The city of Muscatine, Iowa is considering a repeal of its breed ban in effect since 2003. The city council will hold a special meeting for public comment on Thursday, October 28. Dog owners and interested members of the public should attend the meeting and encourage city council to repeal the breed ban.
City ordinance currently bans keeping a dog that is a Staffordshire terrier, American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier or any dog which has the appearance and characteristics of being predominantly of the breeds of Staffordshire terrier, American pit bull terrier or American Staffordshire terrier. According to a press release, the city council “directed staff during their March 5 meeting to prepare a change to the ‘Keeping of Pit Bulls’ ordinance for future Council consideration. That report was heard at the October 14 council meeting.
AKC opposes breed-specific laws. Instead, we promote laws that declare dogs as dangerous based on specific actions and hold all dog owners accountable regardless of the breed they own. For more talking points and information, visit our key issues page in the AKC Legislative Action Center at www.akcgr.org/bsl.
What You Can Do:
- Attend the October 28 hearing at 7:00pm. The hearing will be held at:
City Hall Council Chambers
215 Sycamore Street
Muscatine, IA 52761
- Contact the members of the City Council and respectfully express your support for repealing the city’s breed ban:
- Diana L. Broderson broderson@muscatineiowa.gov
- Dennis Froelich dfroelich@muscatineiowa.gov
- Osmond Malcolm omalcolm@muscatineiowa.gov
- Peggy Gordon pgordon@muscatineiowa.gov
- Nadine Brockert nbrockert@muscatineiowa.gov
- John Jindrich jjindrich@muscatineiowa.gov
- Kelcey Brackett kbrackett@muscatineiowa.gov
- Dewayne Hopkins dhopkins@muscatineiowa.gov
AKC Government Relations will continue to monitor and provide more information as it becomes available. For questions, contact AKC GR at doglaw@akc.org.