Dogs and municipal officials are not always a happy combination. Just last week, Borger-Odoorn suffered a legal confrontation with a team of Rottweilers in a home in Valthermond. The administrative judge stopped the municipal ban on this kennel, which in the eyes of the municipality was a commercial breeding farm while its operators said that they were only pursuing their hobby.
Some owners see their animals as their children and find it difficult to imagine that others are less fond of them, are bothered by them or are sometimes downright afraid of their four-legged friends. Finally walking 150,000 Dutch people every year a bite from a dog. Municipal lawyers therefore have their hands full with dogs and it leads to strange situations.
Three Drenthe mayors were recently taken to court because they had a dog that was eager to bite confiscated. Although the administrative judge ruled that a dog seized by Eric van Oosterhout (Emmen) was so dangerous that the animal had better be given an injection, the municipal objection committee decided that the dog could be returned to its owner.
Marco Out (Assen) was defeated at the Council of State (!) in a dispute about who had to pay the costs for the accommodation of a seized dog. Marcel Thijsen (Tynaarlo) ultimately won a lengthy procedure over a dog that bit a six-year-old girl twice.
In Valthermond, there is particular dissatisfaction among local residents, who were bothered by barking and whining. The fact that the kennel consists of Rottweilers will not have promoted acceptance in the neighborhood. These are strong, somewhat dominant dogs. You have to be able to control such a dog when you purchase it, but unfortunately things sometimes go wrong and biting incidents lurk.
On formal grounds, the judge ruled against Borger-Odoorn. The municipality did not indicate the number of dogs involved in commercial breeding. It will all be legally correct, but it is not satisfactory. The interests of local residents have been neglected in this case.
Eleven dogs in a house is just a lot. Whether they are there for a hobby or to make money, the howling and barking is no less.
It is therefore important that the municipality does its homework again and puts a stop to these practices for good reasons. Furthermore, Borger-Odoorn could introduce a heavy dog tax. With higher rates as the owners have more dogs.