By Juan Montoya
Thank City of Brownsville commissioner Deborah Portillo for establishing a free-fire zone on stray low-income, homeless dogs in the city.
The commissioner – during a recent televised so-called town hall meeting – said she wanted to teach the residents of Brownsville how to be responsible pet owners. Now any dog caught loose by the Animal Control Rangers will be subject to a warrantless chip search. If there is no chip detected, well, it will be doggone it for the luckless pooch. Instead of a no-kill zone, the city has in effect instituted a free-fire zone for the luckless beast whose owner did not take the time to have their vet or the city implant one (at $5 bucks a pop at the city).
The chip ordinance went into effect January 1, 2017.
"This is stray mutt profiling if I ever heard of it," said a city wag as he walked from Tina's Restaurant back to work at the municipal court. "Obviously, it will be the dogs and cats from the low-income neighborhoods who will be stopped and searched for a chip. In Brownsville, it won't pay to be Straying While A Mutt."
Even if the dog does have a chip which identifies its owner, they will still be required to pay a $250 fine for allowing the dog to stray outside the fenceline or yard. The chip will merely help to find the owner who can pay the fine or else let the Grim Reaper at the shelter give the pooch the needle.
So dog owners you have been warned. If Fido or Firuli strays outside the yard, you might be kissing him goodbye for the last time.