The City Council may consider a breed ban or other measures on animals the Council deems “potentially vicious.” This comes in the wake of a much-publicized pit bull attack on a mailman on North Penn Ave. in Mason City.|
According to a City Hall memo dated Decmeber 20, 2010, the City Council has asked City Attorney Tom Meyer for information on options they could pursue in dealing with potentially vicious animals.
The key word seems to be “potentially” as one of the options brought forward by Meyer is a breed ban. A ban on a certain breed (of dog) would be an attempt to eliminate breeds of dogs that they deem to be most likely to become vicious.
A recent pit bull attack on a mailman on North Penn Ave. in Mason City garnered attention by the Council to the vicious animal dilemma in Mason City. 
It was not clear which Council members requested the information from Meyer. However, Councilman Jeff Marsters said in an email to other Council members “What can we do? The potential for a fatality continues to grow. I hate to think we are going to wait for a death to deal with the growing number of pitbulls owned by irresponsible owners.”
Asked by NorthIowaToday.com how the Council may proceed on the matter, Meyer said “This is for informational purposes at this point. There would likely be a discussion on breeds if the Council wanted to look into this any further.”
The three options presented to the Council by Meyer are:
– Breed ban
– Mandatory insurance requirement by owners of breeds of dogs the Council has deemed potentially vicious
– Mandatory confinement provisions, i.e. certain breeds of dogs would be required to be kenneled or confined to a house at all times and could not be chained to poles, trees or other objects
