Ugh. Really, this may have been one of the worst news weeks I can remember. A fatal dog attack in the US, one abroad, several other bites in the US. And many cities changing their dog laws into ignorant, baseless laws. There's been a few good things too - so we'lll focus a little on them. And assuming the news doesn't take a dramatic turn for the worst next week, I'm going to have some posts about some other topics that are long overdue.
Cities and Laws
Pilot Grove, MO is looking at banning 5 breeds of dogs (Chows, Shar Pei, Pit bull, Doberman and Rottweiler). The city council appears to be using information from a little known breed registry to base it's decision on what breeds to include (and the breed registry denies giving them such information). The legislation comes after someone received a bite from a dog in the community.
Sioux City, IA is now wanting to add mandatory micro-chipping to the city's current breed ban.
The Tea, SD, city council is looking at repealing their 12 year old pit bull ban, but the new law may not be much better. The city is now looking at a new law that would not ban any breeds from the city, but would require multiple breeds of dogs to now have to have insurance requirements, "dangerous animal" signs, six-foot fence requirements and muzzles to be worn in public. Other breeds include Chows, Dobermans, German Shepherds and Rottweilers. Tea's original pit bull ban was passed in 1996 follwing a series of 'attacks' by a Doberman -- one of which resulted in a bite.
Healdton, OK officials are looking into adjusting their dangerous dog law following a recent attack where a dog broke out of a woman's house and killed another dog. However, they seem to have no concept of what the real problem is. While ther are apparently a lot of loose dogs, and apparently dogs kept in such horrible conditions that authorities found many malnourished dogs, including one that was dead on its chain, the city thinks they have a breed problem instead of an animal control department that is able to enforce basic leash laws and cruelty and neglect laws. Fortunately the Oklahoma state law will prevent them from doing something terribly stupid.
County commissioners in Gastonia County, NC are considering an ordinance mandating the spay/neuter of all pets in the county.
From the FightBSL List Serve (sorry, no link), in spite several residents speaking out against the ordinance, Fayette, MO passed a ban on 'pit bulls'. The ban does contain a grandfather clause.
Also from the FightBSL list serve, via Jan Cooper at Rott-n-Chatter, Montona House Bill 191 has been assigned to the local government committee of the state legislature. HB 191 prohibits state-wide ownership of 'pit bull' type dogs -- and defines 'pit bulls' as a Stafforshire Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier or American Bulldog or any dog ever registered as such or has physical characteristics of the breeds based on the AKC or UKC guidelines fo rthe breed.
Grand Island, NE is looking at possibilities for mandating microchipping for all dogs in the city.
Dog Bites
A Frankfurt, KY woman was bitten by a long haired dog while on her morning walk. The dog was running off-leash and unattended.
Two girls (5 & 10) were attacked by a Rottweiler in Joliet (IL) that escaped from its cage when the girls were feeding the dog. The younger girl received pretty extensive facial injuries. The dog was not well socialized with the girls (it had only been living there for two months) and had had complaints called in about it befre.
Two women were attacked in separate incidents by two roaming pit bulls in the community of Fabens, TX. One woman was 24 years old and received a few bites, the other woman, an 81 year old woman, received worse injuries.
A New Zealand boy was mauled by a Neopolitan Mastiff after he apparently grabbed the dog's testicals. The boy had apparently previously tried to harm the dog in some way. Now there is debate on whether or not the dog should be euthanized or whether it was provoked. While people need to train their dogs to take handling, poking, pulling, etc, parents certainly need to teach their children to not provoke dogs.
Ed McMahon's Poodle bit a process server this week in LA this week.
A Cheshire, CT woman was attacked by the couple's French Mastiff this week. Apparently the husband had some type of seizure, and when the wife went to help her husband, the dog apparently felt like she was causing the harm to the man and attacked her.
A Georgia woman was attacked by a large pack of dogs -- possibly as many as 7 or 8 dogs (there were 20-some that lived on the property nearby). The loose dogs ganged up on the woman and attacked her, causing severe injuries. I'm including this link, because it has the best pictures of the dogs, which are all a bunch of mongrels. This report blames the white dog at the back of the top picture, with the cropped tail, as being one of the two ring-leaders of the attack (and mistakenly identifies it as a 'pit bull").
A Blountville (TN) woman is facing felony charges after her dogs, a collie mix and a basset hound mix, ran out into the street and wrecked a bicyclist causing major injuries, including a brain bruise, a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, a broken right hand, 8 broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and multiple lacerations. While I certainly support strong penalties for people who violate animal control ordinances and for owners of dogs that attack people, it is kind of scary that this person could become a felon for her dogs causing a bike wreck but not even biting the victim.
A 16 month old child in Omaha was bitten in the face by a 'dog' last week -- the child was taken to the hospital and given antibiotics, which the mother did not give to the child because she said she didn't want to "overdose him on antibiotics". The mother is now being charged wiht child neglect.
Abuse Cases
A Minneapolis man has been charged for dog abuse. The pit bulls were apparently repeatedly found by authorities chained to a tree without food or water, but were not removed from the home. Later, one dog was found laying on the ground badly emaciated, the other one was found dead. A third dog's body was found buried on the property. There were at least 20 calls made to 911 about this owner, but the dogs were never removed from the home. I find it horrifying that city animal control departments do not remove dogs from situations like this -- and it is certainly a public safety issue when dogs are allowed to be neglected and cruely treated in neighborhoods.
