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Thread: Yet Another Pit Bull Ban..

  1. #1
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    Yet Another Pit Bull Ban..

    .. In Denver, CO.

    DENVER — A few weeks ago, two police cars and two animal control vehicles pulled up at the home of Stef'ny Steffan looking for her beloved 4-year-old pit bull, Xena. Seven officers hauled the animal off to the city shelter, putting her on death row. Xena became an outlaw after Denver (search) won a court fight and reinstated one of the toughest pit-bull bans in the nation.

    Since May, more than 380 dogs have been impounded and at least 260 destroyed — an average of more than three a day.

    Dog owners are in a panic. Some are using an underground railroad of sorts, sending their pets to live elsewhere or hiding them from authorities. City officials would not estimate how many people might be violating the ordinance.

    Some owners, like Steffan, have won a reprieve for their pets with help from a rescue group. The group got Xena released by signing an affidavit stating that the animal would never return to Denver. The group took the dog to Mariah's Promise in Divide, an animal sanctuary that has accepted more than three dozen pit bulls from Denver.

    For Steffan and her partner, Gina Black, leaving Xena 60 miles from home was a lousy option but the only one they had.

    "It's safer than animal control. Safer than keeping her underground — at least she'll be able to play now," Steffan said. "But she'll miss us. We're her pack."

    Denver is one of three major metropolitan areas, along with Miami and Cincinnati, to ban pit bulls, according to Glen Bui, vice president of the American Canine Foundation (search).

    Pit bull typically describes three kinds of dogs — the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier (search). But Denver's ban applies to any dog that looks like a pit bull. The animal's actual behavior does not matter.

    City Councilman Charlie Brown said that in his judgment, "pit bulls are trained to attack. They're bred to do that."

    Critics of the ban use words like "annihilation" and "genocide," and the city shelter has received e-mails likening animal control officers to Nazis.

    "Breed bans are just a knee-jerk reaction to something that happened in the community," Bui said.

    Denver banned pit bulls in 1989 after dogs mauled a minister and killed a boy in separate attacks. The Legislature passed a law in 2004 that prohibited breed-specific bans, but the city sued and a judge ruled in April the law was an unconstitutional violation of local control.

    Critics of the ordinance say that a blanket ban on an entire breed is misguided that the law should instead target irresponsible owners and all dangerous dogs.

    "If anyone says one dog is more likely to kill — unless there's a study out there that I haven't seen — that's not based on scientific data," said Julie Gilchrist, a doctor at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who researches dog bites.

    The CDC, the American Veterinary Medical Association (search) and the Humane Society of the United States examined 20 years of dog-bite data and concluded that pit bulls and Rottweilers caused the most deaths.

    But the researchers also noted that fatal attacks represent a small proportion of dog-bite injuries and that the number of bites per breed simply seems to rise with their popularity.

    At the city shelter, pit bulls are cordoned off from other dogs in what has become death row. Nearly 100 pit bulls have been released to live outside the county. A nonresident must guarantee the dog will never return to Denver.

    Sonya Dias, who is moving out of Denver because of the ban, said she was a little intimidated by her pit bull when she first saw him. But "when I said, `Hey little doggie,' his whole body just started wagging." Gryffindor is staying at Mariah's Promise until Dias sells her home.

    "He's been dangerous to a couple of pairs of shoes and some mini-blinds," Dias said. "But otherwise he's a jewel."

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163176,00.html



    This part really makes my blood boil..

    "But Denver's ban applies to any dog that looks like a pit bull. The animal's actual behavior does not matter."

    OH great, seeing as how most people out there are IGNORANT IDIOTS, more than likely more great breeds will be caught up in this whole mess. How can they not even be willing to access the behavior of the dog?? Ugh..

    WHEN will people learn?!

  2. #2
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    That's so sad and so very stupid! If anybody tried to take my dog, they'd have to pry his leash from my cold dead hands!

  3. #3
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    My son (he is who we got Ebony from) lives in Aurora it's outside of Denver. I was watching the news the other night, Aurora is about to jump on the pit bull band wagon. They are going to decide next month if they will ban them or not. It's up to the City Councilman if they decide to ban. I have a terrible feeling they are going to ban them there. One of the Councilman was saying that owing a pit bull is like owning an oozy (the gun) and no one had any businnes owing something that dangerous. It's idiots like him that are ruining everyone from owing the pit bull!!

    I was talking to my son the other night. He told me a lot of people moved from Denver to Aurora so they could keep their pit bulls now they are going to ban them there. He said people will be highly pissed. Who can blame them?? Ugh! The whole thing makes me sick...

    Thank you Kay for the beautiful sig!

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  4. #4
    this is just ugh when will it stop?!?!
    Krista- owned by Rudy, Dixie, Miagi & Angel

    Rocky, Jenny, Ginger Buster & Tiger .. forever loved & always in my heart..



  5. #5
    this is just ugh when will it stop?!?!
    When people stop running to politicians to pass laws about everything that they don't want to take responsibility for themselves, and politicians stop trying to win elections by pandering to their constituents.

