Another light posting week for me this week....I am hoping to get things caught up a bit after the elections here in KC and get back on track. I've since backed up a few blog posts and stories that I intend to get to eventually.
A lot of news out there -- so let's dive in.
Cities/States and Laws
In Scotland, "Los Asbos" goes into effect today -- it's a new dangerous dog law in the country that focuses on behavior, not what a dog looks like. The law was put into place as the UK's Dangerous Dogs Act that bans four breeds of dogs was completely ineffective. The Dangerous Dogs Act is still in existence, but continues to come under fire in the UK.
Last July, Denmark passed a law that bans 13 breeds of dogs from the country - -and now has added 12 new breeds to their "watch list" of ones that they may consider banning in the future. This is one of the primary reasons that breed bans don't work -- because there is always another breed of dog out there (or that can be created) to get around the law if someone is so inclined. This is how Italy ended up with nearly 100 different dog breeds banned before finally repealing the whole list and going to a behaviorally based law. The original story is here.
Terrebonne Parish, LA is considering potential breed-specific legislation. They appear to be trying to come up with other solutions....but if you live in the area, you may want to push them in a better direction.
While residents in Winnipeg are working with the city council to try to repeal the city's 20 year old breed ban. Winnipeg passed a ban on pit bulls in 1990, after a string of dog bites in the communnity -- and banned 'pit bulls' even though they accounted for less than 10% of the total bites in the city. While the city says they want to listen to these people pushing for the repeal, but at least one city council member, Gord Steeves, is reluctant to repeal the ban because he is afraid that if the ban was lifted, the dogs would be brought to the city to guard drug dens. Huh? I'm fascinated when council members go down this road because they're admitting that they have an illegal drug problem in their city, and yet, their fear, is....the dogs? Never mind the reality that if these people are ignoring the drug laws in the city, they are just as likely to ignore the dog ones too. If your city has a drug problem...banning dogs (or keeping them banned) is not a solution.
Aberdeen, SD plans to discuss several different versions of dangerous dog laws including breed bans of multiple breeds of dogs (including Dalmations) to breed neutral revisions. If you life in the area, helping them come to a strong breed neutral ordinance is advised.
Friday Harbor, WA voted down a proposal to pass a breed ban in the community (thanks to the Fight BSL list serve for the info).
Dog bites/attacks
While significant dog bites are fairly rare, they do happen. And when they do, there are a variety of different types of dogs involved. Which is why, in order to fix the problem, we need to focus on the circumstances that led to the attack vs the type of dog involved.
A Riverdale, NY woman was attacked by four dogs -- eventually getting a large bite on her thigh, by a Husky-German Shepherd mix. The owner of the dogs is considered "wreckless" by the neighbors...
A 18 month old Port Royal, SC child was attacked by a Bull Mastiff -- that tried to grab the child and pull it under the fence. The toddler's injuries are fairly minor -- however, it's worth noting as the dog had also bitten a 3 year old child in the same yard back in October.
A Wisconsin Rapids man was taken to the emergency room after being bitten in the eye by a Labrador Retriever.
A Tucson woman was bitten when she was trying to break up a fight between three dogs. The woman was watching some relative's dogs and was trying to feed them and the dogs apparently got into a fight over the food. There were three dogs involved, but only the 'pit bull' was specifically called out in the news article. If you are not familiar with a group of dogs, it is likely not in your best interest to feed them all together.
Skippy the Golden Retriever may not be euthanized after twice attacking the owner's grandaughter.
Miscellaneous
In spite of having over $600,000 in income last year, the Roanoke (VA) Regional Animal Control Center killed nearly 5,000 animals last year -- while adopting out only 38 -- killing more than 99% of the animals that came into the shelter. The shelter killed 3,432 cats, adopting out 30, and killed 1,139 dogs, adopting out only 8. Meanwhile, they compared the numbers to other regional shelters -- and noted that Newport News had a 24% adoption rate for cats and 36% for dogs, and Alexandria had a 39% adoption rate for cats, and 33% for dogs. All of these numbers are horrible and yet still look spectacular compared to Roanoke's "efforts".
Animal Cruelty
An Abilene, TX man was indicted for shooting and killing three 'pit bulls'.
Cops in Philadelphia killed a dog after they mistakenly raided the wrong house looking for illegal narcotics.
Mediots
In Highland Park, MI (suburban Detroit), a state Senator, Bert Johnson, was out running a snow blower on his driveway when a 'pit bull' wandered into his driveway. The man over-reacted to the dog's presence and in his flurry to try to get away from the dog, slipped, and injured his hand in the snow blower. Even though there is no note of the dog biting the Senator either before or after his injury, it didn't keep several media outlets from producing the headline "State Senator Injured During Attack by Pit Bull".
Blog Posts you should read
Bitchin' about Hitchin' -- Tim from over at Bad Rap has a good post that visual represents why he has problems with dogs being left chained up outside of stores and restaurant.
Police must develop a training plan for dealing with dogs while on calls - Brindle Stick responds to yet another avoidable situation where a dog was shot by police.
The "no kill" movement's historical trouble with momentum and factioning that is not helping -- No Pit bull Bans takes a look at the No Kill Movement and how different factions and "us vs them" mentalities are dividing the strength of what the No Kill movement could be if everyone got on the bus.
Breed-specific legislation: a look at the evidence - The Seattle Dog Training Examiner takes a detailed look at Breed bans in a well-written article.
Drive by fundraising - Humanewatch takes a look at bait and switch fundraising tactics
Can we really save every healthy/treatable shelter pet in America? -- YesBiscuit! takes a solid look at the numbers (and the answer is yes by the way).
Working with pricing really does save lives -- Saving Pets has another great example of how lowering adoption rates can increase the demand for shelter pets....and thus, save lives. I've talke a lot about lowering pricing and pick your own pricing models in this space before and it continues to show it can be very effective.
Dolphins are credited with helping save a drowning dog -- a touching story from the Poodle and dog blog
No Kill- can't we just call it something else? -- Saving Pets has a great post on why the name "No Kill" is perfect forr the movement...because everyone understands it already.
It's spay day -- Let's Lie! -- YesBiscuit! takes a look at some of the funky math that comes out every year for Spay Day.
Bad Rap's favorite info links -- some great reading here
Mazi's Story - Wisconsin Watchdog tells the story of a dog that ended up in the shelter that looked like it would have been mistreated and unloved -- but the dog's owners were desperately trying to find Mazi. Some dogs just don't do well scavenging on their own and can look pretty rough in only a few days....which is why we should always first think "lost", not "stray". A great reminder story with a happy ending.
Lord have mercy, what in the name of Sam Hill is going on in Roanoke, VA? My husband nearly fell over dead when I read those numbers to him.
The stories about police shooting dogs were scary. The one about narcotics officers going into the wrong house and shooting the dog because it bit one of them on the ankle (seriously?) was really scary. That's one of my worst nightmares, because I know one of us will end up dead if that happens around here. Or maybe both of us. Let's see if the police shoot me as easily as they'd shoot my dog.
I liked this sentence in the Brindle Stick article: "Many officers are afraid of dogs".
Really? Gee, how do they feel about the drug dealer behind the door with the AR-15 if they're afraid of a 50 pound animal that lacks opposable thumbs. That's not the person I want "protecting" me! I firmly believe people that are afraid of dogs should NOT be allowed to be EMTs, firemen, police officers, meter readers, or mail carriers.
Posted by: kmk | March 01, 2011 at 08:42 AM