Pets.ca - Pet forum for dogs cats and humans 

-->

Ontario - State of the Province.

LavenderRott
August 31st, 2007, 09:49 AM
This was posted on another forum that I am on. I think that what it says is important and wanted to post it in the General Forum so that more people would read it. What it says has some affect on everyone who lives in Ontario, regardless of what breed of dog they own.



State of the Province

** PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY ONTARIO DOG OWNER YOU KNOW! **

From ChicoBandido.blogspot.com -

Preferably, you will send them the link to this article, but this is important enough that, if you need to copy/paste the text, feel free.

The direct link to this article is:

http://chicobandido.blogspot.com/2007/08/state-of-province.html

August 29, 2007 was the two-year anniversary of Ontario's Bill 132 (usually known as the "pit bull" ban).

What has happened in Ontario during those two years?

Two people in this province (including a one and a half year old child) have been killed by dogs, none by "pit bull" type dogs.

Almost without exception, the mainstream media organizations, when notified of serious attacks on people and on animals by other types of dogs, have responded with a mind-boggling lack of interest.

Not a "pit bull"? Not interested. Thank you for your call.

Michael Bryant, the Attorney General of Ontario and the political architect of this law, has been on television telling people that attacks by pit bulls have been reduced and that Ontarians are now safer than ever before. Funny that the most expert, most knowledgeable, and most connected people in the province can't find any information to prove the truth of that statement. Even a brief investigation into municipal bite statistics reveals that, in most cases, the specific data required to make that type of statement doesn't exist or is incomplete or inaccurate.

In this province, over the past two years, authorities have targeted, threatened, and confiscated a staggering number of dogs of many breeds and types. Here is just a short list:

Seven-week-old mixed-breed puppies
American Bulldog
Bull Terrier
Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Collie/Jack Russell mix
Dalmatian
Dogue de Bordeaux
Hungarian Vizla
Jack Russell Terrier cross
Labrador Retriever
Neapolitan mastiff
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Rottweiler

A record number of dogs of all shapes and sizes have been confiscated and killed in this province over the past two years, all accused of being "pit bulls". An unknown, unidentifiable, non-existent "breed" has somehow managed to be regularly and frequently identified by unqualified, untrained personnel and, because of the way the law is written, once that unqualified, often biased, person has identified your dog as a "pit bull", the chance of you ever seeing your dog again is pretty well nil.

Many of these confiscations have occurred without proof of wrongdoing, without warrants, through the use of threats and intimidation. Owners have been threatened with arrest, with imprisonment, with inappropriate use-of-force, and with the removal of other pets in the house if they don't surrender the particular dogs in question. Police officers have been encouraged to shoot loose-running dogs on sight, regardless of breed (although short, stocky dogs are definitely more at risk) and regardless of the actions or temperaments of the dogs.

In this province, it's starting to feel like dogs of any breed have become the new targets for police officers' shooting practice. Of course that's an exaggeration, but there is definitely a trend towards a "shoot first, offer cookie later" approach.

PLEASE READ MORE - AND FORWARD:

http://tinyurl.com/yv2fbz

mummummum
August 31st, 2007, 10:59 AM
Thank you for posting that LavenderRott. It's certainly an issue for me as I decide who will get my vote this fall.