shmoopie Member Posts: 361 From:Vancouver, BC Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 04-22-2003 06:16 PM
Hi Pete and welcome to the forum. Attached is an article I located somewhere somehow...I have passed it along to the shelter where I volunteer and she loved the article..might help her to the right direction of getting the ban removed. Cheers and welcome! http://news.mywebpal.com/news_to....ws&om=1 > >Bad breed or bad rap? Pit bull ban in Prince George's being reconsidered > > >04/10/03 >By Harold Goodridge >Email this story to a friend > >Adrianne Lefkowitz, president of the Maryland Dog Federation, says Zu Zu and >other pit bulls make affectionate pets. Staff photo by Laura Segall >Rocky's last days were like those of 99 percent of the other pit bulls >confiscated by the Prince George's County Animal Management Division. > >During his two days in captivity at the division's headquarters in >Forestville, he was well fed with a mixture of dry dog food in his >6-by-6-foot cage, walled in by cinder block on three sides and chain link >fencing for the entrance. > >With about 40 similar cages at the division's headquarters in Forestville, >Rocky was surrounded by up to 55 dogs, most of them other breeds. > >Some shared cages, but Rocky didn't. > >The tag attached to 6-year-old Rocky's cage read differently from the other >dogs, who were up for adoption. The label on their cages had their name, >breed or mix, and maybe a sentence on their disposition for potential >owners. > >Rocky's label simply read, "This dog is not for adoption." > >On Feb. 22, Rocky, who had an encounter with two children two days before, >was taken from his cage, muzzled and leashed and led paA pit bull sits >"behind bars" at the Prince George's County Animal Management headquarters >in Forestville. The facility euthanizes 1,000 pit bulls a year. Staff photo >by Laura Segall. >st the other barking dogs to a room where he received a fatal injection. > >Rocky's fate and that of another 1,000 pit bulls killed every year is >largely the result of a cruel 1996 law that needs to be rescinded, according >to the Maryland Dog Federation and county dog lovers. > >The ban went into effect in February 1997, and since then about 7,000 pit >bulls have been put to sleep. > >Adrianne Lefkowitz, president of the Greenbelt-based Dog Federation, said >the pit bull ban is unnecessary because the county already has laws to deal >with nuisance and vicious animals. She said most of the pit bulls being >killed by the county are good pets cared for by responsible owners. > >"Dogs are being destroyed not based on their behavior or because they're >dangerous, but only because they are pit bulls," Lefkowitz said. > >Lefkowitz, who owns a 7-year-old pit bull named Zu Zu, is also a member of >the Prince George's County Vicious Animal Task Force. The task force >convened in October after the passage of County Resolution 68, which calls >for a review of the effectiveness of the breed ban. > >Lefkowitz is a legal pit bull owner because she had registered her animal >before the law went into effect. > >The Vicious Animal Task Force is made up of representatives of county animal >rights groups, municipalities, and the county Police Department, Health >Department, Animal Management Division and County Council. > >Lefkowitz said the task force is aiming to complete its meetings by the end >of this month and present the County Council with its findings. > >After seven years of unsuccessfully lobbying against the breed ban, >Lefkowitz said she is hoping the task force's findings will prompt the >County Council to rescind the law this year. > >The findings include statistics from the Health Department that 743 >dog-biting incidents were reported in the county in 2002. About 64 of those >involved dogs identified as pit bulls. > >"That's 679 bites happening in a year that are not by pit bulls, so you >can't say they are the only problem," Lefkowitz said. > >Pat Sullivan, spokeswoman for the county Health Department, said the >statistics also show that pit bull bites are down since the ban was passed. >In 1996 there were 106, last year 64. > >"It's difficult to tell why pit bull bites are down," Sullivan said. "People >could just be more cognizant of the law, or pit bull bites are down because >of the law. It's hard to say." > >Lefkowitz admits that pit bulls' strong jaws make their bites more severe >than those of most breeds, but a breed ban is not the answer, she said. > >"There is nothing that the pit bull law covers that is not already covered >under the county's dangerous animal laws," Lefkowitz said. "The pit bull ban >is an overlay law that traps caring, loving dog owners with dogs who never >hurt anybody. That's not the exception. It's the rule." > >Rodney Taylor, chief of the Prince George's County Animal Management >Division, agreed with Lefkowitz. > >"There are many occasions when we had to take someone's nice family dog >away," Taylor said. "It's a hard thing to do. With the breed ban, we mostly >get good pets from good pet owners." > >As for people who intentionally train or breed vicious pit bulls, Taylor >said, "Those guys are hard to catch. They went underground" after the >ordinance. > >As for Rocky, he was no angel. On Feb. 20, the 45-pound dog bolted out of an >open front door at his Montpelier home and attacked two children, a >5-year-old boy who received minor bites on both ears and his 8-year-old >brother, who suffered a scratch to his left cheek, according to Prince >George's County police. > >Anthony Hilliard, Rocky's owner, said his visiting mother-in-law