Stop BSL

The article is poorly written, but the gist is this: stereotypes about”pit bulls”–not any real behavior or incident–prompt the vast majority of calls to animal control about “pit bulls.” To quote the city environment director: “The issues with pit bulls do not support the number of investigations. But it’s the fear of pit bulls that’s still with us.”

The statistics provided by the article are relatively worthless in terms of assessing the ban’s effect on public safety, as they don’t cover overall dog population or dog bite trends–they are focused entirely on “pit bulls.”

And I have no idea why there’s a list of bullmastiff “facts”at the very end of the article, but I will try to find out.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/11/21/11848396-sun.html

Pit bull complaints still high

By PATRICK MALONEY

Last Updated: 21st November 2009, 3:47am

Four years after Ontario slapped a ban on new pit bulls, concerns about the squat, muscular dogs still prompt nearly one in every five animal complaints in London.

Fears remain high about the controversial breed, a new city report suggests, even though the population of pit bulls has shrunk significantly since 2005 — now making up less than 3% of all licensed London dogs.

“There’s still that concern with a pit bull,” said Jay Stanford, the city environment director whose latest report to politicians on animal control statistics is now out.

“Over the last couple of years, the issues with pit bulls do not support the number of investigations. But it’s the fear of pit bulls that’s still with us,” he said yesterday.

A string of vicious attacks on people, including one particularly high-profile one on a Toronto man, prompted Ontario’s then-attorney general, Michael Bryant, to introduce a ban on pit bulls, which he dubbed “ticking time bombs.”

The agency contracted by London to handle animal-related complaints fielded 11,758 in 2008 — more than 2,000 of which involved pit bulls. There were 681 licensed pit bulls in London.

In several cases, the callers were mistaken about the breed, Stanford says.

Another concern in Stanford’s report relates to rogue owners who refuse to license their pit bulls. Those owners are “consistently delinquent” and contribute to “significant workload” for enforcement officers, the report says.

Stanford says the city knows of 35 unlicensed pit bulls. City hall has no power to force the hand of owners, beyond issuing tickets.

The “transient nature” of some owners also makes it difficult to keep track of the location of all pit bulls in the city, the report notes.

“We have no idea how many pit bulls are out there that have never been licensed (but) we don’t believe it’s very large at all.”

patrick.maloney@sunmedia.ca

—

PIT BULLS BY THE NUMBERS

681: Licensed pit bulls in London in 2008

974: Number in 2005, when Ontario banned new ones

2,045: Pit bull-related complaints in London in 2008

11,758: Total number of animal-related calls that year

35: Known unlicensed pit bulls in London

—

ABOUT BULLMASTIFFS

Bred to immobilize poachers

Males weigh about 50 kg.

Bite stronger than a wolf’s

Previous alerts for Fremont: http://stopbsl.com/?s=fremont%2C+oh

Remember: Ohio state law already considers pit bulls to be “vicious” dogs, with special regulations for owners.

http://www.thenews-messenger.com/article/20091120/NEWS01/911200310

Dog law discussion continues at council

BY LESLIE BIXLER • Staff writer • November 20, 2009

FREMONT — No decision was made Thursday regarding pit bulls and other dog breeds in the city, but the consensus from residents and city officials is that owners should be responsible for their dogs.

Several residents voiced their opinions and talked about their experiences with pit bulls and other breeds during the laws, rules and ordinance committee meeting before City Council met. This was the third city discussion of the topic.

Each person had five minutes to speak.

Judy McKinney talked about an attack she witnessed in her neighborhood, when a pit bull ran from its house and attacked a small dog that a family was taking for a walk.

“I hear there are good and bad dogs, and I don’t want anyone to lose a good pet …,” she said. “There’s got to be some way to make owners responsible.”

Scott Williams said his niece was involved in the incident McKinney witnessed.

“We really need to protect the public,” he said. “We need a way to identify dogs that will attack.”

Williams said he has had two relatives attacked by dogs. One case involved a pit bull, and the other involved a rottweiler. He, too, agreed owners need to be responsible.

Penny Forsythe, a local business owner, was with her daughter Nichole and son-in-law Jason Wolf at the meeting. She said she feels her grandchildren are safe around pit bulls, and that the dogs are not vicious.

Jason Wolf said, “You have to train that dog and be stern with it. If you want to have the dog of your choice, you should … but train it and love it every day, just like your kids.”

Council President Duane Simmons said he has a problem identifying vicious dogs. He said that when he was a meter reader, he was bitten by a Labrador retriever that didn’t seem aggressive.

“The people that don’t care about their dogs are the ones we have to make the law tough enough for so they understand,” Simmons said.

Councilwoman Karen Wagner and councilman Richard Root said they’re not in favor of a ban for any dog.

“We just need to do something about the vicious dogs,” Root said.

Mayor Terry Overmyer said he was shocked at seeing some of the pictures after an attack, and he said the city needs to go after people who are not responsible owners.

Councilman James Melle said council would take everything under advisement before drafting legislation.

[Irrelevant text elided.]

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2009/11/20/prescott-ark-council-no-pit-bulls-in-tow-39.php

Prescott, Ark.: Council:No pit bulls in town

Ordinance passes after toddler’s death

By: Jim Williamson – Texarkana Gazette – Published: 11/20/2009

PRESCOTT, Ark.—The recent death of a 2-year-old boy motivated the Prescott City Council to approve an ordinance banning pit bull dogs from the city, said Mayor Howard Taylor.

The ordinance, approved Monday night, makes Prescott the fifth town in Southwest Arkansas to ban the dogs. Similar ordinances have been approved by Nashville, De Queen, Dierks and Mineral Springs.

The council was going to consider the ordinance banning pit bull dogs in the December meeting, but decided to declare an emergency and approved the ordinance Monday night.