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Legislature OKs leeway for police dogs that bite

The Wisconsin Legislature unanimously passed a bill Tuesday that will exempt police dogs from the quarantine process required for dogs that bite a human.

To prevent the spread of rabies in Wisconsin, any dog that bites someone must be quarantined for 10 days and go to three veterinary checkups within that period. With the passage of Assembly Bill 52, authored by Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Randall, dogs will still be examined by a vet but will not be quarantined.

“It’s important for Wisconsin and for law enforcement, due to the fact that not every county has a dog,” Kerkman said. “When a situation comes online where you need to utilize as much manpower and resources that you can, you take a dog out of circulation — that could potentially add to the time it takes to locate a missing child or a missing person.”

Kerkman said the problem was brought to her attention by Deputy Eric Klinkhammer from the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, who is in charge of the K-9 unit for the county. Klinkhammer wanted Wisconsin to adopt an exemption law that several other states have passed, Kerkman said.

Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said this legislation will solve the problem their K-9 unit was facing.

“This bill fits in perfectly for not only our agency, but any agency out there that would have a canine in use,” Beth said. “Each department has tens of thousands of dollars invested in a dog and the handler for training, and for almost a two-week period that dog becomes a non-entity in a department.”

He added most of the money spent on K-9 units comes from taxpayers.

“Most canines are purchased with tax dollars at some level í