Restrictions on pit bulls are enacted

In response to recent pit bull attacks in Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino signed City Council legislation yesterday that imposes strict guidelines for pit bull owners.

The ordinance, which is effective immediately, requires owners to spay or neuter their pit bulls, muzzle them in public, post warning signs about the animals outside their homes, and secure a special license for their pet.

"This ordinance directly addresses the specific public safety issues involved with the ownership of pit bulls," Menino said in a statement, adding that it bolsters the 1996 vicious dog ordinance, which will continue to be enforced.

If an owner violates the new ordinance, the dog will immediately be impounded, and the owner will face a $100 fine, said Lisa Pollack, spokeswoman for the mayor.

Prior to the new ordinance, the 1996 vicious dog ordinance imposed a $250 fine for a first offense and $500 for any subsequent offense if a dog attacked another dog or person, Pollack said.

While the 1996 ordinance applied to any breed deemed "dangerous and vicious," the new ordinance is specific to pit bulls and their owners, Pollack said.

Last week, the Boston City Council voted to approve the pit bull ordinance after an unleashed pit bull in South Boston mauled a 22-pound Shiba Inu. On Monday, a Boston police officer shot and killed an unlicensed pit bull that had attacked a 6-year-old Dorchester boy.

Last night, police said, a Rottweiler bit the right arm of a 12-year-old boy on Leslie Park in Roxbury. The boy, who was not identified, was taken to Children's Hospital in Boston, but police did not know his condition.