A tough week this week -- with two major tragedies stealing the headlines. A lot of other news this week that needs to be covered.
Next weekend is the No Kill Conference -- so there will be no roundup next week. As the weekend draws closer I'll try to provide you ways of getting the information you need so you can somewhat follow the conference even if you're not able to attend. I'm not 100% sure if I'll be blogging or tweeting from the conference -- I'll let you know. If you are there -- I'll see you there.
Ok, onto the roundup.
Cities/States and Laws
A large audience attended a meeting in El Paso to discuss a proposed law that would ban pet sales in the community. Many people pointed out that only a fraction of the animals that enter the shelter are purebreds and the proposal focuses solely on purebred animals.
A good column from the the Worcester (MA) Telegram that talks about the city's newfound problems with their proposed breed-specific ordinance. The council pushed the ordinance through very quickly -- without assigning it to a committee first (as is the usual way). The newspaper is critical of the council's lack of forsight into knowing what the consequence of the new law would be before passing the first reading of it.
Hannibal, MO is looking at new dangerous dog legislation that they hope will be more proactive than their current ordinance. Breed specific regulations have been mentioned, even though there are other actually effective ordinances out there. One member of the city council actually owns a Staffordshire Terrier, so at least one person on the council is already educated on these types of dogs.
Victoria (Canada) is reviewing their animal control bylaws to better define animal cruelty to help them prosecute people for mistreatment from animals. Most of their ideas seem like strong idea -- although there are a couple that are a bit over-kill (like no exercising dogs while riding a bicycle and the pet limits).
After a packed house caused the city council to have to move their meeting to the neighborhood school gymnasiam, Rockville Centre, NY repealed its recently passed breed ban.
Concord, NC is now looking at options to create a no kill shelter in the community.
Lynn, MA recently passed a new law that has specific requirements for owners of 'pit bulls' -- however, it looks like the city may run into problems enforcing it because they are about to run out of money to pay for an on call dog officer. Looks like the city didn't plan on the increased enforcement costs of their new law.
Dog Bites & Attacks
Major attacks are rare --but they do happen. And when they do, a variety of different breeds of dogs are responsible. If we want to solve the problem, we must focus on why the attack happened, not what type of do did it.
In Carson City, NV, authorities responded to a civil dispute call and a deputy was bitten several times when he was attacked by a Shepherd/Lab mix -- the dog was fatally shot.
Dog attacks are on the rise in New South Wales Australia -- where their breed specific laws have not helped them curb dog bites in the community.
A six year old New Jersey boy was attacked three months ago by an Akita that was just euthanized this week. The boy needed nearly 700 stitches to repair his wounds.
In Columbus, OH, a'pit bull' that was responsible for two attacks was found to have cocaine in its system. Now the dog's owner is charged with not only felonious assault, but also for animal cruelty.
A 1 year old Annapolis, MD boy was severely bitten by a Labrador Retriever. The injuries are described as "very serious".
A Rhodesian Ridgeback's life will be spared after it was responsible for seriously biting a 4 year old girl.
A six year old Sheridan, CO girl was hospitalized after she entered an unfenced yard and was bitten by a 'mixed breed hound' that was chained to the porch of the neighbor's yard.
A Tampa woman was attacked while biking when two 'pit bull type dogs' escaped a fenced yard and attacked her. Hillsborough County has a database of over 900 dog bites that occurred in 2009 -- I wonder how many by all of the other breeds have been covered by the media there.
A Pickering (Canada) boy was attack by a St. Bernard that had a previous bite history.
Positive Press
A pit bull that recently rescued his family from a burning home in Elhart, IN was honored as a hero.
A Rhode Island 'pit bull' has been certified as a part of the state police search and rescue disaster team.
Creating Fear
The San Francisco Chronicle has sidebar article listing some 'pit bull' attacks in the bay area over the past decade. San Francisco alone averages about 450 dog bites per year -- and yet felt the need to list a small handful of 'pit bull' bites that will help create fear after the most recent tragedy across the Bay.
Thispress release announces that dog bite attacks have reached "alarming new highs" - -citing the CDC's mention that there have been 16 fatal dog attacks already this year. The release went out more than half way through the year and last year's total number of people killed was 33 -- so we're actually behind last year's pace. There was a total of 23 fatalities in 2008, and 33 in 2007 -- so there is little to indicate that the numbers are "alarming" or "increasing" or even "new highs". Of course, the "news" was issued by a dog bite lawyer....so maybe a hope to drum up more business is the reason for his exaggeration.
