americans treasure our constitutional rights, including the right to procedural due process before being deprived of our property. This means that we have the right to a hearing and an appeal before our property is seized by the government and destroyed. The government sees pets as property, yet HB 169 provides none of those constitutional protections for pet owners/guardians.HB 169 would declare a dog "dangerous" if it killed or inflicted some injury on a domestic animal off its owners property. So, let's say I take my dog to a dog park and another dog attacks it and my dog bites the aggressor back. My dog could be deemed a dangerous dog by animal control, even if he didn't start the altercation. And I wouldn't get any notification or a hearing to contest the charge.
The "dangerous dog" declaration is pretty onerous. In addition to mandatory microchipping and spaying or neutering, the dog is under house arrest for life. No more walks in the park, doggy day-care, etc. Owners would also have to obtain $300,000 worth of liability insurance to keep their pet.
This bill is not only unconscionable, it's probably unconstitutional.
Procedural due process requirements and dangerous dog laws are becoming hot issues. In the last few years, many dangerous dog laws have bitten the dust because they lacked due process — Spokane, Washington and Port St. Lucie, Florida laws are among them. Indeed, The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction has a new lesson on procedural due process and dangerous dog laws authored by Best Friends Animal Society's attorneys. It's now available to 100,000 law students in most law schools around the nation, free of charge.
Delegate Glenn's intentions are good. However, she would serve the public better by cracking down on reckless dog owners. She could follow Illinois' lead and prevent convicted felons from owning unsterilized dogs. She could prevent owners who have had their dogs declared "dangerous" on multiple occasions from owning pets in the state.
Most importantly, she could add due process provisions to her legislation. Maybe the Maryland state legislature, like the U.S. Congress, needs to reread the constitution.
