Denver Pitbull Ban - this infuriates me.

DENVER - A few weeks ago, two police cars and two animal control vehicles pulled up at the home of Stef’ny Steffen 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 Steffen, 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 Steffen 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,” Steffen said. “But she’ll miss us. We’re her pack.”

3 cities have bans
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.

Pit bulls, Rottweilers seen as most dangerous
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.”

 

People are so stupid. I guess it would be too inconvenient to have to actually determine whether a particular dog is dangerous and whether the owner is irresponsible. I wonder if they ever look at cities with these breed bans in place and see if it makes a difference. I suspect it does not.

I would probably move if I lived in Denver and owned a pit bull (or one that looked like a pit bull). But not everyone can do that. It's one reason I don't think I would get a pit bull (or a dog that looks like one) because I would be afraid that someday the breed would be banned in my town or a neighbor would complain or something.

 

Yes, this ban is stupid..just like the other bans, but the one good thing about the Denver ban is that it's getting a ton of publicity that the others haven't. This very article was printed in the local paper here in Texarkana, TX this morning. It was buried in the middle of a section, but it had a huge spread with a huge picture of a pit sticking it's nose through the cage at the pound and an info box describing the difference between Am Staffs, APBTs, and Staffie Bulls. So, I applaud the Denver media and pit bull owners for keeping this in the news with a postive spin on pits. It may get the ban reversed or at least steer other towns away from making the same decision.

 

Talking about stupid people, I started training a shelter Pit Bull yesterday, this morning a guy starts yelling at me, cradling his German Shorthair Pointer and pointing and waving his arm in the air, obviously hes yelling in German so I didnt know what he was yelling but by the way he was acting Id say he wasnt happy with Yellow being out (on a leash).


So I move as far back as I can with Yellow the guy goes past....gets about 10 feet away from us and then lets HIS dog off its leash....the strict leash laws apply to all dogs here....but guess who would have got the blame had his dog approached us and got bitten....

 

I just can't get over the "looks like a pitbull" thing. Who decides? There are tons of dogs that "look" like pitbulls. But then again, most of these idiots don't even know what a pitbull looks like.

I agree that this is one reason I would never own a pitbull. Nothing against them, it just opens yourself up to so many liabilities. All anyone has to say is "pitbull" and you're done.

The whole banning thing scares me b/c where are they going to stop? First it will be pitbulls, but then it will just move on to something else. There was a controversy where I live about large breed dogs b/c several kids (under 3) have been killed by "large breed" dogs - mind you they were dogs that were tied up and the babies had no parents watching them. But of course it was the dogs fault...mainly b/c they were "large breed". My dogs would never do that b/c I would never leave them in that sort of situation. I just don't want to ever have to lose my St. Bernards b/c of some irresponsible "large breed" dog owners and parents.

 

I agree, Eliza. That whole subject scares me to death. I have actually had people tell me they see pit bull in Bonnie. I can't even imagine someone maintaining that she is dangerous, since she is the sweetest dog!

Time for the "find the pit bull" test again: http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html

 

The people that passed these laws have to be some of the most ignorant people around.

I don't have a Pit, don't know many people that do. I'm not a fan of the breed but then I'm not a fan of Collies or Rotties or Begals or Golden Retrievers. I (we) have 6 Labs. I've known some very nasty Labs (believe it or not!). Should this be the next breed to exterminate?

This ban is so totally stupid, STUPID, STUPID

It's not the same, I know, and you can't compare it to human life but all I can think of is what I learned a long time agi in History class in school and how this took place in Germany under Hitler. You'd think we'd have become a better society than any thing close to that.

Remind me NEVER to visit a backwards city like Denver.

 

Thats so sad, I think pitbulls can be dagerous just like any other dog but that dosent mean they should all be killed! My mom has a pitbull that was raised around her three grandchilden all babys at the time and it is the sweetest most tolerent dog I have ever seen. Yet everyones eyes get big when they find out its a pit. I think pitbulls are great dogs, sometimes irresponceable people own them and breed them into monsters. I don't understand wouldnt education being better and cheeper then putting dogs to death!

 

Sad very sad indeed.

On another note, I wish to say hello to "Johneo". Welcome aboard. I believe I recoginze you from our local newspaper "Projo" forum???

I also live in RI.

I have always enjoyed reading your Projo posts, I usually stay in the pet fourm and don't venture out into the national or political sections too much.

I believe you will truly enjoy the Auspet crowd. Its a great group!

Again, Welcome aboard.

Sue :mrgreen: