Dangerous or Vicious Animals

1) Dangerous Dogs
Dangerous dogs are an increasingly serious and widespread threat to the safety and welfare of people and other domestic animals.

A dangerous dog should be so classified because of its aggressive behavior and not because of its breed. When a dog is classified as “dangerous” by the appropriate authority, as required by FL Statutes, Chapter 767.10 -16, certain precautions are required to insure the welfare and safety of the community. This statute details specific actions required of the dog owner. Animal control authorities must insure that all required actions are followed by the owner in accordance with this law. Appropriate follow-up is required and all cases should be well documented with carefully maintained written reports.

FACA recommends the publication or dissemination to the public of information on dogs designated as dangerous, to include such information as location, description, photograph, etc.

In order to enforce Chapter 767.10-15, FACA urges each county to utilize a uniform process of permanently identifying dogs that have been classified as “dangerous”. FACA recommends microchipping, but if tattooing is utilized, we recommend the coding system outlined below.

Owners (at their own expense) would be required to have such a dog tattooed on the inside right thigh or abdomen with the following alpha/numeric sequence FLDD00-0. The interpretation of this sequence would be as follows:

a) the “FL” would indicate the State of Florida,
b) the “DD” would indicate that the dog is a “Dangerous Dog”,
c) the next two numeric digits would indicate the county in which the dog was classified (using the numeric sequence from the “Florida County Codes” listed in the Appendix) and
d) the final dash (-) and number would be selected by the county to identify that specific dog. The interpretation of this sequence would be as follows:

As an added form of identification, FACA recommends that each dog classified as “dangerous” be required to wear a large reflective identification tag using fluorescent coloring. The word “Dangerous” should be boldly imprinted on the tag to be clearly read from a safe distance. The telephone number of the animal control or protection authority should be included on this tag.

In addition, FACA recommends that all dogs declared “dangerous” be surgically sterilized.

2) Other Dangerous Animals
There are other animals that may pose a serious public safety risk, and should be defined and dealt with by local ordinance.