By By MARY-ALLISON LANCASTER – Managing Editor
After pushing for three years, the Alabama Humane Federation has finally gotten the House approval on a bill that would help protect people from being attacked by dogs.
According to Escambia County Humane Society Director Renee Jones, State Sen. Pat Lindsey (D-Brewton) put in a special request to get the bill up for a vote on the last day of the regular session
This bill establishes the procedure by which a dog can be declared dangerous and the owner held liable for any harmful actions of the dog.  
This legislation is not breed- specific and applies to the actual harm caused by the animal instead of the kind of dog it may be.
The bill allows the owner of a dog accused of being dangerous due process and the right to a fair and impartial hearing in court.
It also calls for containment and confinement regulations for dogs that have been declared dangerous by a judge.
The bill states if a dog has been declared dangerous and when unprovoked shall attack, assault, wound or cause serious physical injury or kills a human being, the owner shall be guilty of a Class C Felony.
A dog may not be declared dangerous under this act if: