[ SHOWGSD-L ] Towns gird against influx of pit bulls
- From: "Ginger Cleary" <cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 19:52:50 -0400
And the GSDCA is planning to have its National in this state?????? NO
thanks!! This hysteria continues to spread. Pretty soon you'll have a
statewide ban.
Ginger Cleary, Rome, GA
Never underestimate the ability of the hypocritical to hoodwink the
sanctimonious. www.rihadin.com
-----Original Message-----
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3372494
Denver & the west
Towns gird against influx of pit bulls
PASSING THE BAN | Since Denver reinstated its pitbull ban in 2004, two
cities have acted to keep Denver dogs from moving in. Other towns may follow
suit.
By John Ingold
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:01/05/2006 05:24:14 AM MST
Pit bulls are rapidly running out of places to call home in the metro
area.
Since Denver's pit-bull ban was reinstated in 2004, there has been a
trickle-down of pit-bull- related ordinances in surrounding cities. Aurora
and Commerce City have put limits on pit bulls in recent months. Castle Rock
and Louisville have long- standing bans.
Now six cities and one county are looking at either passing bans or
restrictions on pit bulls or retooling their vicious-animal ordinances,
concerned that they will see an influx of dangerous dogs as a result of the
new restrictions. Lone Tree and Parker will take up the pit-bull issue at
council meetings Jan. 17.
Federal Heights, Lafayette, Centennial, Lakewood and Arapahoe County will
discuss the issue over the next several months.
"If we don't do something now for Lafayette, we will become a repository
for pit bulls that aren't allowed to live anywhere else in the region," said
Lafayette City Council member Sue
Klempan, who said pit bulls attacked and killed her cat on Thanksgiving.
"We don't want to be a pit-bull dumping ground," said Seth Hoffman, Lone
Tree's project administrator.
Pit-bull advocates say the rash of bans is a response to media hysteria
and community fear. Bans are not proven to work, they argue, and cities
should focus on punishing the owners of all vicious dogs, regardless of
breed.
"The breed bans, they kind of answer the emotional needs of the
community," said Sonya Dias, a founder of the group Pit Bull Band in Denver.
"But they don't answer the reality."
Dias had to send her pit bull, Gryffindor, out of Denver after the city's
ban was reinstated.
It is impossible to know how many pit bulls there are in the metro area.
In fact, "pit bull" refers not to a specific breed but to numerous breeds
and hybrids that share certain physical and breeding characteristics.
Parker's proposed restrictions name 10 breeds as pits.
What both sides of the debate agree upon is that Denver's ban, along with
the subsequent restrictions, has put pit bulls on the move.
Dale Sparks, the mayor in Federal Heights, said there are more pit bulls
in his city since Denver's ban. The Table Mountain Animal Center in Golden
reports that the number of pit bulls it houses has risen steadily as well.
Pits now account for about 50 percent of all the dogs at the shelter.
"When Denver re-enacted their ban, the next day there were 14 pit bulls
being dropped off here," said Ben Drotar, the shelter's spokesman. Ban
proponents say pit bulls are unlike other dogs and bred to be fighters. They
are more powerful, have a stronger bite-and-tear instinct and are more prone
to unprovoked attacks.
Parker City Council member Jack Hilbert said pit bulls are more like
exotic animals than house pets. "The difference, to be honest with you, is
between a firecracker and dynamite," he said. "Which one do you want going
off in your hand?"
Those opposed to pit bulls have galvanized around the case of 10-year-old
Gregg Jones Jr. in Aurora. Jones was mauled in November by three pit bulls
in his backyard and lost an arm in the attack. Some of the pit bulls at
Jones' house were castoffs from Denver, though the three dogs that attacked
him were not.
"I don't want to see a Gregg Jones Jr. situation here," Parker Mayor David
Casiano said. "We have a lot of young children in this town. We need to look
out for the future."
Pit-bull advocates say that kind of statement is fear-mongering. Other dog
breeds have been responsible for fatal attacks, including an Alaskan
malamute that fatally mauled a 7-year-old Fruita girl in May. Marcy Setter,
a spokeswoman for the national Pit Bull Rescue Central, said that attack
received significantly less attention than pit-bull attacks.
"There isn't a major canine organization in the U.S. that supports
breed-specific legislation," she said. "They all have identified the issue
as an owner problem."
By focusing only on pit bulls, Setter said, authorities punish numerous
docile animals while missing other vicious ones.
The bans themselves have taken on different forms. While Denver bars pit
bulls altogether, Aurora and Commerce City ban new pit bulls from coming
into the city while creating strict requirements for people who want to keep
their pit bulls.
A state law bars local governments from targeting specific breeds, but in
2004 a judge ruled that law doesn't apply to home-rule cities. And this
year, the Colorado Municipal League plans to back a bill that would undo the
law.
If that happens, pit-bull advocates fear, pit bulls' days in the metro
area could be numbered.
"What it's really leading to is pretty much a statewide euthanasia of all
pit bulls," said Drotar. "There are some really good pit bulls out there."
Staff writers Jeremy Meyer, George Merritt and Robert Sanchez contributed
to this report.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or
jingold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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