was the >only person at his home when the dog got out. > >"From what I understand the door was open and he ran out," Hilliard said. >"He couldn't resist the fresh air." > >Hilliard said he was surprised when he heard that his "affectionate" family >dog harmed children. > >"I'm sure Rocky just wanted to play with them," Hilliard said. "When the >children saw him running out of the house, they ran away and, like any dog, >he wanted to play chase. > >"Rocky never had problems with kids in the past," Hilliard said. > >"He wasn't a vicious dog. I have grandkids," he added, though he admitted, >"My grandkids kept their distance from him and he didn't bother them. He >didn't bother nobody." > >Linda Odom, who lives on Hilliard's street, witnessed Rocky's encounter with >the children. > >"Good," Odom said after learning the dog had been put down. "My opinion on >pit bulls is they have so much power, and I've heard so many horror stories. >I'm glad they're outlawed in Prince George's County. > >The dog "wasn't that aggressive toward the adults, but he kept lunging for >the kids," Odom said. She said a man who was with the children was able to >get them away from Rocky. > >All legal pit bull owners in the county must re-register annually. While >Rocky was registered before the law went into effect, his owner didn't >re-register him in 1999, Taylor said, sealing the dog's fate. > >"It didn't look good for Rocky," Taylor said. > >If pit bulls were not banned, Rocky would have been dealt with under the law >that governs the hundreds of other dogs that bite people every year. > >According to those laws, when an unprovoked dog bites or harms someone, >police or animal control officers make a report and a hearing is scheduled >before the county Animal Control Commission. > >At the hearing, the commission hears testimony from witnesses, victims, the >dog owner and officers. If the commission deems the dog vicious and the >owner incapable of controlling the dog, the dog is put to sleep. If the dog >is deemed vicious but the owner is deemed capable of controlling the dog, >the animal is entered into a vicious dog database and is allowed to remain >with the owner, who is given strict guidelines on how to care for the dog. > >Prince George's County's "dangerous dog laws work and are some of the best >in the country," Lefkowitz said. > >Lefkowitz said pit bull owners, like Hilliard, who have their dogs taken >away call her organization for advice. > >"There's not much I can tell them because the way the law is written," she >said, nearly in tears after learning about Hilliard's dog. > >Lefkowitz said some of the saddest calls she gets are from people who move >into the county with a pit bull unaware of the law until they are confronted >by police or animal control. > >"People call me in tears saying, 'I just moved here and animal control took >my dog,' " Lefkowitz said. "That's some welcome wagon for people moving >here." > >Victoria Cheek of Laurel was one of the few people who was able to save her >dog before it was destroyed by the county. Cheek has a Jack Russell terrier >and a dog she thought was a mutt until she returned home one day in February >2002 to find a note on her front door from the Animal Management Division >telling her that she was harboring an illegal pit bull. > >"She's a mutt," Cheek said of Lucy. "I didn't even know she was a pit bull." > >Cheek said her son found Lucy in 2001 in the parking lot of The Mall in >Columbia, where he worked. "He heard the dog would be put to sleep if the >county picked her up, so he brought her home." > >Cheek said one of her neighbors reported her to the county. "Someone made a >complaint, being evil," Cheek said. "Lucy never had any encounters with >anyone and is always on a leash. > >"This had nothing to do with how the dog behaves. It's just, 'I don't like >the way you look. You look dangerous so we're going to kill you.' " > >The county told Cheek to bring Lucy to the Forestville headquarters. With >official papers stating Lucy was a mixed-breed and had shots, and with >letters from neighbors saying Lucy was friendly, Cheek met with the >officers. > >"They said she had more characteristics of a pit bull and she needed to be >euthanized," Cheek said. "She is the happiest dog. I can just imagine her >tail wagging as they took her to the death room." > >After pleading to save her dog, Cheek said she was allowed to take Lucy on >condition that she find a home for her outside the county. > >Cheek sent Lucy into exile on a friend's farm in Howard County. > >Cheek said dogs like Lucy and responsible dog owners like her family are >victims of a bad law. "It's not about the dog, but how you train them and >raise them," Cheek said. "If you're a lousy dog owner, shame on you. They >shouldn't take it out on us good dog owners." > >Former County Council member Isaac Gourdine, who died last year, sponsored >the pit bull ban after two Temple Hills children were attacked while playing >in their back yard. Gourdine's original bill also included Rottweilers, but >that breed was removed before the measure passed. > >Lawmakers in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., attempted to pass similar breed >bans in the late 1990s, but failed. A proposed statewide pit bull ban also >was rejected. > >Lefkowitz said she believes that type of law is being rejected elsewhere >because people are more informed about pit bulls. > >"Some people call them Velcro dogs because they bond so well with their >owners," Lefkowitz said. "They make great family dogs."
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