Some justice for dogs
Court Rules Miami-Dade County Pit Bull Ban Unenforceable March 20, 2010 - Dallas Pet Laws Examiner - Laura Dapkus A court ruled Miami-Dade's 20 year ban on pit bulls was too vague in defining "pit bull" and unfairly let animal control officers basically guess whether a dog is a pit bull. This lawsuit pertained to a dog named Apollo specifically, and opens the door to a broader lawsuit against the ban. Miami Coalition Against Breed Specific Legislation (MCABSL) and Animal Law Coalition applaud a court ruling that the Miami Dade County Pit Bull ban is too vague, and the county cannot enforce the finding by animal control that a dog is a pit bull that must be euthanized or removed from the county. The ruling came in a case challenging the finding by Miami Dade County Animal Control that a family pet named Apollo was a “pit bull” that must be removed from the county or euthanized. The county bans all dogs that “substantially conform” to American Kennel Club standards for American Staffordshire Terriers or Staffordshire Bull Terriers or United Kennel Club standards for American Pit Bull Terriers. To determine if a dog substantially conforms to these standards, animal control uses a chart that lists 15 body parts such as “head”, “neck”, “lips”, “chest”, “eyes”, “tail”, “hind legs”, etc. The officer places a check mark to indicate whether each characteristic conforms or not to a pit bull. If 3 or more characteristics are checked “conform”, the dog is declared a pit bull. Rima Bardawil, the attorney for Apollo, pointed out that there is no such chart authorized by the ordinance and it is not clear what standards animal control is using in making its determinations. Also, Dahlia Canes, executive director of MCABSL, testified that animal control is “constantly” mis-identifying the breeds of dogs. She told the court about one dog that was declared by an animal control officer to be a pit bull mix and ordered euthanized. Canes arranged to have the dog re-evaluated and he was determined to be a mastiff mix. The dog was then adopted to a family in Miami-Dade County. In this case the animal control officer photographed Apollo from several feet away and then using the photo, picked 3 body parts he said he thought conformed to pit bull standards, whatever those are. As Canes pointed out later, “Many breeds of dogs and mixes have the same or similar traits. It is impossible to determine breed this way. Seriously, you are going to say a dog is a pit bull based on 3 traits like round eyes, broad shoulders and a muscular body? Dogs are many times genetically a mix of many different breeds. The judge agreed. This proves breed shouldn’t be a factor in deciding whether a dog presents a danger.” ***** For entire article see http://www.examiner.com/x-2924-Dallas-P ... nforceable Kristine |
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| Very interesting article! Thanks for sharing it with us. |
Mad Dog wrote: In this case the animal control officer photographed Apollo from several feet away and then using the photo, picked 3 body parts he said he thought conformed to pit bull standards, whatever those are. As Canes pointed out later, “Many breeds of dogs and mixes have the same or similar traits. It is impossible to determine breed this way. Seriously, you are going to say a dog is a pit bull based on 3 traits like round eyes, broad shoulders and a muscular body? Dogs are many times genetically a mix of many different breeds. The judge agreed. This proves breed shouldn’t be a factor in deciding whether a dog presents a danger.” Kristine 3 out of 15  are they kidding. Surely at least half if you want to use a daft method like that. I can just imagine the animal control officer, "mmmmm, let me see, head? yep it has one, check, eyes? yep two of those and gasp they're round, check, muscular body? yep check. Hooley, dooley we have a pit bull on our hands. |
You know, you shave some OES down and...????  Nuts. I know. Thankfully someone in a position to do something about did something about it.  Kristine |
| There's a famous website in which you're probably aware of in which 25 dogs photos are featured and they ask the general public to pick out the Pit Bull. Something like 90% are chosen incorrectly. It seems that all heavy boned, square headed dogs are often mistaken for Pit Bulls. Just this week in our local paper a man claimed a large dog came tearing out of a yard and ripped his jacket. His letter to the newspaper said this wouldn't happen if there existed BSL in our city. Ironically, the dog that did this, was not of a breed included in BSL. Of course stories like this hits me personally, as I not only have Merlin and Panda (OES) but also Snoop who happens to be a Pitbull. There exist a popular group in my city that promotes good responsible pet ownership , holds Sunday group walks and overall tries to have their pets viewed as goodwill ambassadors for the breed. It's a group just like this one in which members share stories, post photos and become friends over time. I remember being a tad suprised the first time I joined them on a group walk..no tough guys wearing tatoos but "normal" people who looked just like me! Old, Young, Families, and dogs of all sizes and shapes. Snoop continued to meet them in HugaBull obedience classes and a year later most of these dogs have gained their CGN which Snoop hopes to get in the next few months. Our walks include not just Pitbulls but small dogs who happen to have Pitbull brothers/sisters and large other breed dogs like Merlin and Panda. Overtime it does change people's perceptions that not ALL OF THEM are vicious and can't be trusted. Snoop also lives with the bunnies/special needs cats and Merlin and Panda. What a difference when I go for a walk with Merlin and Panda compared to Merlin and Snoop, or Panda and Snoop. People come rushing over to pet Merlin and Panda and tell me how cute they are. They never do that when I have Snoop and it makes me feel sad in some ways. I now make a point of asking people with Pit Bulls if I can pet their dogs and ask about them. We also are honest when people ask what kind of dog we have. I purposely take Merlin and Snoop for walks around the neighborhood so that people can see that there does exist dog social/ people friendly dogs and I feel in a small way I'm doing my bit for promoting goodwill ambassador. Sadly on the flip side they also say if one owns this type of dog they have to have a hard shell as I discovered shortly after moving into my new place. Behind the 18 foot hedge , I also have a chain link fence behind that and heard my new neighbor calling me one day...Hey Hey..You...(gasp he called me the C word) then berated me for having a "vicious dog". I was so shocked that I just waved my hand and walked away. Less than 5 mins later I hear all this commotion and had to go out of my gate and around the corner to see what was going on as I heard screaming and yelling. I see three people with his intact dog (a Lab) and their intact dog ( a Collie Mix). Apparently his dog was running loose and got into a fight with their dog. His dog continues to run loose around the neighborhood. All mine are never outside unless they are supervised by me, all have been neutered, microchipped, licenced and obedience trained. It's about being a responsible owner regardless of the breed. Sadly these dogs have been so abused by humans who then have turned to other breeds to use for disgusting purposes when BSL has hit their country or city. Any dog can be made to be aggressive if trained to do so. I hope those like Vick and others like him are held responsible and the dogs as a breed are not blamed. Obviously I love my dogs and if you had asked me a few years ago whether I could have visualized myself holding a Pit Bull in a headlock while the vet inserted a thermometer in his butt...I would have said ...whaddya nuts? Then again, there is no way I can ever do that with Panda..for that he needs sedation. Merlin is a butt head with other dogs sometimes while Snoop is easy going. Each dog is an individual and just because one doesn't look like the others doesn't mean I love them any less. How unfair it would be for me if out of my three I would have to muzzle one because of his looks if BSL became law in my city. Yikes, this is a long post but lastly something that reminded me of this story that I read only 2 days ago on the net. Same scenerio as the story first mentioned in this post. The dog who had done nothing wrong other than he lived in a BSL place was ordered euthenized. His owner fought it by having DNA taken of his dog that showed a mix of Breeds and a small minute mix of Pitbull. He was targeted because he "looked like one". The case I believe is still ongoing in the court system. Here's a good story of a hero dog that happened this week.http://www.peoplepets.com/news/amazing/ ... ape-fire/1 |
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