MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The City of Myrtle Beach is one step closer to making it illegal to tether animals under many conditions.
Myrtle Beach council voted on Tuesday to add tethering to the city’s mistreatments of animals ordinance, making it against the law. City council must pass one additional reading before it becomes law.
“The animal is abused
Steven Trott, MBPD animal control officer
on the chain. It doesn’t
have socialization,
which makes it aggressive,
too. So, it’s a way to combat
the mistreatment of
the animal, plus it allows
the animal to receive
proper socialization.”
In Myrtle Beach, it’s already illegal to leave pets outside during extreme weather events and to confine them in a car without air ventilation when its hotter than 70 degrees.
This new change would regulate how long an animal could be tethered, what material the tether is made up of, and would forbid tethering when an animal is sick or hurt, among many other restrictions.
Myrtle Beach police animal control officers say tethering an animal can have a lot of negative consequences on your pet’s life.
“It’s not a humane, primary way of enclosing an animal, so it decreases many things like natural behaviors,” said Steven Trott, animal control officer with the Myrtle Beach Police Department.
“The animal is abused on the chain,” said Troll. “It doesn’t have socialization, which makes it aggressive, too, so it’s a way to combat the mistreatment of the animal, plus it allows the animal to receive proper socialization.”
The ordinance change would also require impounded dogs and cats be neutered or spayed within 30 days.