In separate meetings last night, on opposite sides of the country), both Sheboygan, WI and Douglasville, GA said no to proposed breed-specific legislation.
In Sheboygan, more than 100 people attended the meeting - -many showing up with their family 'pit bulls' outside to make a statement against the proposed ordinance. But after hearing testimony from many of the people from the community (many of them experts in animal behavior in the community), noting that only 10 of the city's 80 dog bites this year have been from the targeted breeds, the council unanimously voted down the ordinance.
The vote was much tighter in Douglasville, but after hearing from multiple experts from throughout the area, the council voted down the proposed breed ban 4-3.
When cities continue to objectively analyze the information available, and listen to the experts in their community, they overwhlemingly oppose breed-specific ordinances as being poorly thought-out, ineffective and inefficient ordinances. And we're really seeing a trend in this direction of cities initially looking at BSL, and then deciding to go in the direction of a breed-neutral approach.
Congrats to all of the folks in both cities that worked so hard to educate their council members and get them to oppose these laws.
More good news!
Posted by: Lisa in OH | October 05, 2010 at 12:27 PM
That's certainly good news about both cities. I'm not familiar with the situation in Sheboygan, but in Douglasville the attack was the result of human stupidity. I guess it's asking too much to go after the owner of the dogs that ACTUALLY DID THE BAD DEED and leave everyone else alone.
I'm glad they don't follow that model on drunk driving - we'd have no cars, no liquor stores, no bars, etc.
Posted by: kmk | October 05, 2010 at 05:07 PM