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Elkader, Iowa May Consider Breed Restrictions
Editor’s note: The Hopkinton incident illustrates the danger, not of a specific breed, but of dogs that are constantly penned, unsocialized, and abused. If Elkader seeks to be proactive, they should do what Hopkinton didn’t: respond in a timely manner to calls from citizens about possible animal abuse. Folks want to point a…
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Beatrice, Nebraska Considering Breed-Specific Ordinance for “Pit Bulls”
Editor’s note: A breed-specific ordinance, whether an outright ban or breed-specific restrictions like Beatrice is considering, is still ineffective, unenforceable, and unconstitutional. And while DNA tests (which are not at all as reliable as the public has been made to believe and certainly not enough to withstand a legal challenge) have been proposed as…
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Illinois HB 1080: An Update
All Illinoisans with a dog should know by now that Rep. John Bradley’s HB 1080, if passed, would allow breed-specific legislation — meaning breed bans and breed-specific restrictions — in any municipality in Illinois. HB 1080 was in the House Agriculture & Conservation Committee for many weeks, but every time HB 1080 came up…
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UK: Dog Control Bill to Replace BSL Successfully Passes Committee Stage
Editor’s note: The UK has had a breed-specific ban instituted since 1991. I think 20 years of impotent breed-specific legislation is quite enough and indeed the repeal of the UK’s BSL is a testament to what animal welfarists have known all along: breed-specific legislation is ineffective, unenforceable, and needlessly kills innumerable innocent dogs. Republished…
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Oklahoma State Supreme Court overturns Midwest City, Oklahoma’s “Pit Bull” ban
Editor’s note: See? Municipalities who pass these breed-specific ordinances have no idea how to enforce them because “pit bull” is not a breed and so “pit bulls” become whatever arbitrary designation the ordinance wants them to be. Used to be they defined “pit bulls” as American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and…
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Illinois HB 1080: A Letter to the Editor
March 18, 2011 update: According to HB 1080’s status page, HB 1080 has been kicked back down to the Rules Committee where its sponsor is most likely hoping for an assignment to a more amenable committee. We hope HB 1080 dies a well-deserved, dishonorable death in the Rules Committee because the bill and its…
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Hopkinton, Iowa to consider additional BSL after Rottweiler mauling
Editor’s note: Fatal dog maulings almost always have mitigating factors — like the dog being sick, unaltered, abused, unsocialized, or some combination of these — that the media seldom takes into consideration. What we know for sure is that dog-bite related fatalities are not a breed problem. Any dog of any breed if…
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Illinois HB 1080: What Illinois Representative John Bradley Doesnt Know about Animal Control Could Amount to Alot of Dead Dogs
March 18, 2011 update: According to HB 1080’s status page, HB 1080 has been kicked back down to the Rules Committee where its sponsor is most likely hoping for an assignment to a more amenable committee. We hope HB 1080 dies a well-deserved, dishonorable death in the Rules Committee because the bill and its…
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Winnipeg “Pit Bull” advocates look to overturn 1990 ban
Editor’s note: Looks like Canada, along with all the rest of the world, is finally waking up to the fact that breed-specific legislation is costly, ineffective, and unenforceable. From the Winnipeg Sun: …After launching an e-mail campaign, advocates for ownership of the reputedly vicious dog breed are expected to urge a group of councillors Monday…
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Denver Violates Dog Owners’ Due Process Rights…Again
Editor’s note: The Denver Daily News article didn’t mention the 2004 case of Margolius v. the City of Denver in which it was demonstrated that “all of Denver’s animal control officers were disqualified because they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt they could identify what is known as the American Pit Bull Terrier” as…