Great Letter to Dispatch Editor Regarding Whitehall Pit Bull Ban

This is a really awesome Letter to the Editor that appeared in the Sunday, June 22, 2008 edition of The Columbus Dispatch!

Hooray for Amanda! She really did her homework very well!

Campaign against pit bulls in Whitehall is sorely lacking in facts

I am writing in regard to last Saturday's letter from Whitehall City Councilwoman Jacquelyn K. Thompson, "Pit bulls inspire fear, must be removed from society."

I find it ironic that Thompson has chosen to invoke the names of great men known for their fight against prejudice, discrimination and hatred. Indeed, Thompson is a shining example of what President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy fought against: those using the guise of betterment of society, when in fact they were simply hiding behind their words to cover ignorance and fear of the unknown, as well as blatant prejudice and discrimination.

I am not a part of a pit-bull lobby, nor do I even own a pit bull. I am amazed that Thompson is blaming her inability to pass a ban on the "pit-bull lobby."

Thompson was unable to pass her ban because, quite simply, the foundation of her proposed ordinance was myth, rhetoric and hysteria. The facts do not support bans as being effective in reducing dog bites and increasing public safety. Here are some facts:

• Just last week the Netherlands repealed a 15-year ban imposed on pit bulls and other breeds because it did not reduce dog bites.

• Aurora, Colo., instituted a pit-bull ban two years ago. Since that time, bite incidents have increased 43 percent.

• A Scottish study, two years after a breed ban was enacted, found overall dog-bite rates were unchanged.

• A study in Aragon, Spain, five years before and five years after the introduction of their Dangerous Animals Act, indicated there was no change in numbers of reported dog bites.

• The United Kingdom banned pit bulls in 1991. A study analyzing dog bites before the ban and after the ban revealed that the Dangerous Dog Act has had no effect whatsoever. Yet the U.K. spent $14 million identifying pit bulls and another $10 million per year in litigation.

• The province of Ontario, Canada, banned pit bulls in 2005, spending $170,000 per year trying to enforce it. The city of Windsor spends an extra $26,000 each year enforcing a pit-bull ban.

• During a 10-year period, Cincinnati spent $160,000 per year trying to enforce a pit-bull ban, which has been ineffective.

• While dog bites were spiking in Lucas County, Ohio -- despite the Ohio and Toledo vicious-dog laws -- the incidence of dog bites has steadily declined in New York City, which does not regulate dogs based on breed. In the absence of a breed-specific law, dog bites have decreased from 30,000 per year in the 1970s to 5,300 in 2001 and then to 3,956 in 2005.

• The Canadian city of Calgary enacted dangerous-dog legislation (similar to the alternative legislation proposed by Whitehall Councilman Bob Bailey) in response to an escalating bite problem. The results were incredible. Calgary saw a 21 percent decline in bite incidents, and aggressive-dog incidents have dropped by 56 percent. And the city's animal-control program pays for itself. Police work with animal-control officers in dangerous situations.

As to the claim of a "pit-bull lobby" bullying the community, city residents speaking out against an unjust proposal is hardly a lobby. Ohioans from nearby communities concerned with unjust legislation is hardly a lobby.

The only bullying I have witnessed was, in fact, perpetrated by Thompson, who consistently targeted and berated Whitehall residents, denigrated and made absurd accusations against other members of City Council and even took pot shots at the mayor. Bullying, Thompson? Here's a mirror.

AMANDA GLEASON
Galloway

Former Vick Dog Now a Therapy Dog

Please take time to check out this brief video. What a wonderful ending for Leo .... and a testimony for all Pit Bulls everywhere.

It has been proven that bait dogs as well as the ones who were trained to fight can most often be rehabilitated when given a second chance. Leo was given his second chance at life ..... now he’s helping cancer patients achieve their second chance.

If you haven’t written your Ohio state representative as yet regarding the Ohio Pit Bull Ban (see my post regarding H.B. 568), please take a few minutes to do so.

DO NOT LET THEM DESTROY THIS WONDERFUL BREED OF DOG.

Thanks for your time.

Introducing Blue: A Rescue Dog Survival Story

[Warning: Graphic images appear below the story.]

