In 1998, Puerto Rico passed legislation that banned "pit bulls" and "Pit bull mixes" from the island. Earlier this week, they made a major step in repealing the 1998 ban when their www.elnuevodia.com%2Favanzalalegalizaciondelospitbulls-637470.html&sl=es&tl=en&hl=en">legislature passed a bill to repeal this ban. (this article was run through Google Translate, so it's a little rough to read). The bill now just waits final signature from Governor Luis Fortuno.
The removal of the ban was strongly supported by the College of Veterninarians in Puerto Rico as well as the Pit Bull Association of Puerto Rico.
It is estimated 50,00 'pit bulls' currently live in Puerto Rico -- and because of the ban, more than 3,000 were killed in the past 2 years alone.
As people learn more and more about 'pit bulls' and the ineffectiveness of the laws that target them, more and more places are deciding to repeal their bans in favor of more effective (and rational) dangerous dog legislation that targets the dog based on its behavior, not "breed".
Here's a second article, with the same, yet somewhat contradictory numbers (including some different population numbers, which should have translated well).
Congrats to the people and veterinarians in Puerto Rico.
Hat Tip to Jodi at Bless the Bullies on this, which is where I saw the news first.
In a 6-0 unanimous vote, the city of Oak Harbor, WA voted to repeal their breed-specific ordinance. The city's ordinance, originally passed in 2006, required all 'pit bulls' to be held in a secure pen, be muzzled while on leash, and other restrictions. The vote held last week repeals all breed specific language and is now focused on targeting dogs based on their behavior, not breed. Commissioners hope that the change will decrease the number of these types of dogs that are killed at the shelter.
In August, when the issue first came up for a repeal, the difficulty of enforcement became a major topic of the conversation:
"From an animal control officer's point of view, this is a really difficult issue" said Police Chief Rick Wallace.
The Burden would be on the city to prove any delinquent dog's breed, and that may mean Oak Harbor would have to foot the bill for a doggie DNA test.
From an enforcement point of view, it's almost impossible, Wallace said.
"I don't want this to turn into an emotional thing " City Administrator Paul Schmidt said "We're looking at it strictly as a fact-based issue."
And the fact is, breed determination can be tricky and costly business.
"Our own insurance doesn't recommend BSL," said Schmidt. "We support the behavior based approach."
When you take emotion out of the equation, and base your decision solely based on facts, breed neutral legislation -- that targets aggressive dogs based on behavior, not the way they look - becomes the only logical conclusion. More and more cities like Oak Harbor are realizing this, and bypassing BSL for more effective and enforcable laws, and repealing the ordinances that are already in place. Meanwhile, some who hold onto archaic ideals are being forced out of their positions.
Nice work by the fact-focused administrators in Oak Harbor.
Hat Tip: Stop BSL.
Earlier this week, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein (one of 16 German States) repealed its ban on "Pit Bulls". According to the article (which is in German - this is the translation of the first two lines of the third paragraph that was sent to me from someone who lives there):
'CDU and FDP want to protect citizens against irresponsible dog holders. The race list (i.e breed ban) has turned out as not suitable for this and, hence, is abolished in the dangerous dogs law.'
It's been interesting trying to read about the "rasseliste" in Germany, and about how many of the same problems that exist with it in the US are the same in Germany - -including www.tagesanzeiger.ch%2Fleben%2Fgesellschaft%2FBeschlagnahmte-Hunde-Wer-kommt-fuer-sie-auf%2Fstory%2F30778494">the cost of the impounding and keeping the animals, and www.volksstimme.de%2Fvsm%2Fnachrichten%2Flokalausgaben%2Fmagdeburg%2Fmagdeburg%2F%3Fem_cnt%3D1507769">problems with accurate breed identification to determine which dogs are included in the breed ban, and which ones are not.
(Sorry for the rough translations -- I used Google Translate for the artiles and they come by very rough -- the original links are here and here if you are fluent in German or know of a better translator).
While our friends in Western Europe followed us into the world of breed bans, it appears they are being quicker than us to jump off the bandwagon in search of more effective solutions to their dog bite problems. Schleswig-Holstein now joins other areas of Western Europe like Italy and The Netherlands to have repealed their breed bans just in the past 2 years.
BSL is not just a failure in the US -- it is truly an internationally failed policy. Time to learn from our mistakes, and move on.