  6. #6
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    Originally posted by Lady's Human
    When people stop running to politicians to pass laws about everything that they don't want to take responsibility for themselves, and politicians stop trying to win elections by pandering to their constituents.
    Yep. So long as politicians feel that breed banning will get them re-elected, they will support this kind of stupidity.

  7. #7
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    All of these Pit Bull bannings and crap is so horrendous and pointless. I don't understand why people hate Pitties? They are so loving, not to mention cute!

    That is so sad that they took Xena away, I agree with elizabethann!!

    Steph and Jes

  8. #8
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    I suggest that everyone here write a letter to the Denver city council (there are 12 of them) and the mayor and tell them what you think...I did... Here's my email:

    Dear Council members and mayor of the city of Denver,

    As you can see, I am the volunteer adoption and rescue coordinator for the LaGrange County Animal Shelter in LaGrange, IN. My name is Molly Kendall. I actually live in Fort Wayne, IN, which has one of the largest dog fighting rings in the Midwest because of our location. While our animal control puts all pit bulls down that come into our shelter (which is also a ridiculous policy), but, at least they do not go out and waste tax payers hard earned dollars on a witch hunt and rounding up all pit bulls so that the city of Denver can enjoy killing them.

    The two best words that I can come up with to describe the city council of Denver is ignorant and bigoted. Charlie Brown stated that pit bulls are trained to fight and that they are bred for that. I cannot believe that educated people such as yourselves would actually make such an asinine statement. There is absolutely NO evidence that pit bulls are ALL bred for fighting. Pit bulls are actually rated in the top 10 best dogs to have with children because of their loyalty and protectiveness. Do you plan on banning the Little Rascals or RCA for having pit bulls as their representatives? Do you also plan on banning Cocker Spaniels, Chihuahuas, Min Pins, Poodles, and Yorkshire Terriers? They are far more likely to bite than any pit bull. Did you bother to do any research at all? Cocker Spaniels are the number one most likely to bite you dog. Did you bother to research the pit bull breed? Obviously not, or you would not have this knee jerk reaction to the breed. To put it in human context, would you consider not allowing African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, or Asians to live in Denver because of their race? I think not, it is a ridiculous thing to even consider, however, what you are doing to the pit bulls of Denver is no different. Have any of you even bothered to go to the shelter and meet any of the pit bulls that you have condemned to death? Probably not…why dirty your hands? I suggest that YOU go down to the shelter and stick the needle in the dog’s arm and watch it die. Breed bans are preposterous. Regardless if it is a pit bull, Rottweiler, Doberman Pinscher, German Sheperd, or Chow, no dog breed should be singled out.

    I’m sure that you are aware that this discriminatory practice has been sent all over the internet. People from all over the world (especially Europe where they are not so narrow minded) are reading your decision and are making the conscience choice, as am I, to never grace the city of Denver with their presence. I, for one, have sent this policy to everyone I know and have asked them to never visit the city of Denver. I sincerely hope that the good citizens of Denver become outraged enough to make sure that you understand that your decision to ban pit bulls was made out of ignorance and fear and should be dismissed, and if not, that you lose your jobs in the next election.

    Thank you,

    Molly Kendall


    Don't buy while shelter dogs die!!

  9. #9
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    I am sooo truly disgusted by this whole thing, it makes my blood boil, thinking of these poor sweet dogs being snatched from their families and killed, i dont understnad why these people are not just packing up and moving, i know we would be, and one question..
    Who the hell is in charge of deciding wether a dog LOOKS like a Pittbull even when it is not???
    I have had people say Rita looks like everythig from a Boxer, a Pittbull, to a Cane Corso, altough she is neither of those breeds.
    I suppose she would be sentenced to death if i lived in Denver??

  10. #10
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    Yes, she would be, according the article. That's part of the reason I was so infuriated by the new ordinance. There is no way in bloody hell that I would EVER go there, let alone live there.


    Don't buy while shelter dogs die!!

  11. #11
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    What a bunch of A holes! This is getting totally out of control. Good dogs are being punished because of the slime that are using them for fighting. It's very sad. Who said the USA was free? It's becoming less free every day. Pretty soon we won't even be able to express our disgust at things like this on the internet. That will be censored. Why not just go back to the days of dictatorship? That's what this is leading to.

    9/3/13
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  12. #12
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    Originally posted by Lady's Human
    When people stop running to politicians to pass laws about everything that they don't want to take responsibility for themselves, and politicians stop trying to win elections by pandering to their constituents.

    I have to agree on this one.
    ~Huh? Go to the lake?~

  13. #13
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    Mugsy, that was very well written! Where do you e-mail them?-I want to send one, and you should post it in General. We should start a petition!

    Personally, I will never travel to Denver, EVER! I think that out-lawing Pit Bulls, is the same as out-lawing a certain race, quoted from Mugsy.

  14. #14
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    Just go online and do a google search for Denver City Government and you should get it...that's all I did. I am sorry I don't know the web page....I didn't think to keep it. There are, I believe 12 city council members and I also added the mayor.

    Thank you for the nice compliment.


    Don't buy while shelter dogs die!!

  15. #15
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    I agree Mugsy, it is like saying, " You cannot come into this town because of the way you look, because your race has commited crimes in the past"
    I thought we were past stuff like that!

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