It's been kind of a crazy week. A lot of stuff going on -- includingDenver's continued problems with their ban and more problems for breed ban enthusiast Tom Skeldon in Toledo. Also, Best Friends is hosting their annual No More Homeless Pets Conference out in Las Vegas this weekend -- but thanks to new technology a lot of folks are providing instant feedback from the conferences and it sounds like the conference is going great. You can follow along on Best Friends' blog for yourself -- and Christie has been live blogging from there as well. I'll collect a few of the posts after the conference is over because I have a few comments I want to make. Yesterday was also National Pit Bull Awareness Day -- I'll be posting some stories from that this week. On to the rest of the week's stories:
Cities and Laws
Madison County, GA is discussing animal control options after a five year old boy was attacked by an Akita earlier this month.
Auburn, CA is supposedly discussing the idea of a breed ban in the city. State law in California does not allow for individual cities to impose bans on certain breeds.
The Seattle Humane Society has come out against the proposed breed ban in Bothell, WA.
Jackson, MS is eyeing new dangerous dog legislation -- including potentially Breed Specific Legislation.
Lincoln, NE continues to explore options for their dangerous dog law that are not breed specific -- although they aren't completely ruling out BSL, it is definitely not their first option.
Las Vegas is now looking at a potential law that would mandate that all pets be spayed or neutered. While targeted low-cost programs have proven effective at reducing pet populations, mandatory programs have not proven effective.
Residents in Mashpee, MA voted overwhelmingly against breed specific legislation in their community.
Southgate, MI is still considering a new dangerous dog ordinance.
Dog bites
A Crystal River, FL man was attacked when four dogs that lived at his neighbor's house got under the fence and began to attack him and his dog. The attacking dogs are believed to be Mastiffs.
A 19 month old Tennessee child was severely bitten by a Greate Dane. The dog was apparently new to the family and the owner set the food bowl down near the dog and the child in order to answer the door and that's when the dog bit the young child.
A 10 year old Miami-Dade County boy was hospitalized after he was bitten by a Husky mix.
An Everett, WA man nearly died after he was bitten in the hand by one of his dogs. His two dogs, one a Labrador/Blue Heeler mix, got in a fight in the yeard and he got bitten trying to break up the fight. A few days later the man was suffering from a serious infection from the bite and nearly died.
A UK Rottweiler was given a Muzzle order after it attacked a 10 year old girl. The UK banned 4 different breeds of dogs in 1991 and have continued to see an increase in dog bites in their community.
A Piercetown, IN woman was severely attacked by a 'pit bull' that was chained out in front of her son's home. The woman came to visit her son, but the chained dog was able to reach the sidewalk and attacked the woman.
A New York woman apparently lied to police -- the woman had reported to police that her toddler was bitten by a "pit bull" -- however, upon further investigation, it turns out the woman's own American Husky was involved in the bite.
Abuse Cases
A UK dog breeder who abandoned 99 St. Bernards while she went on vacation has been jailed for 18 weeks for animal cruelty.
Police in Hagerstown, PA shot a Labrador Retriever this week who they said was acting aggressively. Note the sympathetic tone for the owners that this article is written with vs when dogs of other breeds are attacked.
Twelve 'pit bulls' that were seized from a dog fighting ring earlier this month in Buffalo were euthanized because they were aggressive. 13 others have the possibility of being rehabilitated.
Media Reports
There was a story outside of Denver where a man was shot, and another woman injured, after an apparent argument. The argument stemmed from some concerns that one family had that another family -- who apparently lived on the same property -- were letting their dog, alegedly a 'pit bull', run free on the property and it was harrassing their livestock on the property. A 16 year old boy ended up shooting the dog owner and killing him. While the story is tragic in its own right, it was amazing to me the number of headlines that included the words "pit bull" in them -- as if the pit bull had caused the man's death.
Animal Shelters
The largest no kill shelter in the Kansas City Metro, Animal Haven, is at capacity and had a large adopt-a-thon this weekend to try to get more animals adopted.
Manatee, FL animal shelters are killing just more than 50% of the animals that that enter the shelter. Seems a shelter that is ripe for no-kill programs.
Miscellanious
Residents in Memphis are upset after multiple dogs have been shot in the area in recent weeks.
Pit Bulls' unfair reputation thwarts adoptions.
A 56808@kpix.dayport.com&videoPlayStatus=true&videoStoryIds=&videoTime=12.721&stationName=KPIX&">great video story about one of Mike Vick's former dogs who is thriving in its new home in the San Francisco area.
A great photo of a friend of mine's dog during a dog show in Springfield, MO. Mandy is a beautiful Am. Staff that is actually banned in Springfield (where this shwo took place) in spite of having multiple training titles.
The owner, not the dog, is the issue.
A sad story about a 'pit bull' that saved its owner from being attacked by a cobra...but ended up paying the ultimate price for saving his owner.
