Denver on a Dog "Witch Hunt"

Group: rec.pets.dogs.health Date: Fri, Jun 17, 2005, 9:44pm From:
(Freedom=A0Fries)
Stupid morons. The owners are the problem not the dogs. Good owners are
being punished for the acts of a few abusive owners.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=3Dst...e=3D4&u=3 D/=
csm/20050617
/ts_csm/apitbull_1
DENVER - During a recent Sunday drive here, Sonya Dias had one thing on
her mind: Get out of the city limits as quickly as possible without
letting her cargo be seen. In the back of her Toyota RAV4, she was
carrying Zena, a pit bull, whom she hoped to keep from city officials -
and possible death.
Ms. Dias is part of an unusual "underground railroad" intent on
transporting Denver's pit bulls to safety before city officials can
impound and euthanize them. Last month, the city renewed one of the most
sweeping bans in the nation against the breed and, since May 9, more
than 150 pit bulls have been put down.
Denver's move lies at the center of a growing controversy over how far
cities should go in protecting the public from potentially dangerous
dogs.
Across the country, serious or fatal attacks by pit bulls continue to
generate public concern. The issue is raising basic questions about the
balance between public safety and owners' rights and whether the problem
lies with the breed or their handlers.
Not surprisingly, pit bull supporters say the controversial dogs are
unfairly stereotyped: They see them as loving and well-mannered. "[The
ban is] the equivalent, to me, of saying, 'You have to give up your
children,'" says Dias, a 30-something mortgage banker who is helping
lead the opposition to the city ban.
Supporters are becoming increasingly vocal against the ban, signing
petitions, staging a protest, and volunteering to drive dogs 100 miles
away to an animal sanctuary in the south Colorado mountain town of
Divide.
The Denver City Council, meantime, is standing by enforcement of the pit
bull ban.
"The problem is when you have a specific breed used for dog fighting and
to protect drug premises," says Councilwoman Carol Boigon, "and they're
trained to be rough."
From 1984 to 1989, according to the city's website, Colorado saw 20 pit
bull attacks. In Denver, that included the 1986 death of a 3-year-old
boy, and the 1989 mauling that left 59-year-old Rev. Wilbur Billingsley
with over 70 bites and two broken legs.
In 1989, the City Council passed a resolution banning the dogs from
Denver.
Municipalities across the nation have wrestled with how to balance
crackdown protests from dog owners and keeping public spaces free from
dangerous dogs. A handful of cities have outright bans like Denver's.
Georgia and New Mexico have recently introduced bills that would ban the
breed statewide.
However, 12 states - including Colorado - have passed legislation to
prohibit breed-specific bans, according to the National Conference of
State Legislators.
In 2004, Gov. Bill Owens signed a bill prohibiting local governments
from regulating a specific breed - which applied to pit bulls, although
technically they are not a single breed.


I live in Massachusetts in a 3 apartment building. First floor has this
female pit that is spayed plus a few cats & 2 teenage kids. Second floor
is my son wife & 2 grandsons with their cats & I'm on the top floor with
my almost eleven year old female spayed lab mix plus 2 shih-tzus & 6
cats. When the first floor family & my daughter inlaw go in the back
yard the pitbull [ her name is Ruby ] is always there. She jumps right
on my daughter inlaw's lap & acts like a baby. There's not a mean bone
in her body but when my lab comes down I have to watch out for her.
Caught her showing her teeth & Ruby. That's a NO NO. I know there are
pitbuls that do attack but there are also other breeds of dogs that do
the same. To bad there has to be underground railroads to protect these
dogs. Be careful who that info is given too.