CBS file

 The Lynn City Council has approved a law that requires pit bull owners to muzzle their pets when off their property.

Councilors on Tuesday also agreed to ask Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy to increase the manpower of the city’s animal control department, which currently has only one full-time officer, to enforce the rule.

The Daily Item of Lynn reports that the ordinance was passed after the council listened to nearly three hours of often passionate arguments from people on both sides of the debate.

The muzzle law was proposed by council President Timothy Phelan in May after several pit bull attacks on people in the city.