OCEAN TOWNSHIP - Legislation sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal was signed this Tuesday, amending New Jersey law to provide the State with added flexibility in determining whether an abused dog able to be rehabilitated or one that attacks a criminal while defending its family must be euthanized.

“Unfortunately, some dog owners want to train their pets to be aggressive and dangerous creatures,” said Senator Vin Gopal. “That does not mean, however, that every dog bite, every incident, is the result of the dog being vicious.

"I sponsored this legislation because as a state, we need to make sure that dangerous dogs are not a threat to public safety, but we also need to give credence to incidents provoked, not by the dog’s training but by human behavior and outside circumstance.”

S1923 changes municipal court requirements to allow more consideration of abusive circumstances in cases where dogs are at risk of euthanasia. The bill also prohibits courts from declaring a dog to be potentially dangerous for causing bodily injury in the act of defending its owner from a person committing or attempting to commit a crime against them.