Family May Lose Pit Bull 'Therapy Dog'

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A family in Moreauville, Louisiana is fighting to save their beloved pit bull after the city passed an ordinance in October banning “vicious dogs.” Owners of pit bulls and rottweilers in the small village (population 912) received a letter saying that after December 1, 2014, pets found within the corporate limits of Moreauville will be “impounded and transported to a veterinary clinic for further disposition,” according to a letter posted on Joanna Armand’s “Save Zeuss” Facebook page.

Zeus, Armand’s pit bull, acts as a therapy dog for her daughter O’Hara, who suffers from severe neck problems, wears a halo brace, and is in a wheelchair, Armand told CNN.

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"I can sit here if I’m in pain, he comes and he notices it before I even make any noise," O’Hara told local news station KALB. “If anything ever happened to him, I would just shut down.”

Regardless of the special therapeutic circumstances, the town told Armand they couldn’t make an exception.

Armand has launched an online petition, “Save Zeuss,” at Moveon.org that, as of this writing, has nearly 165,000 signatures. “This ban should be lifted and Zeus, our family pet who just so happens to be a pit bull, should be saved and allowed to come back home where he belongs with his family!”

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Yahoo Parenting’s continued attempts to reach Alderman Penn Lemoine were unsuccessful. “We had several residents that were complaining about not being able to walk along the neighborhoods because these dogs were basically running along town,” Lemoine said, according to KALB.

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When asked if “further disposition” meant that the town would kill the dogs, Lemoine would not confirm or deny. “I’d rather not elaborate on that,” he said. “If that’s what the ordinance says, that’s what it says.”

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Lemoine told local news that if there is enough of a public outcry, he would consider changing the ordinance. Considering the ongoing support for Armand and her family—their “Save Zeus” Facebook page has nearly 25,000 likes—it looks like the “vicious dog ordinance” could make the agenda at the upcoming December 8 council meeting.