CHICKASHA — When it came to dealing with vicious animals, Chickasha officers were on a short leash.

A modification to the city's animal ordinance passed by the Council Monday evening, however, is supposed to give officers the latitude they need to protect residents from dangerous animals.

Police Chief Lynn Williams said the provisions came as a result of a series of municipal court hearings in which residents had almost been bitten by an animal.

Under the original ordinance, an animal had to physically bite a person before it could be declared dangerous.

Williams said the ordinance gave the city no power to fight animals who had attacked people but had been unable to bite them. The chief said the final straw came when a local church worker was chased to his pickup by a pit-type dog.

The new provisions provide for a definition of a "potentially dangerous" and "potentially vicious" animal.

Williams said the provisions give animal control officers and police officers the ability to declare an animal potentially vicious if it displays aggressive behavior.

The declaration can be appealed to municipal court, where a judge will make the final determination on whether the animal is potentially vicious.

If marked as potentially vicious, the provisions include a new set of guidelines the pet owners must follow.

Within 30 days of being declared potentially vicious or dangerous, the owner must provide a kennel for the animal with 150 square feet of space for each animal within the pen. The kennel must be located within a yard confined by a sight-proof fence, measuring at least six foot high.

Any time the animal is removed from the confines, it must be on a leash and muzzled.

Animal control must be provided with two color photos of the animal and the animal will be required to have an electronic identification tag.

Williams said owners have to register the animal with the city on an annual basis, at a cost of $100 per year. The owners will also have to provide the city notification if the animal dies or is moved out of city limits.

As breeding of potentially dangerous animals is against city ordinance, the animal will have to be sterilized once it has been deemed potentially vicious. If the animal is already pregnant, the offspring must be removed from city limits once they are of weaning age.

Owners will also be required to have insurance on their animal. The ordinance requires a minimum of $100,000 for bodily injury or death.

Williams said the provisions have been modeled after the requirements enacted in Edmond within the last year, and he believes they will help keep the residents of Chickasha safe from animal attacks.

The city council agreed and passed the modification unanimously.

The chief said the city has seen a recent decline in animal bites. He attributed the decrease to the persistence of the animal control officers