Coral Springs Forum | Sun-Sentinel.com

Dogs on chains could soon be a thing of the past in Coral Springs.

Scores of Forest Glen Middle School children, led by their teacher Lisa DosSantos, thronged City Hall in a bid to get the commission members to enact an ordinance that would ban tethering of dogs in the city.

"A chained dog can only watch as life goes by," DosSantos said. "It's inhuman to chain dogs out in extreme temperatures 24 hours a day. Other cities have introduced such an ordinance and we expect Coral Springs to do so too."

Although four students had signed up to speak, commissioner Ted Mena intervened after only one of them did. "The dog will have to wait no more," he said.

"We had someone fatally bitten by a dog some time ago," Mayor Scott Brook said. "We introduced an ordinance to address that issue. But a few people told us later that it was not the most appropriate one. This sounds like something to consider."

The commission later decided to study the issue before taking a decision.

DosSantos, who has two rescued dogs and cats in her house, said she was confident of the commission deciding favorably on the issue. "The parents that were at the commission meeting were as intent on having an ordinance as the students were," she said. "The commission will surely take that into consideration."