Louisiana Town Officially Drops Controversial Pit Bull and Rottweiler Ban

Thanks to the international backlash from people opposing a proposed ban of all Pit Bulls and Rottweilers in Moreauville, La., city officials decided Monday night to can the ban on the same day it was supposed to go into effect.

“I get to have my best friend back,” O’Hara Owens, whose Pit Bull, Zeus, acts as her unofficial therapy dog, told KALB. Owens suffers from severe neck problems.

After the news spread last month that Moreauville officials had voted to enact the ban — and threatened to destroy pet Pit Bulls and Rottweilers who weren’t relocated by Dec. 1 — more than 348,000 people signed a MoveOn.org petition asking them to repeal the ban.

The petition was started by Owens’ mother, Joanna Armand. She also created the Saving Zeus community page on Facebook, which now has more than 49,500 “likes.”

Moreauville alderman Penn Lemoine told KALB that if the public outcry against the ban was strong enough, it might be dropped. He was true to his word. On Nov. 24, the ban was placed on hold until the special meeting Monday.

Mayor Timmy Lemoine had been hospitalized back in October when the Moreauville town council voted in favor of the ban.

“We got a threat from PETA that said, if we didn’t repeal this ordinance, they had enough money to shut the Village of Moreauville down,” he told KALB. “I wasn’t going to be known as the mayor who shut the Village of Moreauville down because of this.”

Instead of a ban, Lemoine said owners will receive citations if there are problems with their dogs. “It will go to the 12th Judicial Court for the district attorney to decide the fine and what will happen with the owner and the animal,” he told KALB.

Breed-specific legislation (BSL), which includes bans like these, is legal in some states, including Louisiana. But because it is so unfair — not to mention costly to enforce and proven to be ineffective in increasing public safety — it is opposed by President Obama and virtually all major animal welfare organizations: the ASPCAAVMA, HSUS, etc., etc. For these reasons, the trend has, fortunately, been to repeal useless bans instead of creating them.

“Three families and eight Pit Bull babies have been saved, and I know all three families are forever eternally grateful for all of the world for helping us!” Armand wrote on the Saving Zeus Facebook page yesterday.

“I may be new and I don’t know everything, but I’m not gonna stop and I’m gonna keep helping to raise awareness until this BSL is repealed across the world!”

Photo via Facebook

Thanks to Public Outcry, Louisiana Town Puts New Breed Ban on Hold

When the news spread over the weekend that Moreauville, La., officials had voted to ban all Pit Bulls and Rottweilers — and destroy any of these dogs who weren’t relocated by Dec. 1 — the backlash was immediate.

More than 215,000 people have signed a MoveOn.org petition asking officials to end the ban. It was started by Joanna Armand, whose Pit Bull, Zeus, acts as an unofficial therapy dog for her daughter, O’Hara Owens, who has severe neck problems.

Armand also created the Saving Zeus community page on Facebook, which has more than 30,000 “likes.”

Moreauville alderman Penn Lemoine told KALB Friday that if the public outcry against the ban was strong enough, it might be dropped.

He was true to his word. The Times-Picayune reported today that Lemoine said a special meeting will be held by Moreauville’s three aldermen and mayor to address the ban, which will likely be ended.

“It was a mistake,” Lemoine admitted. “And it’s got to be redone and reworded. And this Dec. 1 date is not going to happen.”

The ban was enacted because “vicious” Pit Bulls and Rottweilers were running in the streets, according to a letter sent to residents owning these breeds. Lemoine told KALB there had been dog attacks, although he said he didn’t know of any documented cases.

“We’ll get legal council to help us formulate something that’s going to try to keep the dogs off the street,” he told the Times-Picayune today.

Breed-specific legislation (BSL), which includes bans like these, is legal in some states, including Louisiana. But because it is so unfair — not to mention costly to enforce and proven to be ineffective in increasing public safety — it is opposed by President Obama and virtually all major animal welfare organizations: the ASPCAAVMA, HSUS, etc., etc.

For these reasons, the trend has been to repeal useless bans instead of create them. For example, just last week a ban that had been enacted since 2004 in Pawtucket, R.I., was lifted by a superior court judge. About 100 happy Pit Bulls and their pet parents marched in a parade Saturday to celebrate.

Photo via Facebook

 

 

 

New Breed Ban Means Louisiana Family Must Give Up Dog or Else

Zeus acts as an unofficial therapy dog for his owner, O’hara Owens of Moreauville, La., who has neck problems and must use a wheelchair.

“I can sit here if I’m in pain. He comes up there and he notices it before I even make any noise,” Owens told KALB.

But Owens and her family may soon have to say goodbye to Zeus, who happens to be a Pit Bull. At a town council meeting in October, Moreauville officials voted to ban the breed, as well as Rottweilers, because they are “vicious.”

According to a letter sent to owners of these two breeds, they must re-home their beloved pets by Dec. 1. Otherwise the dogs will be taken away for “further disposition,” meaning they will be killed.

