By L.E. CAMPENELLA
The Patriot Ledger
If you own a pit bull, Canton might not be the town for you.
Tonight’s town meeting will decide whether to impose strict restrictions, such as mandatory confinement, special licenses, muzzles and insurance requirements, and create a limit of one pit bull per family.
Initially, selectmen planned to ban the breed, exempting dogs that already live in town.
Selectman Avril Elkort said a situation about a year ago, when three pit bulls kept getting loose and roaming a neighborhood, prompted the new bylaw.
‘‘People are totally petrified by these dogs,’’ Elkort said.
Canton isn’t alone in its attempt to rein in problem dogs, but animal control officers, experts and even those who have survived pit bull attacks say Canton is barking up the wrong tree.
Ban stand
Scott Giacoppo, deputy director of advocacy for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said a pit bull-only ban gives residents a false sense of security and will cost the town in the end.
‘‘What do you do when a German shepherd, Dalmatian, Rottweiller or a cocker spaniel attacks someone?’’
Giacoppo said breed bans have been overturned by courts across the country, costing cities and towns thousands of dollars.
‘‘What you’ll see is pit bull owners lining up to test the constitutionality of the law,’’ he said.
Canton’s animal control officer, Ellen Barnett, said she was not invited to help draft the new code and will argue against it.
In Randolph, town meeting voters next month will decide a vicious dog law ordinance that would put the bite on dogs that attack humans or other animals. The ordinance calls for penalties ranging from muzzling, keeping the dogs in fully enclosed cages and sterilization to tattooing, implanting a microchip to identify the dog as vicious and euthanasia.
Hingham voters last week decided to prohibit any dog that has been banned or removed from any other city or town.
Marshfield, which has been plagued by attacks on people and other dogs over the last two years, has formed a committee to draft a dangerous dog law. So has Brockton.
Boston, New Bedford and New York are among cities that have strict rules on pit bulls and other vicious dogs.
Denver banned the breed in 1989. It is rounding up the terriers and has killed hundreds each year, which has forced owners to turn to an ‘‘underground railroad’’ to get their pets out of the city.
Problems with dog attacks, especially pit bulls, are not just a U.S. problem. The breed was banned in England in 1991 and in 2005 in Ontario.
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