www.NoPitBullBans.com

All Illinoisans with a dog should know by now that Rep. John Bradley’s HB 1080, if passed, would allow breed-specific legislation — meaning breed bans and breed-specific restrictions — in any municipality in Illinois.   HB 1080 was in the House Agriculture & Conservation Committee for many weeks, but every time HB 1080 came up…

March 18, 2011 update: HB 1166 has been kicked back down to the Rules Committee.   Let’s hope it stays there. March 11, 2011 update: You can track HB 1166‘s status here.   HB 1166 is scheduled to be heard in committee March 15: Animals Subcommittee Hearing Mar 15 2011, 1:05PM Stratton Building, Room 413…

Editor’s note: The UK has had a breed-specific ban instituted since 1991.   I think 20 years of impotent breed-specific legislation is quite enough and indeed the repeal of the UK’s BSL is a testament to what animal welfarists have known all along: breed-specific legislation is ineffective, unenforceable, and needlessly kills innumerable innocent dogs. Republished…

Editor’s note: See?   Municipalities who pass these breed-specific ordinances have no idea how to enforce them because “pit bull” is not a breed and so “pit bulls” become whatever arbitrary designation the ordinance wants them to be.   Used to be they defined “pit bulls” as American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and…

March 18, 2011 update: According to HB 1080’s status page, HB 1080 has been kicked back down to the Rules Committee where its sponsor is most likely hoping for an assignment to a more amenable committee.   We hope HB 1080 dies a well-deserved, dishonorable death in the Rules Committee because the bill and its…

Editor’s note: Fatal dog maulings almost always have mitigating factors — like the dog being sick, unaltered, abused, unsocialized, or some combination of these — that the media seldom takes into consideration.   What we know for sure is that dog-bite related fatalities are not a breed problem.   Any dog of any breed if…

The issue of companion animal hoarding can be tricky.   Compassionate people of course want to end animal suffering, and so seeing neglected animals being removed en masse from hoarders’ dwellings on the news is tough to watch.   But on the other hand this country (and others) does not hold a successful record in…

March 18, 2011 update: According to HB 1080’s status page, HB 1080 has been kicked back down to the Rules Committee where its sponsor is most likely hoping for an assignment to a more amenable committee.   We hope HB 1080 dies a well-deserved, dishonorable death in the Rules Committee because the bill and its…

Editor’s note: Looks like Canada, along with all the rest of the world, is finally waking up to the fact that breed-specific legislation is costly, ineffective, and unenforceable. From the Winnipeg Sun: …After launching an e-mail campaign, advocates for ownership of the reputedly vicious dog breed are expected to urge a group of councillors Monday…

Editor’s note: There are some surprising statistics in this article, like that in the U.S., 5,479 “pit bulls” are killed daily in shelters.   Boy if that doesn’t just break your heart, I don’t know what would!   Great article with lots of great quotables. From the Danville News in Danville, Pennsylvania: [Drayton Michaels of…