Member

Posts: 361
From:Vancouver, BC
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 04-24-2003 01:05 PM            

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>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largely the result of a cruel 1996 law that needs to be rescinded, according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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Member

Posts: 58
From:australia
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 04-24-2003 11:25 PM            

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thankyou darl , i will get onto it and check it out,

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