With temperatures plunging to into the single-digits and the wind-chill factor below zero, the City Council’s resident dog lover is trying again to protect animals from extreme weather cruelty.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) hopes the third-time will be the charm for his twice-stalled ordinance strengthening Chicago’s animal cruelty ordinance to spell out what pet owners can and can’t do, particularly during cold and hot weather.
At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Lopez plans to introduce an ordinance that would prohibit pet owners from:
• Staking any dog, regardless of gender, on private property “for more than two consecutive hours.” Female dogs in season could not be staked out unattended “for any amount of time.”
• Tethering any animal outdoors for any length of time between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., or for more than 30 minutes during the daytime when temperatures are below 45 degree Fahrenheit “or during any associated weather advisory.”
• Neglecting to provide reasonably necessary medical care” according to “commonly-accepted veterinary standards.” That mandatory minimum level of care would be “in addition to the required rabies vaccine and, if diseased or injured or exhibiting symptoms of disease, receive proper care and is segregated from animals so as to prevent transmittal of disease.”
• Abandoning or intentionally releasing any animal on any public way or in any place where it may suffer.
• Failing to provide any animal in their care with “breed-appropriate” food, water, air or sanitary shelter, including ventilation, “in such a manner as to be protected from excess head and cold.”
That no-tethering rule would be waived only if there is an “appropriate shelter accessible to the animal.” To qualify, it must be “just large enough for the dog to stand up and turn around.” The entrance must be “covered by a flexible, wind-proofing material or self-closing door.”
The shelter also “must contain clean, dry bedding” that consists of an “insulating material that does not retain moisture, such as straw of sufficient depth for the dog to burrow.” And it must be “protected from excess heat and cold” and large enough to “permit the animal to exercise and move about freely.”
Violators would be punished by a $5,000-a-day fine for each offense and forced to forfeit the animal.
Lopez acknowledged the revised animal cruelty ordinance is virtually identical to the one he tried and failed to pass under the last two mayors — Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot.
But he believes his case has been strengthened since then by a recent “surge” in cold weather cruelty.
“On social media, we saw where that one doctor had basically emaciated her pet animal in a crate. The Garrido Stray Rescue Foundation was going after her and, thankfully, was able to get a judge to issue an order against her having any future contact with animals,” Lopez said.
“We’ve seen dogs being chained to cinderblocks to keep it in place outside in the cold. We’ve seen … animals tied up to poles or found abandoned or let loose. And oftentimes, it’s from neglect or from families that are simply at their wit’s end with what to do with an animal they can no longer care for.”
To say that Lopez is a life-long dog lover would be an understatement.
He has six dogs of his own, five of them rescues.
Over the years, Lopez has led a series of crusades against animal cruelty and been sharply critical of the frequent turnover at Chicago’s Commission on Animal Care and Control.
He believes the time is right for the extreme weather crackdown — and not simply because of the mid-February cold snap.
“If we want to start creating a better, safer Chicago as our current administration likes to say, then that includes taking care of our animals and making sure that we are showing empathy to these sensitive beings and holding those who would harm them accountable,” Lopez said.
“Animal cruelty is the gateway to so many worse activities in our neighborhoods. And we know this to be true. Oftentimes when we see cruelty to animals, there’s also gang activity, drug-related activity and a whole host of other crimes that are associated within that universe that take root in our neighborhoods. We have to take animal crimes just as seriously.”