Expert opinions on BSL

Just got great news from a town where we 

have been fighting a form of BSL  

BSL has been a epic failure 


                              
 
                                                                                  
                                                                          







                                                                                

                                                                                
                                                                               


BSL is ineffective


Link to information ----------->   Why BSL will not work !

 

                                                                 Enforcement Issues

Enforcement of BSL naturally leads to the question: Who determines whether a dog is one of the banned or regulated breeds, and what is the procedure for that determination? Surprisingly, in places such as North Salt Lake, Utah, the city manager has sole authority to make that call. In other places it is the mayor or animal control officers. No special training in breed identification is required. Some jurisdictions have passed their BSL legislation without any input from a veterinarian, presumably the type of expert most capable of identifying dog breeds. Attorney Ledy VanKavage has spent the last decade studying BSL and is considered one of the country’s foremost experts on the subject. She is now general counsel for Best Friends Animal Society after working for years as the senior director of legislation and legal training for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). She calls BSL “breed discrimination laws” and asserts that with the advance of DNA analysis for dogs becoming more available, the days of mere “canine profiling” and arbitrary enforcement are numbered. VanKavage believes that because the government has the burden of proving that a dog is one of the breeds banned or regulated by BSL, cities will have to seriously weigh whether they should pony up the high cost of DNA tests or simply give up trying to enforce BSL.

Is BSL Effective?

Extensive studies of the effectiveness of BSL in reducing the number of persons harmed by dog attacks were done in Spain and Great Britain. Both studies concluded that their “dangerous animals acts,” which included pit bull bans, had no effect at all on stopping dog attacks. The Spanish study further found that the breeds most responsible for bites—both before and after the breed bans—were those breeds not covered by it, primarily German Shepherds and mixed breeds.
One of the few known instances in which a breed ban’s effectiveness was examined and reported on in the United States occurred in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where a task force was formed in 2003 to look at the effectiveness of its pit bull ban. The task force concluded that the public’s safety had not improved as a result of the ban, despite the fact that the county had spent more than $250,000 per year to round up and destroy banned dogs. Finding that other, non–breed–specific laws already on the books covered vicious animal, nuisance, leash, and other public health and safety concerns, the task force recommended repealing the ban.
In a different study looking at dog bite data, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Veterinary Medical Association together produced a report titled “Breeds of Dogs Involved in Fatal Human Attacks in the US between 1979 and 1998,” which appeared in the September 15, 2000, issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Among its findings, the study reported that during this 20–year period, more than 25 breeds of dogs were involved in 238 human fatalities. Pit bull–type dogs caused 66 of the fatalities, which averages out to just over three fatal attacks per year, and Rottweilers were cited as causing 39 of the fatalities. The rest were caused by other purebreds and mixed breeds. At the time the report was released, Dr. Gail C. Golab, one of the study’s co–authors, was quoted as saying, “[s]ince 1975, dogs belonging to more than 30 breeds—including Dachshunds, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and a Yorkshire Terrier—have been responsible for fatal attacks on people.”
The authors noted that the data in the report cannot be used to infer any breed–specific risk for dog bite fatalities, such as for pit bull–type dogs or Rottweilers, because to obtain such risk information it would be necessary to know the total numbers of each breed currently residing in the United States,and that information is unavailable



  Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the American Kennel Club, and the National Animal Control Association all oppose BSL. Otto sums up their position this way: “If the goal is dog–bite prevention, then dogs should be treated as individuals under effective dangerous dog laws and not as part of a breed painted with certain traits that may not be applicable to each dog. By doing so, owners of well–trained, gentle dogs are not punished by a breed ban, while dangerous dogs of all breeds are regulated and may have their day in court to be proven dangerous.”


