1) Yes Biscuit! has an interesting news report from out of Atlanta on the Humane Society of the United States, and where their donations go. Apparently a lot of people are taking notice that HSUS really takes in a lot of money -- but not a lot of money goes directly toward helping animals. While I can certainly appreciate the importance of legislation in helping animals, that isn't what HSUS says they do. One thing the report doesn't talk about is the millions of dollars in funds they raised to "help" the dogs from Mike Vick's Bad News Kennels - -and the recommended that all of the dogs be killed.
If you question the Citizens for Consumer Freedom and the news report's analysis of the situation, you can always check out HSUS's annual reports and tax records for yourself here.
2) "For the Pit Bulls" has another great post today about a woman who's child was attacked by three dogs that were running at-large in a pack. The woman noted that she believed the dogs were bred for fighting. The dogs three mixed breed dogs all with distinctively different looks....and the dogs weren't used for fighting. I think this story sadly highlights that all of the talk about fighting dogs that the media does has completely distorted reality in the minds of most people. Even though it is sadly not uncommon to hear about fight busts, the reality is that the vast majority of dogs are not fight dogs, are not bred to fight, and have never been used to fight. But I don't think people's perception is all that accurate on these matters.
3) The mother of an 18 month old boy that was killed two months ago in Luling, TX was indicted this week. The mother, 24 year old Melissa Miller, is facing felony charges for criminially negligent homicide and injury to a child. A lot of the initial media reports were very focused on the dog involved in this unfortunate fatality -- but apparently the grand jury saw things a little differently. You can follow the story here -- but the nutshell version of this is that the mother was asleep at 12:30 in the afternoon when the 18 month old child wandered outside and up to a dog that was chained to a tree in the back yard and was found dead. Tragic, but I'm glad that it looks like instead of blaming the dog (like the media did) the court system is looking at placing the blame on the human element that led to this unfortunate occurrance.
4) In Council Bluffs, IA, three mail carriers have been bitten by dogs just in the past 10 days. Some out there have tried to use Council Bluffs as a case study about that breed bans work. Council Bluffs banned 'pit bulls' back in 2005 and has trumpeted the decrease in bites by 'pit bulls' since the ban was enacted (duh, they killed most of the 'pit bulls' there, so they of course bites by them have decreased significantly). However, there has been no evidence that they are actually decreasing the total number of dog bites or major dog bites. In fact, the year with the largest number of dog bites they've had in at least a decade has come AFTER they passed the ban. Council Bluffs continues to have the same issues with dog bites as they've always had because they still have not dealt with the root of the problem....which were irresponsible owners that created the situations where the bites occurred in the first place.
I'd love to see the phrase "potentially dangerous" go away. They are dogs, technically ALL dogs are "potentially" dangerous.
Untrained dogs, unsocialized dogs, dogs raised to be confused child substitutes, dogs with actual serious mental instability, congenital or acquired, are dangerous. A dangerous or vicious dog is a dog which has demonstrated dangerous or vicious behaviors
So is ANY dog when left alone with small children. Even the best natured child loving pet can knock a small wobbly child over by accident.
As any dog can be considered "potentially" dangerous, it's hard to argue against statements such as ALL dogs of X,Y, Z breeds are potentially dangerous. It's true, therefore hard to refute.
But ya know, 100% of people born will die, life is therefore a dangerous prospect.
Common sense and critical thinking skills are both in short supply.
Small children are not to be left alone with dogs, period. Infants should never be left where a dog could access them. Dogs will defend you and yours out of instinct and love, not because they are trained or chained to a tree.
How about we tell politicians that the term "potentially," when related to dogs and dangerous, is an insult to their intelligence?
No one wants to be talked down to or misled.
Posted by: JAL | May 15, 2009 at 10:21 PM