By Katherine Daily
June 3, 2008

The scenario is most likely this... a dog was tossed into a dog fight ring and when he wasn't "good" at it, the "people" (and I use the word loosely - they are living bodies without souls) try to kill the dog. It's common practice. They stabbed him in the neck with a pole type object and took a knife to his head. These were injuries that could not have been inflicted by dogs. The vet confirmed he had hundreds of dog bites on his body, the most severe obviously on his chest.

We rescued this dog on a rainy Saturday in April, he was rushed to the vet hospital. His flesh was literally rotting. He had been laying in a garage, starving, weak from blood loss and infection. If you've ever smelled rotting flesh, you know it. My van smelled for a week. For the first few days the goal was to keep him alive, then once over that hump, the vet began daily treatments to clean the dead tissue, etc. Even in pain, he was as sweet as pie. He let the vet/staff do anything to him and only thumped his scraggly tail, happy for the attention. Five weeks later he looks much better, the hole in his chest growing smaller, little by little. He has had 3 surgeries, the last one yesterday to try to close up the chest wound.

We named him Blue. He is very sweet, takes treats ever so gently, he loves people and other dogs. The vet staff all adore him, he is their favorite patient. Blue is a pit bull and he is wonderful. He is another sad example of what the slimeballs do to these dogs, the most abused, persecuted and misunderstood breed in history. http://www.thetruthaboutpitbulls.com/ So don't believe the media hype about the breed, we have many, many examples of their extreme bias and selective sensationalism. It's the humans who are evil, not the dogs.

Blue will be looking for a home/foster home when he is released from the hospital - so please spread the word to your friends. Thanks!


Day 1, April 26...







3 weeks Later, May 19...

You can still see the hole in his chest 3 weeks later.

5 Weeks later... May 29. Blue's chest wound looks a little better, but is still quite disturbing in person.

A Letter to Representative Yates

The following letter was written by my friend and fellow rescuer Barb McGrady. Also, please take time to read the story of Blue. It is gut wrenching to see what humans do to this breed while our law makers propose legislation that would lead to a Pit Bull Holocaust. As Barb puts it ..... after reading the story of Blue .... "Who is most to be feared, man or the breed of pit bull?"

June 11, 2008

To Representative Yates,

I hope that you aren't planning on running for re-election.

(I am ccing this to Speaker of the House, Rep. John Husted, Rep. Joyce Beaty, and Chairman of State Gov. and Elections Committee, Rep, David Daniels.)

Please read the following story. Feel free to contact the sender, [kdaily AT JonesDay dot com], so that you can contact the veterinarian's office currently attempting to save this innocent dog's life to verify the story's validity.

It is obvious, though, that you are not interested in validation of data, considering the bill you recently submitted to the State Government and Elections Committee. You know, the bill that would demand that dog wardens obtain search warrants and seize
people's beloved pets (pit bulls or dogs who look like pit bulls) SO THEY ALL COULD BE KILLED. The Pit Bull "Holocaust."

Ask yourself after reading the story in its entirety, after looking at the attached photos, "Who is most to be feared, man or the breed of pit bull?"

The bill that you have written and submitted to the State Government and Elections Committee reflects that your judgment on this issue is hideously ignorant, absurdly inept, and quite frankly, alarming. How someone with your blatant narrow-mindedness and total lack of compassion was elected to hold the position of state representative has caused me, as well as thousands of others across the United States, real concern.

We have rescued hundreds of dogs. I can say in all honestly a few have had behavioral issues that we have had to work through. Yes, some have actually displayed mild signs of aggression. But with a little TLC and patience, we have worked through these tendencies with the lab, boxer, terrier, German
shepherd, collie, beagle, and basset mixes as well as purebred breeds that we have rescued. Aggression isn't breed specific, as you seem to believe.

There is ONE breed and one breed only that we have rescued that has never once shown aggression to humans, and that breed is the pit bull. I use a pit bull mix named Brie in my Compassion Education presentations that S.P.A. offers to preschool and grade school children. She is the only dog that we trust 110% around children. Her temperament is solid as steel, and she is one of the most even tempered dogs I have ever met.

