Another Chapter On BSL: President Obama and Legal Precedent

 

Hello everyone,

            I wanted to talk a little more on BSL (Breed Specific Legislation), but with some new angles. The first thing that I wanted to discuss was an official statement made by President Obama concerning “breed ban” laws.  According to the White House, there were over 30 thousand signatures on a petition sent to the president asking him to make a specific stand on this issue, and the United States government is on record now as officially being against the institution of BSL. The Centers for Disease Control was quoted in the statement as saying, “dogs of any breed can become dangerous whether they are intentionally or unintentionally raised to be aggressive.”  Translation: Danger is not limited to one breed of dog, and an entire breed cannot be deemed “dangerous” enough to outlaw all dogs that come under the umbrella of a specific breed. This was a huge victory for bully owners and large dog owners alike.

            Also, according to the White House, they do not generally respond to a petition until it reaches 100,000 signatures or more. Since this petition has less than half of that, there are many bully advocates online that have said this shows that the Obamas care deeply about the rights of all companion animals. The response to the petition last year also happened to coincide with the adoption of the First Family’s second Portuguese Water Dog, Sunny. Breed bans exist on military bases all over the United States. I found some information online specifically concerning the U.S. Marine Corps banning pit bulls in all of their facilities, service animal or not. I am glad the president has made an official stand on this so that communities in this country considering this harmful legislation will be able to gain more education about the bully breed before outlawing their kind.

            There are many municipalities that have outright bans on pit bull or pit bull “type” dogs, but I have been reading much more about the city of Denver, CO than anywhere else. One of those articles was from DVM News, titled, “Petition aims to lift Breed Ban: DVM seeks support for ending Denver’s Pit Bull Ordinance” by associate editor Krista Schultz. The beginning of the article discussed one veterinarian’s effort to get the 15 year breed ban struck down in the city of Denver. Even though several independent studies were cited throughout this legal battle, representatives from the city of Denver did not seem to think that the law would be overturned, even though it was proven that bullies were as dangerous as any other breed of dog.

            Some of the horror stories that I have been reading from Denver that go beyond even this article extend to pit bull service dogs being confiscated from their owners for no other reason than their breed. One bully owner, Allen Grider, lawyered up and sued the city of Denver. Grider is a 59 year old Vietnam vet who needed his service dog, Precious, a lab/boxer mix, to help manage the horrible effects of PTSD. Precious was not even a pit bull breed dog. She just had some of what the city called pit bull traits/characteristics. (No one knows what that means, and that is why these laws are so ineffective!)   Grider has spoken out about how the whole ordeal not only severely traumatized him, but he was even more upset that these laws affected and traumatized his dog, who had to stay in a shelter for at least ten days.

 I also found another case out of Aurelia, IA: The Sak/Snicker case. Jim Sak and his wife, Peggy moved to Aurelia to be close to Jim’s ailing mother in law. They were not aware of the breed ban that had been put in place just as they moved into town. Snickers was confiscated from the Sak family for just a week before a judge issued an injunction allowing the family to keep the dog pending the outcome of the legal battle. The Sak case was taken all the way to Federal Court last year, and Jim Sak, a retired Chicago police officer and war veteran, got to keep Snickers, his service animal, bully and best friend. The only stipulation the Saks had to follow in the end was to construct an eight foot high fence around their home’s yard, which had already been done before the ruling.

These veterans and bully owners stood up for their service animals and won, but this does not mean that these victories would have been achieved in the cases of pet dogs. The ADA specifically protects service animals, and federal law was cited throughout these rulings protecting their rights as such. Please, if you have not already, research and know the specific breed ordinances in your area. Only then will you be able to write your congressman and tell them why these laws should be changed, and why they are wrong. The White House petition banning BSL is still available to sign. It is my hope as a bully supporter that people across the United States will adopt the CDC’s recommendation that we build “stronger communities of pets and pet owners” by providing the correct information to the public about the bully breed, strengthening leash laws for all animals, and increasing jail time and punishment for those convicted of animal cruelty and dogfighting.