(Appalled? A similar ban in Denver has been in effect since 1989. Thousands of Pit Bulls — many of them family pets — have been killed since then.)

Owens told KALB she has never had trouble with Zeus. “The breed is not vicious. It’s the owner,” she said. “It is the way that you raise them.”

She added that she will fight to keep her beloved dog. “Like I told them, they’re going to have to take him from my cold, dead hands before they get a hold of him.”

Moreauville alderman Penn Lemoine told KALB there have been dog attacks in the town, “but I don’t think they’re documented. We had several residents that were complaining about not being able to walk along the neighborhoods because these dogs were basically running along town.”

Lemoine, who has a German Shepherd, said the ban, as well as Moreauville’s plan to kill Pit Bulls and Rottweilers, are perfectly legal.

Breed-specific legislation (BSL), which includes bans like these, is legal in some states, including Louisiana. But because it is so unfair — not to mention costly to enforce and proven to be ineffective in increasing public safety — it is opposed by President Obama and virtually all major animal welfare organizations: the ASPCAAVMA, HSUS, etc., etc. For these reasons, the trend has, fortunately, been to repeal useless bans instead of create them.

Lemoine did say that if the public outcry against the ban is strong enough, it may be reconsidered.

A Moveon.org petition asking Moreauville officials to drop the ban has nearly 50,000 signatures as of late Saturday afternoon — that’s quite a public outcry.

“This is amazing y’all!!!” Owens wrote earlier today on the Saving Zeus community page she created on Facebook (which currently has more than 11,000 “likes”).

“I’m reading comments and yes, I must admit the amazing support and words of encouragement have turned the waterworks on! I’ve now gone from a roll of toilet paper to a towel! Ya’ll rock and as the voice for Zeus we love ya’ll.”

The next Moreauville council meeting is scheduled for Dec. 8. To sign the petition, click here.

Photo via Facebook

‘Dangerous’ Pit Bulls Are Still Banned in Aurora (But Assault Rifles and Glocks Are Not)

Voters in Aurora, Colo., overwhelmingly decided yesterday not to repeal the city’s nine-year-old ban on Pit Bulls. As of 6 a.m. this morning, 66 percent of them had voted to keep the ban.

Yet you can still purchase assault rifles and Glock pistols in local sporting goods stores, as Aurora resident James Holmes did before shooting down moviegoers in July 2012, killing 12 and wounding 58 — however, Pit Bulls are “dangerous,” and continue to be banned from the city.

Breed-specific legislation (BSL) — laws that single out a particular breed instead of placing responsibility on dog owners — is opposed by every major animal welfare organization, including the ASPCAAVMA, HSUS, etc., etc., as well as by the president of the United States, who called it a “bad idea.” It is expensive to enforce and has not proven to increase public safety.

So why did the majority of Aurora voters decide to keep the city’s Pit Bull ban?

“I personally think it’s an uphill battle to win a repeal via a public vote, generally because if a ban is in place, most of the residents have had very little personal interaction with the banned breeds and thus, are more apt to have to rely on the media coverage as the basis for their opinions,” wrote Brent Toellner, co-founder of KC Pet Project, the nation’s third-largest no-kill shelter, on the Huffington Post.

“To this point, the area media has not been terribly accurate in their reporting.”

As always, leading the support of the ban — and bans everywhere — was DogBites.org (start typing that in Google, and what automatically pops up is “DogBites.org bias,” “DogBites.org bullshit,” “DogBites.org scam” — you get the picture).

This lobbying organization that spews twisted statistics is run by one woman, Colleen Lynn, who was bitten by a Pit Bull. (I wish she could meet Donna Lawrence, who was also bitten by a chained Pit Bull. Instead of bitterly wanting to ban the entire breed, Lawrence rescued an abused Pit mix named Susie, and they both helped each other heal — and Susie, now a therapy dog, continues to help others heal. Susie is this year’s winner of the American Humane Association’s Hero Dog Award.)

Lynn is by no means a dog expert, yet the mainstream media continues to report the “facts” she provides, without bothering to dig a little deeper to uncover the truth.

As Lynn points out, Pit Bull bites have decreased since the Aurora ban went into effect — but animal control officers have been ignoring bites by other breeds, which have increased, according to Juliet Piccone, president of Coloradans for Breed Neutral Dog Laws Inc.

“If the goal is to prevent dog bites, it’s not working,” Piccone told the Denver Post. “If the goal is to prevent dog bites from restricted breeds, they can say, ‘Yes, that’s happening.’ ”

City officials told the Denver Post that Piccone was incorrect — but they did not provide the actual statistics.

For the majority of us who feel BSL is unfair and ineffective, the good news is that the trend across the country has been to repeal breed-specific legislation.

“While disappointment is part of the game, it does not signal the end,” wrote the advocacy group ColoRADogs on its Facebook page last night. “Twenty-three thousand people voted NO to hysteria, NO to social disapproval and NO to discrimination.”

Photo via Facebook

 

 

 

 

 

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