Pit bull attacks on 2 B.C. children spark calls for ban

Honey Boo Boo?

Rarely if ever does anything good comes for reactionary legislation.

It's not reactionary legislation.

If this was the first juristiction to have a pitbull attack and subsequent ban then I'd agree with you but, if you look back, pitbull bans have been going on for years. So there has been some thought put into the banning the animals and people on both sides of the fence have been afforded the opportunity to present their cases which makes it a lot less than reactionary.

"Pit bull attacks on 2 B.C. children spark calls for ban"

The owners should be head accountable as well, I have no problem with someone owning a pit bull, rottweiler ect. However you should have to apply for a permit to do so.

Just because a handful of other jurisdictions are stupid, misinformed and doing policy on the fly for public support, doesn't mean anything.

I've been attacked by a dalmatian. My neighbours cat was torn up by a golden lab. To clarify, I have never owned a Pit but I have had friends who have.

How many other children have been "attacked" by other dog breeds in BC? Apparently only those involving pitbulls make the news.

There are about 5500 reported dog bites in Ontario annually. What type of dog bites the most? German Shepherds. #2? Jack Russell Terrier.

"Pit bull attacks on 2 B.C. children spark calls for ban"

Long time in coming. Hardly reactionary. Apparently a balance point has been tipped.

Just because a handful of other jurisdictions are stupid, misinformed and doing policy on the fly for public support, doesn't mean anything.

I've been attacked by a dalmatian. My neighbours cat was torn up by a golden lab. To clarify, I have never owned a Pit but I have had friends who have.

How many other children have been "attacked" by other dog breeds in BC? Apparently only those involving pitbulls make the news.

There are about 5500 reported dog bites in Ontario annually. What type of dog bites the most? German Shepherds. #2? Jack Russell Terrier.

Go back and look at maulings that cause hospitalization. Doubt it's Jack Russels here.

Pit bulls are a bad breed.

The two recent attacks were done by dogs that belonged to what appear to be good responsible owners. Hard to take them to task outside of owning a breed that appears to be a time bomb at times.

It is also not only in Canada that they are banned or that there are calls for bans.

Just because a handful of other jurisdictions are stupid, misinformed and doing policy on the fly for public support, doesn't mean anything.

I've been attacked by a dalmatian. My neighbours cat was torn up by a golden lab. To clarify, I have never owned a Pit but I have had friends who have.

How many other children have been "attacked" by other dog breeds in BC? Apparently only those involving pitbulls make the news.

There are about 5500 reported dog bites in Ontario annually. What type of dog bites the most? German Shepherds. #2? Jack Russell Terrier.


In one sense I agree that pitbulls are being picked on when in fact there are other breeds that fall into the same category.




http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics.php

But here`s the thing. I don`t agree with the outright banning of animals, if you`re stupid enough to want a dog that can go feral and turn on you, your children, your friends, your family, other animals and strangers at any given moment, then you should be allowed to own one, especially since you can`t legislate stupidity.

But, if you don`t control your dangerous animal, keep it muzzled in public and properly secured so the public is safe and it causes harm, kills another human or pet you should be automatically charged with manslaughter or animal cruelty depending on the situation. And when you`re found guilty you should end up in jail for a protracted period of time for either offense.

This is they type of thing that a minimum mandatory sentencing law would be perfect for. Idiots get to keep their ticking time bombs and when they go off the individual is responsible up to the point of being incarcerated which, should be enough of a deterent to keep the casual owner from thinking that having one of these dogs may be fun.

Agreed, however, trying to induce that behaviors and responsibility through education doesn't work. I doubt there's a pit bull owner out there who has not heard all of the media reports of pit bull attacks on children, adults, and other dogs, but that doesn't stop them buying them. Just like ugly pictures don't stop smokers from smoking.

And yet I've never had an issue with them. People tend to forget that a dog doesn't think quite like us. My Shepherd Sasha is wonderful around people and other dogs but when she finds coyotes on the property she immediately goes into attack mode. It's nothing I've taught her, but it still happens all the same.

She also has a long memory. Our neighbors little girl threw a handful of rocks in her face 2 years ago and to this day Sasha does not like that girl, her little brother however is a completely different story.

To get back to the subject, I don't agree with the ban but I do think that stiff sentences should be dealt to the dogs owners. I accept responsibility for everything my dog does and so should they.

So in these cases you would hand out stiff sentences to owners who apparently did nothing wrong, the animal just snapped. How will that help the kids that were injured, or more importantly prevent future attacks by other dogs? (The dogs did get stiff sentences, they were put down).

Stiff sentences seems to be the default solution to just about any social problem by some, even tho so often it's shown they do nothing, as in this case.

BC SPCA is against a pit bull ban because it's so difficult to determine what a pit bull is. But bull terriers were bred for aggression and have much greater jaw strength than other dogs. I would support a ban on anything that comes close to being a pit bull. Don't kill the ones already here but make sure they are all sterilized.

But yes, german shepherds for instance are also known to snap - it's the nature of dogs and children should be closely supervised if they are around them. We need stiff sentences for parents who don't supervise their children around dogs. That'll fix her.