It turns out that Jerry Lee Southern, the man who is charged with 70 felony counts of animal neglect in the Newkirk case (where Boomer is from), is out on $50,000 bail. Southern could be facing up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine for EACH COUNT of animal cruelty.
A man in a McKinney, TX community apparently just shot a neighbor's dog that had gotten loose. The man was in his car and coaxed the dog up to the car and then the man opened fire on the dog. The shooter was an off-duty Dallas police officer and will face no more than a fine for his actions.
Beaumont (TX) officials seized six dogs that had been used for fighting.
28 pit bulls were seized from an apartment in New Bedford, MA. The dogs were living in crates ina room with urine frozen onto the floors. The dogs were found when someone went to the address in response to a newspaper classified about puppies for sale.
The UK Dangerous Dogs Act
There were several more major, high-profile attacks in the UK this week, including one by a Rottweiler, and one by an Alasatian, has caused the RSPCA to call for an immediate end to the failed Dangerous Dogs Act in the UK that bans four breeds of dogs. While the RSPCA has been critical of the DDA for quite some time, this is really the first time they've taken a hard stance against the breed specific law that has been a complete failure in the UK. Many other groups are stepping up as well, including the Endangered Dogs Defense and Rescue group. The UK has long been used as an example of BSL for proponents of the law -- but if it can't work on an island, it cannot work anywhere.
Miscelanious
A Brooklyn woman's story about rescuing a 'pit bull' that she found that had been hit by a car and had horrific injuries, including eye injuries that left the dog blind in both eyes. The woman saved the dog's life and adopted the young pup.
A press release from the National Canine Research Council about the 33% decline in dog bite fatalities.
A good letter to the editor in Oregon, "Breed-specific bans leave problem intact"
Lawrence, KS repealed its ban on people having Hedgehogs as pets when an 11 year old boy wanted to get a hedgehog as a pet and fought the law. The city commissioners couldn't really figure out any good reason why hedgehogs were banned in the first place, so they lifted the ban.
The folks over at the Pet Connection had a couple of really good posts this week, one on the changes in policy at many colleges to allow pets in student housing, and one on one PeTA member's rationale as towhy blind people shouldn't use guide dogs.
A group of 'pit bull' owners were out walking the streets in Jacksonville, NC to help people realize that 'pit bulls' are really just good dogs, and that what many people think of as dangerous dogs really aren't that way.
Have a great week everyone!
ok, so from not doing any research- i thought PETA was good.-
from reading your blogs-obviously they are not. I suppose i could research them, but i'd rather not.
Hearing said PETA does not encourage "guide dogs" or DOES encourage rescued dogs to be euthanized-I have to say they are not WORTH my time to even read one word about.
Oh, and the White "PIT BULL" with the cropped tail-is one of the WORST breed identifications i've ever seen.
Breed BANS with NO Grandfather Clause's are just becoming Closer and CLOSER to my city..
There should be some sort of MONTHLY "ROVERlution" imitation in the area. Once a year is great! But once a month? That would be even better.
Posted by: Kara | January 11, 2009 at 10:26 PM
Kara,
I'm usually one to tell people to do their own research and not take anyone's word for anything without doing their own research first. But with that said, I wouldn't waste a lot of time on PeTA. They really aren't a good organization...somehow they have developed a reputation for being a good animal rights organization...but if people really knew their stances (and actions) on things, they'd really see them more as a lunatic fringe group. The nutshell of it is that they don't think humans should use animals for ANY purpose. So not for food, clothing, working purposes or entertainment. The "entertainment" portion includes not only things like zoos and circuses (I can see where they're coming from on circuses), but also for our own enjoyment as pets -- ie, they really don't believe in pet ownership because they think it is unfair to the animals. (My dogs would differ and would think any other life would be unfair, but that's their view on it).
Those actions, along with the killing of virtually every animal they come in contact with, along with the calling for the Vick dogs (and every other 'pit bull' for that matter) to be euthanized is way over-the-top for me.
Posted by: Brent | January 12, 2009 at 10:05 AM
The Omaha thing is frightening...the woman was obviously taking care of her child to bring it back in. And with all the hysteria about these antibiotic resistant super bugs I absolutely see why people would resist taking antibiotics unless necessary. I got bit by a CAT a few months back and didn't take antibiotics for that very reason. Bites will always look worse the 2nd day...
Posted by: MichelleD | January 12, 2009 at 12:54 PM
If you have a serious bite, you should take antibiotics. The wound is inoculated with bacteria from the tooth. Cat bites are worse than dog bites because they are a deep puncture whereas most dog bites are a tear.
If it's a small thing, just make sure you clean it out with soap and water and use something like peroxide which kills the surrounding tissue so bacteria can't get a *foot*hold. If there is obvious inflammation around the wound a day or so later, and it gets bigger and the area feels hot to the touch, get thee to a medic and take the pills.
Posted by: Selma | January 12, 2009 at 03:49 PM