Today, the Cincinnati (OH) City Council voted 8-1 to officially repeal th city's breed ban. The current ban has been on the books since 2003, and has caused a multitude of problems, including spending thousands of dollars on prosecuting ban violators and having to use valuable police officer presence to enforce the ban.
Cincinnati has joined the entire state of Ohio, and become the 3rd of the 4 largest cities (Cleveland and Toledo were the others) in the state that repealed their breed bans within the past 2 years.
This is yet another step that shows how cities and communities continue to listen to the experts in animal handling in their communities in forming their animal welfare policies - -and these experts nearly unanimously oppose breed-specific laws.
Congrats to the great folks in Cincinnati for making this happen and for the wisdom of the council for moving forward without the breed ban.
Good news. And a good sign that public opinion is really changing and focusing on proper dog ownership, and animal behavior, and not a dog's looks, as a means for determining dangerous dogs. Hooray.
"Cincinnati City Council" and "wisdom" are two terms rarely found in the same sentence, but this is a rare situation where they got it right.
Posted by: Joel | May 17, 2012 at 01:20 AM
Wonderful news. So often animals take the fall for irresponsible owners and less than optimal environments. Thanks for the post.
Posted by: Gryphon | May 17, 2012 at 09:39 AM
Pray that Ontario, Canada will be next.
Posted by: Fay C | May 17, 2012 at 03:12 PM