Posted on 07/20/2005 3:56:48 PM PDT by Redcitizen
DENVER - A few weeks ago, two police cars and two animal control vehicles pulled up at the home of Stef'ny Steffan looking for her beloved 4-year-old pit bull, Xena. Seven officers hauled the animal off to the city shelter, putting her on death row. Xena became an outlaw after Denver won a court fight and reinstated one of the toughest pit-bull bans in the nation.
Since May, more than 380 dogs have been impounded and at least 260 destroyed — an average of more than three a day.
Dog owners are in a panic. Some are using an underground railroad of sorts, sending their pets to live elsewhere or hiding them from authorities. City officials would not estimate how many people might be violating the ordinance.
Some owners, like Steffan, have won a reprieve for their pets with help from a rescue group. The group got Xena released by signing an affidavit stating that the animal would never return to Denver. The group took the dog to Mariah's Promise in Divide, an animal sanctuary that has accepted more than three dozen pit bulls from Denver.
For Steffan and her partner, Gina Black, leaving Xena 60 miles from home was a lousy option but the only one they had.
"It's safer than animal control. Safer than keeping her underground — at least she'll be able to play now," Steffan said. "But she'll miss us. We're her pack."
Denver is one of three major metropolitan areas, along with Miami and Cincinnati, to ban pit bulls, according to Glen Bui, vice president of the American Canine Foundation.
Pit bull typically describes three kinds of dogs — the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. But Denver's ban applies to any dog that looks like a pit bull. The animal's actual behavior does not matter.
City Councilman Charlie Brown said that in his judgment, "pit bulls are trained to attack. They're bred to do that."
Critics of the ban use words like "annihilation" and "genocide," and the city shelter has received e-mails likening animal control officers to Nazis.
"Breed bans are just a knee-jerk reaction to something that happened in the community," Bui said.
Denver banned pit bulls in 1989 after dogs mauled a minister and killed a boy in separate attacks. The Legislature passed a law in 2004 that prohibited breed-specific bans, but the city sued and a judge ruled in April the law was an unconstitutional violation of local control.
Critics of the ordinance say that a blanket ban on an entire breed is misguided that the law should instead target irresponsible owners and all dangerous dogs.
"If anyone says one dog is more likely to kill — unless there's a study out there that I haven't seen — that's not based on scientific data," said Julie Gilchrist, a doctor at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who researches dog bites.
The CDC, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Humane Society of the United States examined 20 years of dog-bite data and concluded that pit bulls and Rottweilers caused the most deaths.
But the researchers also noted that fatal attacks represent a small proportion of dog-bite injuries and that the number of bites per breed simply seems to rise with their popularity.
At the city shelter, pit bulls are cordoned off from other dogs in what has become death row. Nearly 100 pit bulls have been released to live outside the county. A nonresident must guarantee the dog will never return to Denver.
Sonya Dias, who is moving out of Denver because of the ban, said she was a little intimidated by her pit bull when she first saw him. But "when I said, `Hey little doggie,' his whole body just started wagging." Gryffindor is staying at Mariah's Promise until Dias sells her home.
"He's been dangerous to a couple of pairs of shoes and some mini-blinds," Dias said. "But otherwise he's a jewel."
Are you suggesting that one has the same relationship with a bear or tiger as with the family dog? Or that they are equally trainable? Equally dangerous?
Your exaggeration undermines your point.
I'm sorry to hear you're terrified of dogs attacking, but you do realize that you're much more likely to get raped or murdered by a person than killed by a dog? Just basic numbers. 12-20 dog deaths a year vs thousands of rapes/murders per year.
If you will look at everything I've posted here, my contention is that when these dogs create damage, it is the result of human negligence be it in their breeding, upbringing, training, socialization or supervision. Like firearms, SUVs, etc., there is a human failure that is inescapable.
