THS Says “Pit Bull Ban Not Working”

From the Toronto Sun :

The provincial government bit off more than it could chew by dooming pit bulls as Ontario’s worst people-biters, the Toronto Humane Society says.

Results of a survey of municipalities, released Wednesday, show no significant drop in dog bite cases since the government passed Breed Specific Legislation in 2005 that resulted in “countless” pit bulls and related Staffordshire Terriers being destroyed.

In a statement, the THS called on the provincial government to amend its Breed Specific Legislation and ” stop the punishment of innocent animals.

“This survey shows that the pit bull ban has not resulted in a reduction in the number of dog bites in Ontario,” said the THS, which opposes breed-specific legislation.

A chart based on its statistics shows about a 10% drop in dog bite cases from 2004 to 2005, to just over 5,000. The survey showed a slight drop again in 2006, then the number of cases increased to about to about the 2005 level by last year.

In the THS release, spokesman Ian McConachie quoted then-Attorney General Michael Bryant telling MPPs in the Legislature “it’s time that we make amendments to the Dog Owners’ Liability Act that make our streets safer.”

The revised legislation outlawing pit bulls “failed to do so,” he charged. McConachie said outlawing specific dog breeds “targets the wrong source of the problem.

“Dogs are not born violent,” McConachie said. Instead, they are “made that way by irresponsible owners who train them to be that way or neglect them and they develop behavioural problems.

“If we want to reduce the number of dog bites we have to address the route cause of the problem, those irresponsible owners who do not appropriately care for their animals.” he said.

He said the survey shows the five-year-old anti-pit bull legislation “has not worked to decrease the incidents of dog bites.”

I find it sort of ironic that the Toronto Sun even published this – after all, they were leading the pack when it came to rabble rousing headlines in the initial days the ban was under discussion, and they’re the same idiots who ran a front page headline saying “Devil Dog Killed”, when Tim Trow’s very own cause célèbre (aka Bandit the Pit Bull) was euthanized.

I’m sure they’ll find some way to spin this – perhaps in one of their ever so even handed editorials.

Filed under “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”, here’s an article from 1915 that should give all of those “Pit Bull bans got nothing to do with French Bulldogs” a moment’s pause.

Muzzle Order Sustained
Mrs. Knoblaugh Loses Test Case in Appellate Court
New York Times, May 29 1915

The appellate Division decided yesterday that Kuroki, a French bulldog, shall not be permitted to appear on Fifth Avenue or any other through-fare in he city, without a muzzle, not withstanding the legal efforts of his owner, Mrs. Mary B. Knoblauch (sic) of the Wyoming Apartments, who ha herself arrested in January, in an intentional effort to test the Constitutionality of the Board of Health requirement.

Mrs. Knoblauch fought the case on behalf of dog lovers. She maintained the board of health order was cruel and a violation of her specific constitutional right. She was backed by the American Kennel Club.

Tomorrow, I’ll write more about what sparked the New York City wide ordinance of 1915, which required that every dog in New York city must be muzzled at all times. Interesting stuff, and it’s easy to dismiss the notions of the ‘old days’ as so much witch doctoring – until you look at just how little really has changed over the years.