Ban on pit bulls called unfair, ineffective

By Catherine Coleman

BELLEVILLE – Pit-bull advocacy groups have declared October Pit Bull Awareness Month to call attention to controversial bans on pit bulls and other breed-specific legislation.

Ontario’s Dog Owners’ Liability Act was amended in 2005 to include a ban on pit bulls. Under the act, people are prohibited from owning, breeding, selling or giving away, or importing pit bulls. The law also says that the dogs cannot be abandoned anywhere but a shelter, allowed to stray, or trained for fighting.

The effectiveness of this breed-specific legislation has been debated since the introduction of the ban. Last year, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association sent a letter to the premier and the opposition at Queen’s Park saying that the law is not effective

“Based on an extensive review of available research on the subject, OVMA has concluded that (breed-specific legislation) is not an effective method of reducing the number of dog bites in humans, and that it has resulted in significant negative consequences for both people and dogs in Ontario,” said the letter, signed by the association’s then-president, Dr. Dale Scott.

Kingston residents Mary Shaw and Amanda Thurston know those negative consequences quite well.

During one of Thurston’s daily visits with Calleigh, her Rottweiler-St. Bernard cross, to a dog park in Kingston, she was approached by four bylaw officers and told she had 30 days to surrender the dog to be destroyed unless she was able to prove it was not a pit bull.

Shaw, a veterinary technician, who heard about the case, knew what to do. With the help of Shaw, Thurston was able to prove that Calleigh was not part of the banned breed through a DNA test. After a nine-month fight in the court system, all charges against Thurston and Calleigh were dropped.

Thurston said that those nine months were very hard.“I would not wish this on anyone,” she said. “I would like the whole world to know what Ontario is doing and that if you are fighting, to keep fighting – something good might come out of it.”

Any breed can be dangerous, says Shaw.

“I mean, I’m 63 years old – I can remember when it was dobermans that were the ones you don’t trust. And I remember German shepherds went through a period of ‘Oh, German shepherds should be banned; no one but police should be allowed to have them.’”

Brice Morris, the animal-control officer for Quinte West, said there hasn’t been a reduction in dog bites since the ban was put in place, but pit-bull bites have gone down. He also said there have been a lot of bites by small dogs but they have been minor.

“Pit bulls do more damage,” he said.