YES!!! I UNDERSTAND PIT BULLS, UNLIKE GUNS, SUVS AND OTHER DOGS, HAVE BRAINS AND CAN LEAP OFF THE SHELF, AND PICK THE LOCKS OF YOUR NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE AND SNIFF OUT THE CHILDREN'S ROOM SO THEY CAN CLIMB INTO THEIR 6' HIGH CRIBS AND RAVAGE THEM BEFORE GOING INTO TOWN AND SMOKING CIGARETTES, DESECRATING CHURCHES FOR KICKS, AND JOINING AL-QAEDA TRAINING CAMPS, SO THANK YOU BUT THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANYONE ELSE TO BRING TO MY ATTENTION THAT PITBULLS HAVE BRAINS AND CAN ACT ON THEIR OWN AND GUNS AND SUVS DON'T HAVE BRAINS AND CANNOT ACT ON THEIR OWN. I GOT IT. THANK YOU FOR ILLUSTRATING THE DIFFERENCE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
I am simply saying that a pitbull is largely analogous to an SUV...it is possible that either can escape the direct control of their owner, and when they do so, they are likely to creat more damage than other objects in their category. Having said that, the likliehood of either escaping its owner's control can be greatly minimized by responsible ownership, proper maintenance, secure "storage," and a cognizance of their capabilities, limitations and unique handling characteristics.
the grizzly bear in all the movies seems pretty friendly. Are you saying that a pit bull is a family pet like a bichon frisee?? I dont see too many teenagers trying to be big men with a bichon.
Not buying that.
Of course not, but Bichon's are gateway dogs....kids start out with bichons, move up to dalmatians, and the next thing you know, we've got a full blown pitbull addict. If you really support the war on dogs, you'll understand why we need to ban bichon's too.
Ahhh the lat gasp of the defeated hayseed pitbull fan .;lol
Yes, and the authorities will remove a cougar from a populated area on the west coast... rightly so. I'd like to see a study done showing deaths by cougars compared to deaths by pits. I can already count a half dozen deaths by pits this year.
Didn't one of these dogs kill one of its owners (a kid) in the house a few months ago? Seems to me these dogs don't kill out of loyalty or protection. They seem to like it. At least a cougar consumes it's prey. A pit just tears apart other dogs, owners and people for the fun of it.
Has Denver adopted Florida's new tough law on child molesters that Bill O'Reilly was talking about last night? First offense gets a mandatory sentence of 25 years!!! Every state should have it. Oh, and use those pit bulls to guard them.
Nope, that why I contain (my nonexistent) urge to just jump up on and ride all the horses I see in the streets of LA.
It should be illegal to own them in all states!!! I would rather have a pit bull as a neighbor than a snake.
No, but we should get rid of the people who fire them irresponsibly and harm, maim, or kill others. Put them where the killer pit bulls are going.
Which JBT department would you like to give that authority to? I presume you aren't too afraid they will no-knock raid your house by accident.
Actually it's the first fart of the would be autocrat. Although I've in all likliehood resided in a larger city than you have, I'll humbly and graciously accept the hayseed appelation; humble because it evokes the scorn of elitists such as yourself, scorn which has been directed at man far greater than I would ever presume to be; graciously because it's a scorn that betrays your fear.
That's fine, but you can't argue the stats. These dogs kill. These dogs are proven to be dangerous. They are the number one breed in dog related deaths.
Yes.
I have a question for you, a friend of mine has a child and she would like a dog to keep in the house, one that would be sort of a guard dog but also low shedding. I under Schnauzers are good for this?
I don't know much about the breeds...I'm a cat person.
Do you or does anybody have any thoughts that I can pass on?
The proper question is who should have more rights, the people or the government? You obviously choose the government for safety reasons. I enlist and authorize the government to provide deterrent laws. The threat of massive punishment will deter ordinary people from doing stupid things with their dog and for the drug dealer types, they should be taken off the streets before they ever get a dog of any breed, or knife, or gun, etc.
"Are you saying that a pit bull is a family pet like a bichon frisee?"
A Pit Bull is closer to a Bichon Frisee than to a bear or tiger with which you compared them. Pit Bulls are quite close to all other powerful dogs.
Having been bitten twice by small dogs, I say all dogs can attack.
Statisically I have read that the highest percentage of dog bites come from cocker spaniels.
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