[RP TownTalk] URGENT loose pit bull

Fri Jan 11 23:39:50 UTC 2013

 Hi Jeffery,

I'm sorry
you weren't able to read further than the beginning of my post and take into
consideration the facts and suggestions I made available. I hope you are able
to take the time to consider the points I introduced. I address issues such as
"open mindedness," and the role of the news media, both of which I
imagine you would find interesting and relevant. If you have the time, I would
love to continue to discuss this issue. My only requirement for discussion is
that we all are made aware of the same factual evidence that describes the
nature of the issue. If some of us are misinformed, it does us no good to
argue. So, again, I hope you continue to read past the phrase "embarrassing
pit bull ban." Perhaps "embarrassing" is an emotionally charged
word, but I strongly believe that a policy put in place as a knee-jerk reaction
to dog bite incidents but does not adequately protect the public from dog bites
is embarrassing. Any legislation that is based on emotional reactions instead
of facts, that wastes taxpayer money, and is not effective is embarrassing to
me. Your position as a member of the news media is unique and important to this
discussion, so again, I hope you remain open minded enough to participate in
the exchange of ideas. Specifically, I think you would really enjoy the book "The Pit Bull Placebo" by Karen Delise. It is available for free download online. It is an account of the history of our relationships with dogs and the media's relationship with reporting dog aggression, adressing issues such as bite statistics, media reporting of bite incidents, and the media's influence on the image of breeds of dogs throughout history. It's a great read not nearly as depressing as the subject matter would make it seem. 

To answer
your question, yes, I have spoken with victims of dog bites, including parents
whose children have been bitten by dogs. Investigating dog bite reports and
performing dangerous dog investigations is an important part of my job as an
animal control officer. You’re correct in pointing out that it is an emotionally
charged issue and victims deserve recognition and respect. I’ve not yet seen
one case in which a previously stable family dog inflicted serious injury to a
member of the family or community. After a bite occurs, we respond to the human
suffering. But I find that in these cases, human and animal suffering have
defined the situation long before I arrive on scene. I work closely with the
police department and emergency room staff to obtain accurate information about
serious dog bites in order to provide the Department of Health with evidence
for dangerous dog hearings. As I mentioned in my previous email, initial bite
reports filed by victims and reported in the news media are often filled with
inaccuracies (from the circumstances surrounding the bite to the description of
the dog involved to the severity of injuries...). Unless I’m mistaken, the news
media rely on these initially flawed sources of information for news reports
and articles. You might be interested in hearing about two recent
well-publicized dog attack stories that spurred articles in local and national
news media: 

Two dogs were
misidentified as pit bulls in our animal control department’s bite report. The
dogs were guard dogs used to deter theft from a fenced lot. The dogs escaped
the fence and attacked an adult man who sustained severe injuries, including
multiple punctures and tearing. The victim, observers of the incident, and newspaper
articles described these dogs as pit bulls. Our animal control officers and the
department of health also interviewed the victim and witnesses. The dogs were
impounded at our facility and were identified as purebred cane corsos (this
breed is a large mastiff breed, usually around or over 100 lbs). I am only
aware of one small local news source running a correction for the flawed
reporting of this story. These dogs did not attack a person because of their
breed. They were involved in an attack because they were deliberately
unsocialized and encouraged to be aggressive in order to serve as effective
guard dogs. They were both intact male dogs. They were in poor physical
condition as a result of neglect: they were both underweight, had small wounds
that were denied veterinary treatment, and had developed thick callused skin
where they were forced to lay on concrete without shelter in all types of
weather conditions. Animal control had investigated previous incidents
involving these dogs and had also investigated their welfare in response to
complaints about inhumane treatment, but unfortunately the laws on the books do
not adequately protect animals from abuse or humans from potentially dangerous
animals. This is embarrassing to me.