Miscellaneous
HSUS talks about what it is doing to help dogs in Baghdad that are being killed. Sadly, HSUS's outreach doesn't extend to all foreign dogs as they have not mentioned helping the culling of 'pit bulls' in Turkey over the past month.
The Greeley (CO) Tribune follows their animal control officer as he goes out on calls. It's an interesting look as he discussed 'pit bull' type dogs. "Ninety-five percent of 'pit bulls' are fine, it's the owners of some 'pit bulls' that make them mean. With pit bulls, the tail wagging gives them away, sais officer Rod Unrein. Real life experience trumps urban legends of 'pit bulls' tricking people into them being nice but then not.
ALabrador Retriever miraculously survived after a neihbor shot the dog in the face with a shotgun.
Blog Posts You Should Read
Humane Watch has a recent HSUS fundraising newsletter talking solely about how HSUS is dedicated to helping companion animals -- even though the majority of their money that is raised is not used to help companion animals.
The Benefits of Raising Families and Pets Together - from Change.org
Friends don't let friends kill each other -- YesBiscuit!
There's no "I killed my dog" box on the merchandise return form" - YesBiscuit! writes about a woman in Virginia who left her dog in the car while she went to go buy pet supplies. When she returned, the animal had suffered heat stroke in her car, so she promptly went in to get return the purchased merchandise because the dog was now dead. She is being held for animal cruelty.
Serious Warning Signs from a Dog - Doggone Safe helps us understand dog body language with possession aggression.
Dexter at the Children's Reading Program - Our Pack has great video footage of one of their dogs helping with a children's reading program in California.
Where it all begins - Our Pack talks about the importance of early socialization for dogs - -which is a way bigger determinent of aggression than 'breed'.
The elderly - how we're failing the people who need their pets most - another great observation from the Wisconsin Watchdog.
Glass Menagerie - the fragile difference between helping and hoarding animals -- by Paw Prints Magazine.
When dangerous dog owners fail good dogs - -Save the pit bull, save the world
I hereby order you to blog AND tweet from the no kill conference.
Posted by: YesBiscuit! | July 25, 2010 at 04:32 PM
Darn, I wish there was a like comment for comments. Alas, since there is not, I'll just say "yes, yes, please do!"
Posted by: Lori | July 25, 2010 at 05:31 PM
i always look forwrd to your "round ups" victoria is idiotic if they would ban biking with your dog! I have a springer that I use with my two gsds and they LOVE it- I even bike with my terrier who needs the heavy duty release of all that crazy terrier energy - of course you adjust according to the temperature, the dog and watch carefully!
i would also like to see a lot more bloody balance incoverage about dog attacks/bites and am disgusted by the media's slavish need to demonize pitties to sell themselves. I think all of us have to be more proactive about writing lettes to the editor about this and calliing them to task on tgheir yellow journalistm
Posted by: selkie | July 25, 2010 at 09:17 PM
"No Kill" is a joke and a pure lie, yes I know all about the definitions and hair splitting but the PUBLIC takes it just as that, NO KILL. The media needs to educate the public on exactly what "No Kill" means and it means, many animals are still being killed by the control freaks running most shelters and pounds. Oh yes, they always have an excuse, "No Money" (to help a sick animal); "The dog growled at someone", It's "Food Aggressive" etc, etc ,etc. The media needs to quit giving local shelters, pounds a free ride and start doing actual journalism..make them open up their euthanasia records along with their budgets so we can see where all that donated money goes that prevents them from saving a sick/injured animal.
Posted by: Jerry Bane | July 25, 2010 at 11:09 PM
As an addition,'might have the media look at the salaries of the fine folks running these "No Kill" shelters who kill sick/injured dogs because of no money.
Posted by: Jerry Bane | July 25, 2010 at 11:22 PM
Jerry,
No Kill is legitimate. Unfortunately, there seem to be quite a few shelters who are bastardizing the concepte in order to line their pockets. They're doing it wrong, killing animals that should be saved, and yet claiming to be 'no kill' because it makes them look good.
That's not what the No Kill movement is about. The animal welfare movement needs to educate the public (and even many shelter workers) on what No Kill means. The media needs to dig a little more deeply into number instead of just taking the shelter management's word for it when they say they are "no kill".
Posted by: Brent | July 26, 2010 at 07:23 AM