The weekly roundup is something I do here most Sunday mornings that hits the highlights from the news on 'pit bulls', canine legislation and No Kill from around the country. The weather has been FRIGID throughout much of the US -- and unfortunately, it has taken a pretty major toll on the dogs. So bring them inside, let them cozy by the fire and warm up.
Cities/States and Laws
The Puerto Rico Governor vetoed a new bill that would have ended a ban on 'pit bulls' in the territory. Nothing in the Governor's statements indicate that he was against ending the ban on 'pit bulls', but that he was concerned abou thow the new law would affect owners of other breeds of dogs that were declared aggressive. There appears to be a lot of support for ending the ban in Puerto Rico, so hopefully they can come up with some legislation that works for everyone.
The Toledo City Council President Joe McNamara is talking about establishing its own Dog Policy Advisory Task Force to review the city's dog laws and policies in thinking about repealing the city's breed specific restrictions.
New city council members in Sioux City, IA have marked possibly changing the city's pit bull ban as a primary objective in 2010 as the city is having major budget cuts and the current ban has been nothing but costly and a bunch of headaches for the city.
Riverside County, CA is looking at a new program that will provide no cost spays and neuters for pit bulls in their community providing the poosch is already licensed, micro-chipped and has its shots. While it seems like a missed opportunity to not use the free spay/neuter to also encourage people to license and microchip, the program is well-targeted to deal with the issue of there being too many 'pit bulls' in their shelter. This is a solid approach to dealing with this issue -- and something I plan to address again in more detail in the coming weeks. A similar program in Salt Lake City decreased pit bull euthanasia by 13% last year.
The city of Richland, WA decided to discuss breed-specific restrictions targeting pit bulls after a dog attacked a couple's two minature dachshunds. After further review,the attacking dog was found to be a Boxer/Labrador mix -- which wouldn't have been covered by the breed-specific restrictions. The city has now decided to "delay" their conversation about breed restrictions. The whole thing shows exactly what's wrong with talk of breed specific regulations -- breed ID is inaccurate, and laws should be designed to prevent these types of attacks regardless of the breed of dog involved.
A Clermont County, OH woman is advising all 'pit bull' owners to move out of the county after her 6 month old 'pit bull' was shot by the next door neighbor. The neighbor claimed the dog had snuck under the fence into his yard so he shot it, and then the dog snuck back into its own yard -- something that couldn't be confirmed. The family with the shot 'pit bull' was originally charged with having an uncontained off-leash dog but those charges were later dropped. Ohio's state law has created a lot of hysteria about 'pit bulls' that has led to things like gunshots being unnecessarily shot off and pitting neighbor against neighbor.
Dog Bites and Attacks
A section that is designed to highlight that there are causes for dog attacks -- and that they aren't unique to particular breeds of dogs.
A 14 year old New York boy was attacked by three dogs that were roaming at-large together.
An Amory, MS man was treated and released from the hospital after being bitten by a pack of dogs that were roaming at large. It is interesting that no official breed designation was given, but the article notes that the dogs are "what some call pit bulls'. Huh? The headline in the article is of course "Pit bulls attack" -- which is even crazier.
A woman's cat was killed by a mixed breed dog that looked like a miniature greyhound in Palm Beach.
A Watsonville, CA woman was attacked by an at-large pit bull-type dog.
AGermantown, MD delivery man was attacked by "several" Jack Russell Terriers -- the man was taken to the hospital with leg bite injuries.
The UK Dangerous Dog Ordinance -- Still failing
18 years ago the UK passed a ban on four breeds of dogs, including American Pit Bull Terriers. The law has done nothing to improve public safety, and in fact, has had a negative impact on public safety. Here's some more news from this week:
The number of dog attack victims visiting hospitals in Newcastle has doubled in the past 8 years.
In Norfolk, the number of people needing hospital treatment from dog bites has gone up 32% in the past 4 years -- leading home Secretary Chris Huhne to say: "The Dangerous Dogs Act is one of hte most ineffective pieces of legislation in recent years -- costing millions and being completely unworkable."
Dog attacks in Cumberland are also up - -nearly doubling since last year.
At least one legislator has set out to make changes to the dog control laws so they can focus more on irresponsible owners, not breeds.
Two girls were bitten by a Husky-type dog that chased the girls on a bicycle and bit both of them.
Abuse Cases
A Greenville, NC man is accused of letting his adult 'pit bull' and five puppies die in his yard due to being starved and cold. The man had two dogs removed from his home last summer for being inhumanely treated. The man faces myriad charges and hopefull part of his punishment will be that he is never allowed to own dogs again.
Beaumont, TX police say that one 'pit bull' was found dead and 3 others were found malnourished and chained in the cold in the below-freezing temperatures at a home in the city. Charges are likely to be filed in the case.
A Clarksville, TN pit bull was found dead when a family left town for 9 days and left a teenager in charge of housesitting and caring for the dog. However, apparently the teenager didn't, causing one dog to starve to death and 3 others to lose between 20-30 lbs and possibly hadn't eaten in 9 days.
Miscellanious
KCMO issued a severe weather warning for pets across the city -- which made leaving a pet outside in the frigid temperatures without adequate shelter animal cruelty -- with a fine of up to $500 and possibly 180 days in jail. On Thursday and Friday of this week, animal control officers responded to about 50 calls for cruelty for dogs being left outside.
Here's a link to a good video presentation by Michelle Williamson of Saving Pets in Australia. Her presentation has a lot of great tips on writing bios for dogs seeking adoption that will help them to get adopted and it's definitely worth the 20 minutes or so to watch.
A great story that has received a ton of publicity about a family's Golden Retriever that protected an 11 year old boy from a cougar attack. Dogs are such amazing creatures in their loyalty to their owners.
Two police officers ended up getting grazed by bullets when a police officer opened fire on a 'pit bull' that supposedly charged him during a drug bust and missed the dog and the bullets riccocheted and hit other officers. It doesn't sound as if the dog, who was wounded in its paw, ever attacked the officer, just ran out to him. The officers are making it out as if the dog was released as a weapon, but when the describe the scene, it sounds more like the dog got out of the door when a man went inside. We must do a better job of teaching police how to deal with dogs when on duty for their own safety.
More than 80 Chihuahuas were shipped from California to Denver this week. Many places in California have had some problems with overcrowding of Chihuahuas in their shelters and instead of euthanizing the animals for space, they are shipping the dogs to other parts of the country where there is more demand than supply in order to help them get adopted.
This isn't at all canine-related, but this is just a great story about a 101 year old man who has dedicated the last 50 years of his life to saving a 240 year old Elm Tree that was suffering from Dutch Elm Disease. The tree finally lost its fight and will be cut down.
Have a great week everyone.
Thanks for the info on Saving Pets. While the video was OK, I really liked some of the postings on the blog, but I especially LOVE the examples of good pet profiles (that I finally found in the resource library over at PetRescue's blog: http://petlistings.wordpress.com/category/dog/).
Posted by: IndyElmer | January 13, 2010 at 09:48 AM