By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – New Hanover County commissioners voted to strengthen a revision to a county ordinance making it illegal to leave a tethered dog and walk away.
Nearly every commissioner had a dog story of their own. And when it came time to vote, commissioner Bobby Greer shared his story about a family dog that would dig holes under the backyard fence and pondered what he could have done to protect that dog if he couldn't have leashed it up in the backyard.
Minutes later Greer voted against the revised ordinance that would ban leaving a tethered dog unsupervised.
Greer's lone vote against the revision pushes the issue to a second reading at next month.
The county says it has come across tethered dogs with not enough rope to reach food and water along with other abuses.
Opponents to the revision say the county should focus on animal neglect and abuse, not how owners secure their dogs.
County officials say a state law is being drawn up to ban tethering an unattended dog.