Radical new bill talks of banning pit bulls in Ore., euthanizing them

KATU ^ | 28 Feb 2009 | Meghan Kalkstein

[BGHater]

A new bill on pit bulls that hasn't even hit the Senate floor yet is already getting a lot of heat from folks on both side of the issue.

Under a bill from Sen. Bruce Starr's office, owning a pit bull would be illegal in Oregon and the state would punish those who own one by euthanizing the dog, slapping the owner with thousands of dollars in fines and perhaps even throwing them in jail.  And if your pit bull killed someone?  Then you could be fined $125,000, spend five years in jail or both.

Those who already own a pit bull would be grandfathered in, so to speak.  They would have to obtain a permit to keep the pit bull (for a fee) and provide a certificate from a veterinarian showing that the dog had been sterilized.

Here is the summary that is laid out in the draft of the bill:

Prohibits keeping of pit bull. Creates exception for pit bulls currently in state upon meeting certain conditions.  Declares pit bull dangerous dog and makes keeping of pit bull punishable by euthanization of dog and by maximum of $6,250 fine, one year's imprisonment, or both.  If dog kills person, punishes by maximum of $125,000 fine, five years' imprisonment, or both. Read the entire bill (pdf)

The bill has not had a first reading on the Senate floor yet.  That is expected in a week or two.

[brytlea]

I remember that, how cool is that? I think my golden retriever would want to play with the bear....

[Arizona Carolyn]

and therein lies the rub... we either believe in the freedom’s this country was founded on or we don’t. I often feel the same way about free speech as I do Pitt Bulls... but we are losing too many of our freedoms to government controls.

[txnativegop]

If law allowed me to kill any animal that posed a serious and immediate threat to me without animal cruelty charges I might relent in my position.

and no it isn’t sarcasm.

[LasVegasMac]

Good, kill every last pit bull!

Make sure you hang around, ok?

Morons are always useful, at sometime or another.

[LasVegasMac]

Guy had his pitbull crap in front of my house today.

You weak in the brain?

I've owned many dogs in my life, including several Pits, and I have never been able to make one of 'em crap on command.

Be careful with your surprise.......

[LasVegasMac]

If all the conditions are satisfied then a person can own a Pit Bull.

Are you an Obama Democrat minion or what?

Sure sounds like you wanna be one, boy!

[LasVegasMac]

but I do know that any state brownshirt walking up the sidewalk to kill my puppy would be in for a very bad day.

In my case, their very last day.

[Slings and Arrows]

They’re worth it. G-d bless JRT’s.

[LasVegasMac]

coming onto your property and killing your dog, should raise hackles in everyone

"coming onto your property and killing your dog, should raise hackles in everyone make you assume a firing position and open fire.

"raise hackles".....no

[Shadowstrike]

agreed, and that p.o.s. would be going home in a body bag himself.

[muawiyah]

Hmm ~ he stopped, the animal dumped. It’s always the owners responsibility.

[LasVegasMac]

Agreed.

Now go back and read what the poster said..."Made his Pit crap....."

Hmmmmm......

[truthguy]

Are you an Obama Democrat minion or what?
Sure sounds like you wanna be one, boy!

You are spending too much time at the black jack table. My opinions on Pit Bulls are based upon experience. I've been a dog owner for over 25 years and really longer if you count my youth and the family dogs I had as a kid.
Pit Bulls can be good dogs but they also can be extremely dangerous. I frequent a local dog park and we have had at least a dozen incidents of Pits injuring other dogs. 2 of these cases were very serious and one so much so that the dog needed to be euthanized.
In many of the cases the owners claimed that the dogs were not aggressive. Maybe they were telling the truth. I don't know. But the dogs have been bred for aggression so it's not unusual for a "good" dog to snap and Pits have so much power that they injure other dogs.
The ideas I have for Pit ownership are not mine. There are a couple of counties in Florida that have these rules. I just think Pit Bull owners should be very serious people. It's not the type of dog for an amateur to own.
I supposed you think anybody should be able to own whatever type of dog they want anywhere they want. I don't. There are good dogs for just about any place but some dogs don't belong in certain environments.
A pit owner needs to be responsible for their dog. In many cases they are not and tragedy results.
Haven't you read the cases of Pit Bull kills?

And no I voted against Obama. What kind of a remark is that?

[muawiyah]

It's easy to give a dog choices. He can crap when the owner decides he can do so or he can be knocked up side the head with a pair of pliers.

Ergo, when the owner stopped, the dog crapped as he had been trained.

I just shortened that to "make".

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Pfffffffttttt!!! MAY THE SMOKE BE UPON THIS POS THUG-BREED! FIRE TOO!

[Danae]

Man, it isn’t the DOG’s that are the problem, its the owners. If the Owner does not establish themselves as the pack leader of if the dog is abused, ANY dog can be (as Caeser calls them) Red Zone animals. That my friends is the fault of the humans around the dogs.

But you can’t ever make a Liberal responsible for anything, it’s always someone else’s fault other than their own.

[Danae]

Oregon Ping

[familyop]

Yep! ...need a germ that kills only pits: the dogs bred for the wrong reasons!

[familyop]

That's a good idea, BTW.