Volusians who keep dogs deemed dangerous are now subject to tougher liability requirements.
“Why stop at $100,000?” asked Council Member Troy Kent. “Why not say, ‘If you want to have a dangerous dog, we’re going to require you to have a rider for $1 million?’
“I think we ought to raise that up. The state allows us to go up to $1 million,” Council Member David Santiago said.
Santiago then moved to mandate owners of dangerous dogs carry liability insurance valued at “no less than $1 million.”
How does that number stack up against what other localities require for dogs deemed dangerous?
“Most other municipalities do not have minimum insurance requirements,” a county memorandum notes. “Of those that do, the requirements are typically phrased as ‘not less than $50,000’ or ‘not less than $100,000’ liability coverage. The City of Ormond Beach, for example, has a $100,000 insurance requirement.”
A dog may be considered dangerous if it attacks or bites a person or another animal without provocation.
County Public Protection Director Randa Matusiak said the incidents involving attacks by dogs upon people are “rare.” She noted three dogs deemed dangerous were euthanized in the county’s jurisdiction over the past year.
Still, Santiago favored increasing the minimum of liability coverage.
“They [owners of dangerous dogs] should be held to a very high standard,” he said.
“If you want to own a dog that is actually dangerous, I think Volusia County should make it hard on you,” Kent said. “There are people who train their dogs to be dangerous. … You need to have a policy that can cover them.”
“I think we should just keep it at $100,000,” Council Member Don Dempsey said. “Animals are property. … One hundred thousand dollars is a good benchmark. One million [dollars] is excessive.”
Dempsey noted the state requires a driver to carry a minimum of $20,000 of auto liability, and the $100,000 figure for an owner of a dangerous dog is five times as much as the coverage required for a driver.
“I believe that anybody that has a dog deemed dangerous, and brings it out in public, … I want to make sure this governing body … [is] going to make sure that you cover the mayhem and destruction,” Kent said.
As the debate continued, Council Member Danny Robins asked about a possible compromise with a minimum of $500,000.
“I’ll take that deal,” Santiago said, amending his motion to set the liability floor at that figure.
“We should really be going after the owner,” County Chair Jeff Brower said, noting dog attacks, such as one north of DeLand earlier this year, that have been fatal. “They lost their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. … It’s really the owner’s fault.”
The County Council voted 6-1 for the $500,000 minimum of liability coverage for the owner of a dog classified as dangerous. Dempsey dissented.
Owners of dangerous dogs must also register them as such, and the county’s Animal Services issues a certificate of registration. Such is already the law, along with requirements that the dangerous animal be spayed or neutered and kept “securely enclosed.”
“The initial registration fee for the dangerous dog shall be $1,500.00,” the ordinance now in effect reads. “The owner shall be required to renew the certificate at an annual cost of $500.00.”
Anyone found in violation of the ordinance may be fined $500.
On a related note, the council abolished the Animal Control Board, an advisory body that handled dangerous-dog cases. A special magistrate appointed by the county will resolve such cases.
The county’s dangerous-dog ordinance applies to the unincorporated areas and inside the limits of the towns of Oak Hill and Pierson.
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