Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is an email I recieved from my SchH club's mailing list. Our treasurer is a foster for APBT's through Out of the Pits and for the local shelter.

Last summer I spent 4 very enjoyable days in Toronto. The city was beautiful. I stayed at a lovely inn on a treelined street and explored a lot of the city on foot.

While there I saw a few pit bull dogs out and about with their owners, all were well mannered and friendly, typical of this people loving breed. Thinking back on it now, one pair really stands out. While walking in the “Cabbagetown” neighborhood, I saw an elderly gentleman rolling down the sidewalk on a motorized scooter, the type used by folks when they have difficulty getting around. Trotting along beside him on leash was a brindle pit bull dog. Like his owner he was getting on in years, a little gray around the muzzle, but the two companions were enjoying the warm summer day. It was a simple scene that brought a smile to my face and gave me a happy feeling inside the way the little things in life usually do. It is one of my favorite memories of my trip to Toronto. I had planned to return for another visit this summer and make more memories, but now I won’t. This is why...

You may have heard that despite the testimony of close to 100 experts in the fields of animal behavior and human/canine interaction who spoke out against it, the Province of Ontario has voted to ban pit bull dogs. “Pit Bull” is a slang term used to target three or four breeds, the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and sometimes the Bull Terrier. When it goes into effect, Bill 132 will send thousands of innocent dogs to their deaths or to research facilities to be used for experimentation. The police will be given the right to enter a home and remove a dog at any time without a warrent, regardless of whether or not the dog has actually done anything wrong. Keep in mind that this law applies to any dog that authorities feel have characteristics of a “pit bull” dog. If they feel someone’s lab/boxer mix is a “pit bull” or their American Bull dog is a “pit bull” or their Cane Corso Mastiff is a “pit bull”, the dog can be seized and destroyed or sold to a laboratory unless the dogs owner can prove them wrong. This applies to visitors of the Province as well as those folks who live there.

Many of you are animal lovers and have pets of your own. Most of you know my pit bull dogs Isaac & Maddie, a few of you do not. All of you know they are my heart and soul and that my love for them and for this misunderstood “breed” is steadfast. Those of you who do know Isaac and Maddie know they are typical of the breed, full of love and affection for all they meet. I ask you to think now about what loving dogs they are and then picture Isaac and Maddie being used for research experiments or being dragged from our home on a snare poll, loaded into a van and taken away to die, afraid, confused and alone with no one who loves them there to hold their paws while they’re killed, not because they have done anything wrong, only because they are “pit bulls.” For someone in Ontario who loves their dogs as much as I love mine, this could be a reality. I worry for them and their cherished companions. I worry for the elderly man on the scooter and his little brindle pit bull. I worry and my heart breaks for each of them.

With this in mind, I’m asking you not to travel to the Province of Ontario, Canada or purchase Canadian products for as long as this ban is in place. For some of you this will be easy, you have no plans to do so. For others it will be more of a sacrifice, you have family or friends there, you travel there for business or it’s a favorite vacation destination. I hope you will honor my request and make this sacrifice and that you will ask your friends, family and colleagues to follow suit. If you have traveled to Ontario for business or pleasure in the past, please contact the hotels, restaurants etc. that you do business with and tell them why they won’t be seeing you again. I’m letting the folks who own the small inn where I stayed in Toronto as well as the owners of the coffee shops and cafes where I sat and enjoyed the ambiance of the city that regretfully, I won’t be back. Their politicians have cost them my business.

I ask you to honor my request out of friendship, out of love for all animals and in honor of the pit bull dogs of Ontario who will pay the ultimate price for being pawns of misguided politicians with hearts of stone, who refused to listen to the experts that testified and chose sensationalism over thoughtful solutions, expert opinion and good common sense.

Meanwhile the beat goes on... the majority of "pit bull type" dogs and the responsible people who care for them will pay an ugly price for the misdeeds of a few cruel, irresponsible and sometimes criminal owners who have damaged their dogs and made victims of us all.

Sadly,

Kate

Kate Fraser

Proud owner of two rescued American Pit Bull Terriers

Amenia, NY

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Lesya & Sophie

A Dog Owner's Prayer

Author unknown
Thanks to Pattie Lawler
http://www.behaviour-problems.freeserve.co.uk/2/Poems/dogownerpray.htm

So horrible! I totally agree with you. This is the a stupid law.

I live in Ontario and I can tell you that in some cities of Ontario this has already happened. The city I live in, the tri-cities area of Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge has already had such a ban in effect for a number of years. When I was adopting a dog I contacted the city hall about the possibility of adopting a very rare and unusual Dogo Argentino. The woman saw his photos, deemed him a "potentially dangerous dog" and said absolutely not. If I were to bring that dog to this city and someone complained I would have had 72 hours to surrender him the pound where they would put him down.

I guess they're taking their cue from Italy. Italy's banned breed list started with 17 breeds and is now at 42, I believe. The latest banned breed was the Welsh Corgi.

It is sad and absolutely ridiculous. However boycotting all of Ontario cannot make a difference. If you do some research on the tourism in Ontario you will find that only a very small portion of Ontario's income comes from the tourists. Not enough to even make a dent.

I completely agree that this is equivalent to racism, I have friends with "pit bull" breeds and of course they are terribly upset about this. All of their dogs will have to be muzzled when in public and will never be allowed off leash again unless they are in a regulation dog pen deemed suitable to contain them by government officials. For anyone that knows some of these breeds, you know that means a fence at least 6' high. How many people's regular back yard fence is that high?

I admire your efforts in trying to come up with a solution but I don't think that that's it. Those of us in Ontario appreciate the effort that people like you are putting forth in this but the bottom line is that the government will do what they set out to do and this "democratic" system is untouchable by the general populace.

All the protesting and boycotts in the world couldn't stop them from passing that law in one single municipality, I just fail to see how it will work on a larger scale..

I personally do not want to accotiate with a place that passes such laws, not to make a dent in the economy, but just personal preference.

That makes sense.. But if I did that I wouldn't be able to live anywhere.. Every single province in Canada, every single state in the US has ridiculous laws that weren't very well thought out..