By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — The City Council seems disinclined to consider passing a new law prohibiting ownership of pit bull terriers, despite a request for one from the Police Department.

The police say the dogs are the most vicious in the city, responsible for more attacks on people and other pets than any other breed. Besieged with budget problems, the council has not been able to schedule a work session with the police to discuss the dog law since the issue was first raised about three weeks ago, said City Council President Leo T. Fontaine.
The council president said he intends to schedule a workshop, but he isn't sure if the matter will make it to the top of the council's legislative agenda anytime soon. He said the “breed specific” legislation of the sort the police recommend may sound good on paper, but it could be difficult to enforce and comes with a ready-made constituency prepared to challenge it.
“It draws out a whole number of questions and opponents,” said Fontaine. “We have to weigh out the benefits of the legislation and the challenges we would face in enforcing it.”
Councilman William Schneck agrees, saying the city should address problems with pit bulls — or the people how own them — on a case-by-case basis.
“We have animal control laws already,” said Schneck. “All we need to do is enforce the laws we have.”
Schneck likened the argument for banning pits bulls to that employed by those who want to outlaw handguns.  “It's like that saying, 'Guns don't kill people, people do,'” says Schneck. “It comes down to the same issue. The problem doesn't start with the dogs. It starts with the owner.”
When they requested a new anti-pit bull law in mid-June, the police turned over to the council a dossier, thick as a telephone book, documenting virtually every law enforcement response to incidents involving pit bulls in more than three years. Pit bulls were responsible for just 32 percent of all dog bites in 2006, a figure that has since risen to about 50 percent, according to the report, compiled by Capt. Ken Paulhus.
“In Woonsocket, pit bulls bite more often, and cause more injury, than any other breed,” Animal Control Officer Doris Kay said in the report.
The police recommended that the City Council adopt an ordinance modeled after those in effect in Pawtucket and Central Falls. Those measures specifically address the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, all breeds commonly referred to as pit bulls, a short, stocky type of dog with powerful jaws that was originally bred for dog-fighting. Many claim the animals are genetically predisposed to aggression, but experts say it's the owners who drive the antisocial behavior of the animals, either through willful training or neglect.
The Pawtucket law prohibits ownership of pits bulls except for those that were registered with the city before the law went into effect, and it requires the owners of the animals to carry no less than $100,000 in liability insurance on the animals. All registered animals would have to be spayed or neutered and when in public, muzzled and leashed. Scofflaws face fines starting at $250, but repeat offenders could pay up to $1,000 and be jailed for 30 days.
“This problem needs to be handled in a humane fashion,” Dennis Tabella, director of Defenders of Animals, said in response to the proposal recently. “Statistics only give you ammunition to slant a solution in any direction you want. Woonsocket needs to look at the whole problem and not use myopic vision.”
Since news of the anti-pit bull legislation surfaced, Defenders of Animals is just one of many organized animals rights groups to come out against it, said Fontaine. “To be honest, I've been deluged with e-mails, not only from local people, but national organizations,” he said. “It really is a hot-button issue with a lot of these groups.”
This isn't the first time the idea of regulating pit bulls has been considered in the city. Several years ago, the City Council proposed a similar measure, but it was defeated after vigorous debate.