                                  American Society for the prevention of  cruelty to animals

The ASPCA has proposed a list of solutions for inclusion in breed–neutral laws that hold reckless dog owners accountable for their aggressive animals:  Enhanced enforcement of dog license laws, with adequate fees to augment animal control budgets and surcharges on ownership of unaltered dogs to help fund low–cost pet- sterilization programs. High–penalty fees should be imposed on those who fail to license a dog.Enhanced enforcement of leash/dog–at–large laws, with adequate penalties to supplement animal control funding and to ensure the law is taken seriously. Dangerous dog laws that are breed neutral and focus on the behavior of the individual dog, with mandated sterilization and microchipping of dogs deemed dangerous and options for mandating muzzling, confinement, adult supervision, training, owner education, and a hearings process with gradually increasing penalties, including euthanasia, in aggravated circumstances such as when a dog causes unjustified injury or simply cannot be controlled. (“Unjustified” typically is taken to mean the dog was not being harmed or provoked by anyone when the attack occurred.) Laws that hold dog owners financially accountable for failure to adhere to animal control laws, and also hold them civilly and criminally liable for unjustified injuries or damage caused by their dogs.
  Laws that prohibit chaining or tethering, coupled with enhanced enforcement of animal cruelty and fighting laws. Studies have shown that chained dogs are an attractive nuisance to children and others who approach them.

Laws that mandate the sterilization of shelter animals and make low–cost sterilization services widely available.

The National Canine Research Council has identified the most common factors found in fatal dog attacks occurring in 2006:
97 percent of the dogs involved were not spayed or neutered.

84 percent of the attacks involved owners who had abused or neglected their dogs, failed to contain their dogs, or failed to properly chain them
78 percent of the dogs were not kept as pets  but as guard , breeding, or yard dogs.
                                                    
 A report on media bias by the National Canine Research Council (available on their website at Media/audience-interest test) compared the type of media coverage given for dog attacks that occurred during a four–day period in August 2007 with intriguing results:

   On day one, a Labrador mix attacked an elderly man, sending him to the hospital. News stories of his attack appeared in one article in the local paper.

  On day two, a mixed–breed dog injured a child. The local paper ran two stories.
  On day three, a mixed–breed dog attacked a child, sending him to the hospital. One article ran in the local paper.
 On day four, two pit bulls that broke off their chains attacked a woman trying to protect her small dog. She was hospitalized. Her dog was uninjured. This attack was reported in more than 230 articles in national and international newspapers and on the major cable news networks.

  It is not a stretch to see how such news coverage could influence calls for breed bans from the frightened public and its legislators



 Diane M Campbell






Want to be insulted just comment on these blogs.

All you have to do is visit these sites but actually I give some of these pages credit because at least they let you comment ( after they approve it )on their posts most sites just post their opinions and leave you no place to disagree with their beliefs.



Craven Desires, Dangerous by default, Americas dog,The truth about pitbulls,, gripping dogs, pit-nutters, etc etc etc all of these pages influenced by the biggest hate page of all dogsbite.org a page thats run by a woman who is a web page designer but feels that she is an authority on canine behavior.
And when her page has been discredited by legitimate Animal experts she claims they taking money from dog fighters ...so the A.S.P.C.A ,  Mspca , Akc , ukc and other national organizations are on the take so that dog fighters can prevail . What a load of crap !

Visit one of these pages and stand up for what you believe , and see what good citizens have to say to you because you don't agree with their unsubstantial opinions. Here's a perfect example Fight for your rights wrote Mar 26, 2012 12:33 PM

@ zoologic and the rest who keep saying aggression is genetic I got this link the same place where Zoo got his it was right next to it I wonder why it wasn't posted though.

Imagine it says that owners are responsible for their dogs aggression not what breed they are. I,m sure there will still be many reasons why the study is false along with a few insults.

Lets try this answer honestly if you can.

1) What is the most abused dog in the country with dog fighting
and people who exploit and neglect them.

2)If you said pitbulls you would be right so that would mean there are more problem pitbulls than other dogs.

3) If there are more problem dogs of a certain breed then wont you see more attacks by that breed ?

