An Urban Hounds Call to Action-Fight House Bill 4714-Help Stop BSL

Norbert here: those that are privileged enough to make my acquaintance   know that in addition to being one of the best dogs on the planet, I am also a mystery mix.  There could be almost anything in there: Lab, Pointer, German Shepherd, St. Bernard, Great Dane OR...American Pit Bull Terrier.   So of course my family and I are very upset about House Bill 4174 a bill which proposes to ban all American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Bull Terriers,  AND Staffordshire Bull Terriers  in the state of Michigan AND all dogs displaying "the majority of physical traits" of any of those breeds OR "a dog displaying those distinguishing characteristics."  What the heck does that mean?  Basically it means that any dog that is or might be a pit bull or any dog that anyone in authority thinks might look or act like a pit bull could be put to death.  

This is not a political blog.   Usually the most political my mom and dad get are that they vote in the Presidential election every four years and on weekends mom  likes wearing this shirt that she bought a few years ago from Urban Outfitters:




But when mom got an email about the Michigan bill from the NYC Pitbull Meetup Group meet up group she got pretty upset.


The email featured this form letter:


Honorable Officials, ladies and gentlemen,

The animal loving public is shocked and appalled to learn that Michigan is considering imposing unsubstantiated and un-called for breed specific legislation, on a largely ignorant public, who thanks to sound bites and media hysteria, may actually believe that this sort of heinous legislation will protect them. This type of legislation, modeled after other cities that have yet to move into the 21st century, is very much "in vogue" now, and has proven time and again to be costly to innocent animals and the families that love them.

The injustice of Breed Specific Legislation that officials have embraced in an effort to calm an uninformed and frightened public, can never address the real issues of owner irresponsibility, cruelty and negligence. In fact, such legislation is unreasonably punitive of innocent victims and is indicative of a legal system, out of control. Shame on those who support this distraction from the real issues! To its discredit, BSL can be compared to gender or racial profiling. Simply because a dog appears to be a dog on the restricted list it is treated as one.   Please see this link:   (http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html Find which dog is the pit bull).

What if you were driving down the road and the police took you to jail, sentenced you, and placed you on death row just for looking like a certain ethnic group? BSL does exactly that to dogs. The number one restricted breed in the world is the Pit Bull Terrier,  or any cross thereof, and this is the breed once considered the best choice for a family pet. Meaning, if your dog is even suspected of having PBT in its blood it can fall under the power of these laws.

BSL is nothing more than breed profiling and to date, studies have failed to show that it has worked to curb the number of serious dog attacks it was put in place to stop; the only thing it has done is make life hell on earth for innocent dogs and ordinary law abiding dog lovers. BSL is a flawed concept from the moment it is conceived. In most cases the dogs are targeted and receive the ultimate punishment, a death sentence, leaving the owner, who is the responsible, rational thinking party, out of it. Dogs are not the problem and BSL does not recognize this. People are the problem and until individuals are punished for intentional, neglectful actions, we will never stop the problem. Furthermore, the best argument against breed bans is that they are costly and ineffective. Breed bans are often a knee-jerk reaction from politicians who want to say they are "doing something", usually after a highly publicized dog attack (of any breed). This is a useless exercise unworthy of a compassionate community and not merited, according to all research and statistics on this issue. Law abiding responsible owners, whose dogs love people and have never done anything wrong, can see their homes invaded, often without a search warrant, and their beloved family members dragged away (in front of their children) to be killed. Not because the dogs are unstable or mean, but simply because of their breed.

I urge you to spend a few minutes looking at the stories on this website:  http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/pospress.php and learning about the "pit-bull" who was once considered a "hero" and the favorite pet of families, mostly because of his loving and docile nature. I am not certain why you have seen fit to go down this road, but as a concerned and informed individual who has seen the down side and tragic outcome of similar misguided efforts to deal with these matters, I urge you to re-consider the injustice, the inhumanity of legislation that attempts to cure a problem by causing even greater suffering and injustice. Loving innocent pets, who have never caused anyone harm should not be subjected to unfair legal machinations that do not concern them. Why indeed, should these unfortunate animals be the victims of such cruel and unusual punishment? I can hardly believe that it is necessary for me to write this letter, in this day and age. Where is justice, the appropriateness of such actions? What has happened to fairness and common sense? I look forward to your reply.
 Sincerely,

NAME

ADDRESS

I would love all my blog friends to tell their moms and dads to copy and paste this letter into their email and then send  to the following Michigan  representatives: 

 HughCrawford@house.mi.gov; KenYonker@house.mi.gov; paulopsommer@house.mi.gov; KevinDaley@house.mi.gov; TomMcMillin@house.mi.gov; JimStamas@house.mi.gov; MikeShirkey@house.mi.gov; RayFranz@house.mi.gov; EdMcBroom@house.mi.gov; BruceRendon@house.mi.gov; timmelton@house.mi.gov; haroldhaugh@house.mi.gov; barbbyrum@house.mi.gov; dianslavens@house.mi.gov; jimmywomack@house.mi.gov. 

Make sure to tell your moms and dads to include their name and address or the letter will be disregarded.

Mom also found this wonderful story about a beautifull heroic Pit Bull named Diamond


Diamond and her owner Darryl Steen

  who saved her family, a single father and his two daughters, from a fire.  She received the National Hero Dog Award from SPCA in Los Angeles (link) and her family still can not find an apartment that will take her! One reason that mom really loves this story is that Diamond's family is standing by her, Mr. Steen has said the he will not give up on his dog and will keep looking for a place to live where they can all  be together.   Obviously not every Pit Bull gets a chance to be as big a hero as Diamond, but there are many many wonderful Pit Bulls that are loving family pets.   Mom says all dog lovers need to stand united in protest of BSL, so please, everyone do your part!