Not even the right dog
A Chicago alderman has proposed banning pit bulls from the city:
The ordinance introduced yesterday would make it illegal for anyone to own a pit bull terrier dog or a pit bull mix. Owners would have 30 days to get rid of their animals. And violators would face fines of up to one-thousand dollars and up to six months in jail.
The proposal comes almost a year after one woman was killed and another mauled in pit bull attacks in the Dan Ryan Woods in Chicago.
The mayor’s office has opposed a breed-specific ban. And an official with the Humane Society of the United States says such an ordinance would be almost impossible for animal-control authorities to enforce.
Good for the mayor. Shame on WBBM because the picture they show is actually a bull terrier, like Spuds MacKenzie – the original party animal; or William the Conqueror – Patton’s dog. That rather enforces the Human Society’s claim that it’s impossible to regulate the ban since you can’t scientifically determine what breed of dog a particular dog is. Remember, there is no scientific way to determine which breed a specific dog is, they basically have the same genes. It is entirely based on appearance (or papers).
January 15th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
I don’t like the infringement on individual rights.
If a dog kills someone, then the dog owner should be charged with manslaughter or the like. It should be no different than a man who doesn’t properly control his car and runs over someone walking on the sidewalk.
While some pit bulls were bred to fight, many more were not.
The City of Chicago would be better served if every one was packing heat…..then if a dog came at you, you could take it out.
January 15th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
I think my head just exploded…
January 15th, 2004 at 2:42 pm
Why is that, barry?
January 15th, 2004 at 5:13 pm
I wonder if WBBM displayed the wrong dog as a subtle joke, to point out how frequently the two breeds get mixed up – and probably would be mixed up of this idiotic ordinance were to pass.
Me, I’m pretty welll covered. I take the cross product of a “cold, dead hands” approach to both my pits and my guns, so anyone who wants to come after my guns will face the wrath of my pits, and vice-versa.
January 15th, 2004 at 5:31 pm
Chicago already banned wolf-cross dogs many years ago. That would be real fun to enforce; how can anyone prove their dog does not have wolf ancestors?
January 23rd, 2004 at 3:25 pm
Unless you were attacked by a Pit bull I guess you wouldn’t understand. I was and I could not get that damned thing to opens its jaws and let go of my arm no matter what I did. If it wasn’t for a good samaritan with a hammer I would not be writing this. I am a dog owner/lover but those things were bred for fighting and nothing else. Anyone who says it is hard to tell if a dog is a pit bull is dead wrong I can tell very easily at a glance.
January 23rd, 2004 at 3:31 pm
Understanding has nothing to do with it. Sure, it’s awful you were attacked but at the end of the day that is the owner’s responsibility. Or potentially yours. Why were you attacked? What were the circumstances? Was it just a stray or were you on someone’s property?
The dogs were bred for a variety of reasons, including dog fighting (which is an abysmal sport), hog catching, cattle dogs, and hunting.
And the only way to determine what breed any dog is is by appearance. They’re all pretty much the same genetically.