An Orlando resident’s dog was declared “Dangerous” by Orange County. She’s arguing that the county ordinance should be declared invalid.
LISA AMATO has raised “Runty,” a 2-year-old black-and-white pit bull, since birth. Now, however, she’s fighting Orange County to show that Runty is not “dangerous.”
“She was the runt of the litter,” says Amato, who is currently studying animal behavior at the Florida Institute of Animal Arts in Winter Park. “She still has a baby mentality. She’s extremely gentle.”
The incident
On the night of January 12, 2012, Amato let Runty outside with Zoey, a former roommate’s dog who had grown up with Runty, to “go potty” in the fenced-in yard. Of the two dogs, Runty is more submissive.
Unfortunately, the dogs went under the fence. Outside, Zoey got into a fight with Bella, a neighbor’s dachshund. Zoey suffered a bite mark near her eye, while the much smaller Bella suffered bite marks on her back.
A few days later, an animal control officer came around in search for the dog that had injured Bella. According to Orange County Animal Control (OCAS) records, Bella’s owner, having seen the incident, saw Runty in the impound truck and said, “That’s not the dog!” The officer, having deteremined that the wrong dog had been picked up, returned Runty.
However, Zoey could not be found. So, days later, OCAS came back for Runty and later declared Runty “dangerous.”
‘Dangerous dog’?
Amato strongly believes that Zoey, not Runty, was Bella’s attacker, and Runty is innocent. However, Amato’s attorney, Cynthia Conlin, argues that, even if Runty were the attacker, OCAS’s decision to declare Runty “dangerous” still is legally wrong because it violates Florida Statutes.
The term “dangerous dog” is defined by both Orange County Code and Florida Statutes.
According to Orange County code, the phrase means, among other things, a dog that has, one time, “severely injured or killed a domestic animal while off the owner’s property.” (A “domestic animal” is a dog, cat, ferret, rabbit, or bird, according to the code.)
According to Florida Statutes, however, a “dangerous dog” has to have “more than once severely injured or killed a domestic animal while off the owner’s property.” Fla. Stat. § 767.11(1)(b).
Even though its ordinance conflicts with the state statute, Orange County follows its own definition of “dangerous dog” – not Florida’s.
Broward law found ‘null and void’
Broward County recently had an ordinance that, like Orange County’s, defined “dangerous dog” in part as a dog who, only once, “causes the death of a domestic animal while unprovoked and while off the owner’s or keeper’s property.”
However, a dog owner challenged Broward’s ordinance after his dog was declared dangerous pursuant to Broward County code – and put to sleep as a result – even though the dog was not dangerous pursuant to Florida statutes.
In February 2011, the Fourth District Court of Appeals heard the case, Hoesch v. Broward County, 53 So.3d 1177, and declared the Broward ordinance “null and void” because it was “in conflict” with section 767.11(1)(b).
“[A]n ordinance and statute are in conflict when compliance with the ordinance violates the state law, or makes compliance with state law impossible,” the Court explained. “Broward’s definition of dangerous dog . . . cannot coexist with the definition provided in section 767.11(1)(b).”
“Like the former ‘dangerous dog’ definition used by Broward County, Orange County’s ‘dangerous dog’ definition cannot coexist with Florida statutes,” says Attorney Conlin. “Because the Orange County code conflicts with the state statute, it, like the former Broward County ordinance, should be declared null and void.
The hearing
On March 22, 2012, the OCAS Classification Committee will conduct an appeal hearing to consider whether Runty was correctly declared “dangerous” pursuant to Florida Statute and Orange County Code.
If the committee upholds OCAS’s decision, Amato’s next step, Conlin says, will be an appeal before Orange County Court. “She also may file a separate legal action against the county to have the court declare Orange County’s definition of ‘dangerous dog’ invalid.”
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