Yesterday, I tried to dive into a little detail on the court case that ruled the Toledo BSL Unconstitutional. Then, last night, the Toledo Blade reported that Toledo has in fact ceased enforcing their current breed specific regulations.
County Administrator Mike Beazley said, "We've directed them not to enforce Toledo's law."
Previously, the article notes, dog wardens had been able to venture on to Toledoans' property and seize dogs that look like 'pit bulls'. But such actions have now stopped.
No word yet on whether Toledo will appeal the court ruling or whether they will just be changing their ordinance.
Interestingly, buried in the last paragraph of the Blade article mentioned something that, in my opinion, is a really big deal. Here's the last paragraph:
The city of Toledo has a contract with the county dog warden to enforce its local laws. Last year the contract was for up to $146,882. The contract calls for the city to pay the dog warden's office $100 for every citation issued against a “pit bull” or “pit bull” mix dog.
So, in other words, Toledo was providing an incentive to Lucas County's dog wardens to pick up 'pit bulls' and kill them in the shelter (the shelter has a well-known policy against adopting out 'pit bull type' dogs). Last year, Lucas County took in and killed over 1000 'pit bulls' -- which could have meant up to $100,000 in incremental revenue for the dog warden's office based on the city incentive to do so. No wonder Skeldon and his crew were so focused on 'pit bulls', allowing dog bites to increase and shelter kill rates to hover around 77%. Their incentive was to capture, and kill, 'pit bulls'.
Hopefully the city of Toledo will not only re-write their law to not include breed specific language (which was ruled to be unconstitutional by the court), but also rewrite their contract with the Lucas County Dog Warden's office to incent activities that are good for citizens and for dogs -- like maybe declining bite rates, decreased shelter killing, better return-to-owner rates, etc. Now THAT would be real success.
One other note on this court case. I've been amazed that outside of the city of Toledo, no other media in the state have mentioned the story or the reality that it will have an impact state-wide on all cities with BSL beyond the state law.
More good news for the residents and dogs in Toledo...
Disgusting. The city paid nearly $150,000 for bounty hunters to round up, so they could kill, Pit Bulls or anything they thought even resembled a Pit Bull.
Is there any indication as to how the citizens feel about the way their tax dollars were being used - especially those citizens whose poor pets ended up at AC?
Not that the city's education system or elderly population or transit system or a dozen other programs could have benefitted from these dollars.
Thank you for keeping us up-to-date on this news; I'm so glad to learn that the BSL tide is finally starting to turn in so many places. Let's just hope the trend continues.
Posted by: Pibble | January 29, 2010 at 11:28 AM
If only we were made of money...the "bonus" they were giving for pit bulls is so completely corrupt it sure seems effected parties would have some ground for a lawsuit. Possibly suing Skeldon personally...if you could somehow prove he was supporting AND promoting BSL, knowing he was lying and it was really about lining his departments pockets.
Someone in OH needs to do an FOI request on all of Skeldon's emails...there has GOT to be some damning dirt that could bring BSL down in OH.
Posted by: MichelleD | January 29, 2010 at 12:10 PM
I am sure that Toledo isn't the only city that is paying ACO bounty hunters to round up and kill dogs in the name of BSL.
Many folks in Kansas City, Kansas Pit Bull Killing Capital of the USA, have wondered the same thing.
Why else would a certain Kansas City, KS ACO be rumoured to tour neighborhoods on her time off to look for supposed pitbulls, so when the work week resumes she could confiscate and kill.
This really makes you think about the warped way tax dollars are spent and further cements the fact that BSL is a HUGE threat to public safety.
Posted by: KC KS Kills Dogs | January 29, 2010 at 12:58 PM
I was so happy this finally has been made public. It's unsettling in so many ways. And just to give you a point of reference, Hugh Smith was given 10 citations that were associated with the "pit bull" ordinance. The city of Toledo paid Lucas County not $300 dollars, but $1000! I bet the average pit bull owner is worth $300 bucks to the dog warden!! Now do the math! Not only should the commissioners who have been protecting Skeldon and his practices be on the hot seat (Wozniak and Gerken), so should the administrator Mike Beazley who has also shown a negative bias against pit bulls!
Posted by: Dawn | January 29, 2010 at 02:00 PM
The citizens of Toledo (and KCK) should be contacting their attorney general. With the nepotism going on in addition to the appearance that Skeldon and his ACs were getting their pockets lined on this ord, it smells more than fishy. Their pay contracts are also public record...
Posted by: MichelleD | January 29, 2010 at 02:16 PM
holy sh**. That sure explains a lot. Money plus hate = death.
Posted by: EmilyS | January 29, 2010 at 04:12 PM
That is seriously just sick.
Posted by: Aimee | January 29, 2010 at 04:26 PM
im glad they passed this but they still try to charge u i went to court today couse they said i had pittbulls and they said they were vicious they tried to do a plea bargain of a fine and probation
Posted by: curtis | March 01, 2010 at 03:31 PM