In another serious
bite incident, two dogs were running at large and chased a man and a child on
the street. The dogs were misidentified as pit bulls by the victim, witnesses,
and the news media. One of the victims escaped the attacking dogs by jumping up
onto a car. A security camera showed footage of the dogs jumping up at the car,
placing their paws on the hood of the car (I don’t know any pit bulls large enough
to stand taller than a car) in an attempt to reach the fleeing victim. These
dogs were later impounded and identified as two intact male purebred American bulldogs.
These dogs were often seen running at large in the neighborhood, perhaps
developing a pack mentality which encouraged the chase and grab behavior that
is natural in all dogs but discouraged/controlled by responsible owners. Several
news organizations ran this story with headlines claiming that “another” pit-bull
attack had occurred. I am not aware of any corrections made by the media. Our
bite reports were corrected to reflect the facts of the case, but unfortunately
the public remains unaware. These bite reports are available by means of
freedom of information act request by the public, but most of us get our
information from television and print news. 

The purpose
of my discussion of this topic is to encourage members of our community to
examine any predudices we might have in order to treat our neighbors and the animals
in our community in a more compassionate, humane manner. Additionally, public
safety is important to all of us and although there is certainly no dog bite epidemic,
we would all expect our legislation to protect us from the rare vicious dog on
the loose. Based on my experience and research, I have found that
discriminating against one breed or type of dog, participating in the spread of
panic-inducing misinformation, and stereotyping our neighbors based on what
their pets look like is counterproductive to our goal of a humane and inclusive
community. I would encourage community members to contact their representatives
and show their support for breed neutral animal control laws that protect
public safety and protect animals from cruelty and harm. 

 Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:12:16 -0500
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] URGENT loose pit bull
From: yorkedial at gmail.com
To: amyrogers1 at live.com
CC: lking at knob.com; towntalk at riverdale-park.org

Sorry, Ms. Rogers, but I could not get past "Prince Georges County has an embarrassing “pit bull ban” on the books" before my hair caught on fire. 

In the 80s when I was a WashPost reporter in "PeeGee County," I had the gruesome task of writing news articles about small children being bitten -- repeatedly -- by pit bulls. Have you ever had a conversation with a parent whose small child has been malled by a dog? A number of  children died, not just in this county but all around this region. Vice President Biden yesterday spoke of elementary children being "riddled with bullets." Well, that is pretty-much what those assault weapon dogs do. 

The '80s pit bull stories were a lot like the other horrible story we all covered: "Stray Bullet Kills SE Grandmother Holding Baby on Front Porch." The first time it happens, it's a Page One, lede piece. The second time it happens, the stories land on the front of Metro. After that, its three grafs in "Around the Region." Pretty grim how these horrors become "typical," "usual" and hell, acceptable. 

But Prince George's County they were not acceptable. The people and the politicians quickly got tired of these dogs. Even when a youngster wrongly went into the dogs fenced yard and brought the trouble on to themselves, there was mass outrage.  Ms. Rogers, the people determined then, as I suspect they still do, we just don't need that horror. We can eliminate it without much real pain to anyone. That was one time I was PROUD of this beleaguered county. Prince George's County set a "born-by date"  for that breed and at some point there after, the dogs would be gone. At lease gone legally speaking.  

No real evidence has been presented so far that proves that the dogs mentioned in Town Talk were in fact, pit bulls but the level of banter does indicate how much fear that breed generates. Pit Bulls are legal beasts in other jurisdictions  but voters and their leaders there can and should follow Prince George's County by setting a "born by date" for these animals and they make their neighborhoods and communities safer.

Too bad it won't be that easy with assault weapons. 

Jeffrey Yorke

On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 3:40 PM, Amy Rogers <amyrogers1 at live.com> wrote:

Loose “pit bull” type dog, a great reminder of the importance of
responsible pet ownership

Warning: This informational email got very LONG very QUICKLY.
Apologies...