Again, if only to break through the dark shroud that is apparently wrapped tightly around your brain, please read the following story. Hopefully a light will go off in your head and the shroud that is distorting your perception of reality will unravel. I am usually not abrasive by nature, but someone like you, holding the position of an Ohio
State Representative, writing a bill ordering all family pit bulls be killed, really scares the hell out of me.

Barbara McGrady, President
S.P.A.
http://www.spaohio.org/

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." ~Mahatma Gandhi

I have posted the Story of Blue as a separate entry. Click HERE to read.

Ohio Rep Tyrone Yates Wants All Pit Bulls Seized & Killed!

Ohio State Representative Tyrone Yates (D-Cincinnati) has introduced HB 568, legislation to ban pit bulls throughout the state. HB 568 would require pit bull owners to forfeit their dogs to the dog warden for destruction. The bill would also authorize law enforcement to confiscate and kill any dog whom they suspect is a pit bull.

As stated in the proposed legislation:

Sec. 955.111. (A) Beginning ninety days after the effective date of this section, no person shall own, keep, or harbor a dog that belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog.

(B) Not later than ninety days after the effective date of this section, a person who owns, keeps, or harbors a pit bull dog on the effective date of this section shall surrender the dog to the dog warden. Not later than ten days after receiving the dog, the dog warden shall euthanize the dog.

(C)(1) Beginning ninety days after the effective date of this section, if an officer has probable cause to believe that a dog is a pit bull dog, the officer may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for a search warrant. The court shall issue a search warrant for the purposes requested if there is probable cause to believe that a dog is a pit
bull dog.

Read the full proposed law:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_568

I am asking everyone to please take time to write or phone your state representative with regard to this ludicrous piece of legislation that Ohio Rep. Yates is trying to get passed. This will not only affect pure bred Pit Bulls but Pit mixes as well. It has been my experience, over the years, that our law enforcement officers and animal control can’t determine the difference between a Pit Bull and a Cocker Spaniel, so if they should happen upon your property and see your little mixed breed dog, they just might decided that it’s a Pit mix instead of a boxer/beagle and confiscate it, take it to the pound and have it killed. You, as a pet owner, will have NO SAY what-so-ever.

We need laws that will prosecute irresponsible pet owners, not laws that allow someone to come in our homes and take our beloved pets away to be killed.

Pit Bulls are not a dangerous breed ..... it’s the human owner who teaches the dog to be aggressive and fight. The “human” is the one who should be punished .... not the dog.

Destroying a breed of dog will not solve the problem. These irresponsible, low life humans will only go out and find another breed they can fight and make mean. It has happened time and time again. First it was the Dobermans, then the German Shepherds, then the Rottweilers, and now the Pit Bulls. The “DEED” is never punished, just the BREED.

PLEASE write or phone your Ohio Representative and put an end to this type of GESTAPO police action. We live in America, we are tax payers, and registered voters. WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT and WE HAVE A SAY IN WHAT GOES ON IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR OWN HOMES. No one has the right to come onto our property and confiscate our animals without just cause.

Some of our most famous canines were Pit Bulls .... even War Heroes!

What You Can Do
Your elected officials need to know that you are against this alarmist and destructive legislation. Please be the animals' voice and call your representative today to ask him or her to oppose HB 568. We also request that you call the representatives who make up House leadership, as they can help stop this bill from advancing any further. Visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center to learn more and find the phone numbers for your representative and members of House leadership.

You can also locate your local representatives at the following link:
http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp

Thank you in advance for your support!

Remembering War Dogs this Memorial Day

Here is a wonderful website that honors dogs that have served our country:
http://www.uswardogs.org/

Discovery Channel also produced a documentary in 2000 called "War Dogs: America's Forgotten Heroes": http://www.war-dogs.com/.

Many thanks to the dogs and their handlers for protecting our soldiers and our country during wartimes. And a very HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY to all of our war veterans -- human and canine! You are not forgotten!

Pit Bulls - Punish the Deed, Not the Breed

I found this great Pit Bull Educational Packet (in PDF format) on the Understand-a-Bull.com website:

http://www.understand-a-bull.com/BSL/Research/BSLPacket/lawsbsl_presspack_low.pdf