4)Now that that's established you should see what the problem is and guess what its not the breed its the bad owners who are responsible not 100 % of the time but i bet 95 % of the time it is the case.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090424114315.htm
ReplyDelete
skeptifem wrote Mar 27, 2012 11:07 PM

3- No. If toy poodles were the most abused dogs in the country, it would not follow that they would cause the most harm to people. They do not have the breeding to cause significant harm to the vast majority of people. They could hurt disabled people or young children, and even then they would have difficulty killing them. This is why it isn't extremely relevant if the owners are causing the problem (meaning someone gets killed roughly every 21 days, in addition to countless amputations, scalpings, and serious injuries).

I have a question for you- doesn't the methodology of the science daily article bother you? They talk about dog aggression being dependent on if the owner "establishes dominance" but they don't even discuss what that means. If the study observers (if they used observers instead of self reporting, they don't really say) had a bias they could easily say that any continued aggression in a gripping dog was due to owners failing to establish dominance. They don't even define "aggression", if it is defined as posturing and threatening behavior these may not be present before an attack in a game bred dog. The study also don't look into why some dogs aren't aggressive to start with, they more tackle the issue of how aggression can be effectively dealt with once it has surfaced. This piece of shit study can't stand up to the conclusions of the russian study on foxes and aggression. Not in the amount of data that they collected or the quality of the study. Few conclusions can be drawn from a single study without someone else duplicating the results repeatedly in the future.

I get sick and tired of people thinking that science is a matter of finding some crappy study to support whatever you want it to- questions about methodology are extremely important, and so is looking at the actual data. I have read more than one article about a study that conflicted with the data in the study itself.

Also, if you are the douchecanoe who used a graphic of a pit bull in a native american head dress to bolster your pit bull activism- fuck you, seriously. Native american genocide is still going on, it isn't cool to use images of native american culture or the tragedy of their genocide to pony up guilt for dogs.


This response most likely wont be posted

We also have a new insult...... A douchecanoe !

Reply 4 /02/ 2012 10:30 pm fight4yourights wrote

Awesome another unprovoked attack as I predicted ! I guess that's what you get if you have an opinion on a situation that is different than yours. And that picture with the Indian head dress is over 40 years old I didn't make it and I don't see the harm in using that picture at all because it was a wrong done to a entire race by our ignorant government. It may not be as significant as what was done to the American Indians or what Hitler did to the Jewish people but it is racial profiling and The American Pitbull Terrier is facing Genocide in the face of BSL.

As far as a toy poodle being used as your comparison of a dog being abused turning human aggressive & causing the same damage yes your right there's no comparison but we are not talking about five to eight pound dogs were talking about dogs who are 55 lbs to over 100 lbs and on that scale you would have German shepherds, Doberman's, Akitas , American bull dogs ,Labradors ,Rottweilers & mastiffs to name a few all who if placed in the same abusive & negligent situations would be just as destructive to human flesh as any Pitbull Terrier.

Also I find it funny that there was no mention of feces when Zoologic posted study's from science daily only when one was posted by someone who doesn't agree with your posted thoughts on a matter and that's all these are " your posted thoughts" just because you believe it does not make it true, but back to the subject why is it when I use the same source of info as your posters mine is suddenly no good ! Why is that ?

There's over three million Pitbulls in our country so even if 30,000 Pitbulls attacked it would leave 99% who never do anything wrong... the problem is people...irresponsible owners not a entire breed of dog. There are many good Pitbull stories that the news doesn't go national with because it doesn't bring ratings . These story's are on a dog web site not a pro Pitbull site just a dog site, scroll back to just the beginning of the year and there is 10 or fifteen positive Pitbull story's that never make national headlines & this is only one site from this year alone. All im saying is that there are more good Pitbulls out there than there are bad ones stop being influenced by the media and fear .

copy & paste link http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/?s=pit+bull