Hi Kate,

I’m glad you pointed out this important issue facing dog owners in the Riverdale
Park area and all of Prince Georges County. Prince Georges County has an embarrassing
“pit bull ban” on the books, which forces the PG Animal Management Department
(animal control) to discriminate against owners of American Pit Bull Terriers,
American Staffordshire Terriers, “pit bulls,” “pitbull” mixes, and pit-bull
type dogs. Of course, the majority of the animal control staff (including
Director Rodney Taylor and Assistant Director Terry Littlejohn), the shelter
workers, and humane society employees and volunteers oppose this breed-discriminatory
legislation and do not judge dogs based on the way they look. However, they have
the incredibly difficult job of trying to protect animals while being required
to enforce an archaic, ineffective, costly, inhumane, unconstitutional “Breed
Ban” that requires these animal control and shelter workers to kill family pets
based on the way they look and the subsequent breed identification the shelter
assigns to the animal. 

Members of the Prince Georges Animal Management Department recently
attended a task force hearing to voice their opposition to the breed discriminatory
laws in Prince Georges County. They cited the extensive cost to the county
(taxpayers) necessary to fund housing and euthanizing pitbull type dogs at the
shelter, and defending their practices against legal challenges by dog owners victimized
by this type of discrimination. They also cited the fact that the number of dog
bites has increased on average each year since the “breed ban” was enacted, suggesting
that this policy is not just ineffective, but has a negative effect on public
safety. Each time the animal control department has to investigate a complaint
about a “pit bull” type dog in the county, time and resources are wasted and
diverted from activities that have been shown to improve public safety and
animal welfare, including investigating complaints of animal neglect and cruelty,
dogs allowed to run at large, and dogs that have actually been involved in aggressive
incidents or have shown aggressive behavior. 

“Prince George County Maryland did very intensive research into their
current ban on Pit Bulls last summer. They formed a large taskforce to review
their vicious dog law. After months of research they produced a 300+ page
report and one of the recommendations was to lift the ban because of cost,
ineffectiveness, and it punishes the responsible dog owners and does nothing to
the irresponsible dog owners who are the problem.” Source: http://www.understand-a-bull.com/BSL/FACTS.htm

Additionally,
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the National Animal Control
Association (NACA), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (ASPCA), the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the
National Canine Research Council (NCRC), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and virtually ALL local and national animal
welfare organizations oppose breed discriminatory legislation and instead recommend
breed-neutral animal control ordinances (leash laws, encouraging spay/neuter,
etc) and dangerous dog laws. These are the experts in the fields of veterinary
medicine, animal welfare and protection, and public safety. They all recognize
that pitbulls do not differ significantly from other dogs.

 A dog’s breed is not a reliable indicator of future
aggressive behavior. Breed is not a factor that significantly affects a dog’s temperament
or likelihood to bite or behave aggressively. There is more variation in temperament
and behavior WITHIN each breed of dog than between the averages of individual
dogs of a certain breeds. Dogs are dogs. Pit bulls are dogs: no more, no less.
They are NO MORE aggressive; they are no more capable of inflicting serious
injury in the case of a bite incident. They are not “super dogs” with unique behavioral
traits. They are NO LESS worthy of respect, humane treatment, and protection.
Like all dogs, they are members of the family and require responsible care from
their owners.

There are
several factors that do increase the likelihood of dangerous behavior in dogs
and that can be used to reliably predict aggression. These factors include lack
of early socialization, lack of training, allowing dogs to run at large,
allowing animals to remain intact (not spayed or neutered), neglecting or
abusing the animal, and chaining/tethering a dog outdoors. Most dog bites
involve intact male dogs. Maintaining a dog solely outdoors in a yard, pen, or on
a chain is a perfect way to create a dangerous animal. Neglect and abuse,
including harsh punishment and aversive training techniques, contribute to many
cases of dogs biting and injuring humans and other animals. These are the types
of issues we need to be educating our neighbors about and reporting to animal
control in order to maintain public safety and encourage humane treatment of
companion animals.

