Posted on 05/11/2005 5:21:38 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
It has to be one of the dumbest laws, ever. And I don't even own or like pit bulls. It's nothing personal, only that I'd never keep any animal that eats as much or more than I do.
Still, I can weep for the pit bulls of Denver, particularly for the puppies that never did anything other than get born into the breed.
Yet here we have the city of Denver, newly sprung from legislative and judicial restraint, rounding up pits over the past couple of days and killing them like rats during The Plague.
A uniformed officer arrives at a home. "I'll get him," she announces to her partner. Rather than fight it all, a distraught man emerges, weighs going to jail and a fine, and in the end hands over his dog.
"I'm definitely sad," he later tells a reporter. "He's like a member of my family."
Later in the day, a woman pleads: "I don't have no dogs!
"There ain't no dogs in the basement!" she yells as the uniformed man and woman, responding to an informant's report of a pit bull, interrogate her. Outside, squad cars filled with police officers wait to see if they are needed.
"I'm just doing my job," the woman officer later laments.
It has been eight years since I last had a dog, God rest him. And the one thing I truly know is I would have never given him over to the dogcatcher to be killed simply because he was a beagle.
I would hardly care if a judge in the city where I lived said it was the rule and the law. Yet this has been happening since Monday in Denver, when a state law prohibiting bans of "breed-specific" dogs was overturned and the city's moratorium on pit bull confiscation and killing was lifted.
And no one much is saying a thing.
It is why we need to speak with William Suro. He is a veterinarian of 45 years, who in 1988 started the MaxFund, a nonprofit that provides medical care for injured animals with no known owners, which seeks new homes for them.
It is a shelter that has never killed a single dog.
Bill Suro, 69, for years has wrangled with Denver in the courts of legal and public opinion over the ban, passed in the wake of the pit bull killing of a young child.
"Unfair. Stupid," Bill Suro says of this week's roundup. "It remains an emotional response to a terrible thing that happened, but one that doesn't really help those hurt or killed by vicious dogs."
Bill Suro is a blunt-spoken and uncompromising defender of animals, and a man who believes in harsh punishment for those who abuse and kill them.
He has in recent hours counseled numerous terrier owners, given the shock of their lives simply because their pets resemble pits and were threatened with euthanasia. Denver animal control authorities acknowledge receiving and being sent on numerous "could be a pit bull" calls.
"It makes me and every animal lover and organization across this country just sick," he said. "It's crazy."
He and his wife, Nanci, over the past few months have emptied MaxFund of every pit bull they once housed, shipping them to like-minded shelters outside of Denver.
He puts the number at close to 20 pit bulls. Some owners, too, have come to MaxFund, only to be turned away. He and Nanci, he said, have done all they could.
"We would absolutely love to be the Underground Railroad for pit bulls, but we know the city would close us down."
Yes, I tell him, but aren't pit bulls actually the human flesh-ripping monsters they are portrayed to be?
Bill Suro snickers at my naivete.
"I've been a veterinarian for 45 years, and I've never once been attacked or bitten by a pit bull. There are other breeds where I have gone into an examination room and really been on my guard. I will not tell you which, but they scare me."
Cities like Denver, he says, whip up pit bull hysteria. And that is all it is, he said. People now all believe every pit bull "is a coiled and snarling attacker. It's nonsense."
Cities, he said, would be much better served if they took a simple look at canine attacks from recent years.
"Eighty percent all fatal attacks in the U.S. are caused by male dogs. I guess, given this, it would be prudent to now ban all breeds of male dogs."
Denver, he said, does not at the same time send dogcatchers to cite owners of non-neutered dogs,
"It should know there have been fatal attacks in the U.S. by Pomeranians, that half a dozen attacks that caused death or serious injuries were by cocker spaniels."
And then he raises an issue I had not contemplated, and which I do not lend much credence to. But I will give him his say because it matches what has happened the last two days in the city:
"There appears a racial end of this," Bill Suro says.
"Look at the dogs that have been impounded, and the surnames of their owners. . . . They aren't killing dogs from Cherry Creek. They pick on the easiest people to pick on, the ones who give up easiest," he said, adding that he has forwarded this claim to the American Civil Liberties Union.
What happens, I ask, when all of the Denver pit bulls have been rounded up and put down?
He would not want to be a Malamute, he said.
A male Malamute attacked and killed a 7-year-old girl in Fruita last Saturday night.
"It is not the breed," an unsmiling Bill Suro said.
You Who.
If folks were keeping puma or black mamba in the home, I'd expect the authorities to put a stop to the practice.
It's the breed. Like virtually all dog breeds, it is not a natural breed. Breeds are created by Man, to serve certain purposes. Beagles exist because Man needed a rabbit killer. Terriers exist because Man needed a rat killer.
Pit Bulls exist because Man needed an Urban Protection dog. It's hard-wired in the breed to kill people who trespass on its territory.
This law is a good law, IMO.
"There appears a racial end of this,and the surnames of their owners. . . . They aren't killing dogs from Cherry Creek."
Oh, brother. How about identifying first, who owns the majority of pit bulls in Denver? That may have a bearing on the statistics.
re: ITSADOGOFPEACE keyword--LOL
Agree ... the media thrives on sensationalism ... "Pit Bull Attack ... more at 11". If it isn't a pit bull they dredge up some great white shark attack off the west coast of Australia. Failing that they scan Florida news for an alligator attack ...
The panty waist media more often than not doesn't get it right when it comes to dog attacks ... any dog attack is a "Pit Bull" attack ... any breed that remotely resembles a "Pit Bull" will do.
Substitute semi automatic rifles for pitbull and see how this goes over.
This is jack booted statism at its worst.
It's not the attack, but the severity that distinguishes pits. What other breed kills people?
Try Hispanics ... they, by far, are the largest minority population segment in Denver.
Exactly. And the mind-numbed masses obediently fall into line and lick the boots of the gov't and obey because they saw some twisted unsubstantiated report on TV.
The breed is called a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in the UK, where it comes from. It is a well-behaved dog over there, because they don't train it to be vicious.
Is this article a joke?
It is an equally well-behaved dog un the US, also. Unless the owner trains it to be vicious.
Left to their own, within the framework of a normal upbringing, they are loving, sweet and excellent pets.
Many breeds have born in them the ability to inflict wounds capabable of killing a human. I personally with the help of my Dad pulled a pitt off a young girl riding her bike down a rural steet. Now keep in mind this pitt had puppies just days old. The owner of the pitt is to blame in this case. Knowing full well this dog would react in this manner. The owner failed to properly make secure the pitts whelping pin.
I was at the vet's the other day, and a large shepherd-husky dog was brought in. His owner said it had been attacked in their own yard by a neighbor's pit bull.
I'm an animal lover, and I don't think the city of Denver should be able to walk into anyone's home and take their dog, if there's never been any problems regarding that dog.
But I think that pit bulls do present an inherent danger. I think it takes a very responsible individual to safely own one, and some people don't meet that responsibility requirement.
Many breeds have born in them the ability to inflict wounds capabable of killing a human. I personally with the help of my Dad pulled a pitt off a young girl riding her bike down a rural steet. Now keep in mind this pitt had puppies just days old. The owner of the pitt is to blame in this case. Knowing full well this dog would react in this manner. The owner failed to properly make secure the pitts whelping pin.
A lot of owners I see around here are lower class whites.
Maybe it's a class thing and not so much a race thing?
IMO you're an idiot!
What do you know about the breed other than what you read in the press? Did you bother to research the subject before you expressed your opinion?
In the first place, these dogs are called American Staffordshire Terriers. They only become Pitbulls when they are trained for the pit.
Secondly, they were never bred for "Urban Protection". They were bred for their ability to fight other dogs.
It's only when they are abused or neglected by uneducated owners that they become dangerous. Sadly some children have been killed by these dogs. this happens when irresponsible people mistreat their animals. The dogs will then lash out at any perceived threat.
My wife and all three of my sons each own one of these fine animals. My wife's dog is without a doubt the largest AST I've ever seen. He's 120 lbs of slobbering energy, and since my wife has difficulty walking well enough to leave the house, I'm glad he's there to protect her when I'm gone.
Please educate yourself on this and other matters before voicing your opinions.
Absolutely.
It is a "look-how-macho-I-am-my-dog-is-the-baddest-in-the-neighborhood" thing.
When one's self-worth is determined in such terms, it crosses racial boundries.
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