As an animal
control officer, I investigated countless dog bite reports. Dogs identified as
pitbulls do not bite more frequently or more severely than other types of dogs.
 Additionally, many of the severe dog
attacks involved animals that were incorrectly identified as pitbulls by the
person filing the bite report and then by the news media, who often fabricate
the story of a “family dog” “turning” on the victim. Most often, dogs that do
serious damage during a bite are large dogs (not pitbulls, which are a medium
sized dog) that are being used as guard dogs or “resident dogs” (dogs who
reside on the property but are not maintained indoors as part of the family). These
errors are corrected in the animal control records, but the public is rarely
made aware of the facts and many people remain afraid that certain breeds of
dogs are somehow prone to attacking suddenly and without warning, which is of
course a ridiculous idea and unsupported by behavioral science and statistical
evidence.

 Legislation that discriminates against owners
of certain breeds of dogs unfairly punishes dogs and dog owners based on how
their pet looks, not how they behave. It does nothing to protect the public
from animals who are truly dangerous based on their previous behavior.  

Luckily, we have a community of dog lovers in the Riverdale Park area.
I’m confident most of us are not manipulated by the fear mongering the media
employs, creating panic of random dog attacks (which are very rare) in order to
increase their viewership. However, I must admit I was disappointed to see a
subject line in our town forum that reminded me of the inflammatory newspaper
headlines we sometimes see when the media describes a dog bite incident,
warning of “dangerous animals,” exaggerating the facts by describing
undesirable dog behavior as an “attack” and jumping at the opportunity to use
the term “pit bull” to describe an animal of unknown breed origin. Of course, I
used to follow the same pattern of thinking before I spent time with pitbulls
while working in the veterinary, animal welfare and animal control fields. I quickly
realized that pitbulls are no different than any other breed or type of dog.
This article, which describes some of the myths and misconceptions about breed
bans, contains an interesting video that does a great job at describing how and
why we sometimes develop prejudices based on fear of the unknown and what we
can do to become more open-minded and better informed: http://stubbydog.org/2011/03/the-psychology-of-breed-bans/

Some other great sources for information on pitbulls and the discrimination
they face include the National Canine Research Council, Stubby
Dog, Animal Farm Foundation, and Best Friends Animal Society.

Here are some great articles and websites for more information:

“Breeds and Behavior”

http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/uploaded_files/tinymce/Breeds_and_Behavior_-_Bradley_reprint_from_Bark_NEW[1].pdf

 “ ‘Pit bull’
not implicated in controlled Studies of Dog Bite Risk, Experts Report”

http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/blog/%E2%80%9Cpit-bull%E2%80%9D-not-implicated-in-controlled-studies-of-dog-bite-risk-experts-report/

 “World-Wide
Failure of Breed Specific Legislation”

http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/uploaded_files/tinymce/World-wide%20Failure%20of%20BSL.pdf

“Pit Bull Majority
Project”

http://animalfarmfoundation.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/i-am-the-majority-project/

 “A new pit
bull study”

http://stubbydog.org/2012/03/a-new-pit-bull-study/

 “The Pit
Bull Placebo” (a book by Karen Delise available for free download online)

http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/publications/ncrc-publications/

> Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:26:51 -0500
> From: lking at knob.com
> CC: towntalk at riverdale-park.org

> Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] URGENT loose pit bull
> 
> Thank you Kate.
> 
> Lou
> O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop HTML mail - www.asciiribbon.org

> 
> Kate Sharpe wrote, On 1/11/2013 1:53 PM:
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TownTalk mailing list
> To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk at riverdale-park.org

> TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription processing only
> http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk

> 
> For more information about Riverdale Park, visit http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info

_______________________________________________

TownTalk mailing list

To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk at riverdale-park.org

TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription processing only

http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk

For more information about Riverdale Park, visit http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info

-- 
Jeffrey Yorke
Yorke Property Management, Inc.
Yorke Partners
Jeffrey at YorkeRents.com
301-502-1243

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20130111/979b6832/attachment.html>