Update Oct. 8, 2008: Your calls and emails are having an effect! Spokane's city council says they will not ban pit bulls but are looking at regulations. Animal Law Coalition has offered to prepare a potentially dangerous dog law.

Continue to urge the council to avoid all regulations that are breed specific. Give them the talking points listed below. Contact information for the council is below!    

Original report: Several Spokane citizens have asked the city council to ban any new pit bulls and spay/neuter those already here. They claim they have been attacked by pit bulls and fear that someone will be killed.

Spokane county Regional Animal Protection Services says almost half of the shelter population is made up of pit bulls and mixes and that many of the 1500 calls received each month are complaints about these dogs.

But SpokAnimal, a local non profit humane organization, pointed out breed specific legislation is discriminatory. Gail Mackie, the executive director of SpokAnimal, said she had recently responded to an incident where a Pomeranian presented the danger.   

Mackie also pointed out it is difficult to identify pit bulls and mixes and enforcement would be almost impossible.

WHAT YOU CAN DO  

Contact Mayor Mary Verner at mayor@spokanecity.org or (509) 625-6250 or contact Spokane City Council members and urge them not to pass a breed ban.  Tell them Spokane will not be safe until the council addresses the real reasons dogs bite:

     1. Pass an effective potentially dangerous dog ordinance that recognizes that any dog, regardless of breed, is potentially dangerous or considered dangerous if the dog has demonstrated aggressive behavior. The dangerous dog law should allow for different levels of aggressive behavior. The point is to protect the public by encouraging owners to take action to control and manage their dogs - through spay/neuter, training and pet owner responsibility classes - before their dogs' behavior causes them to be classified at a higher level of aggression.

The law would assign dogs a level of potential danger, with restrictions and penalties for each level.

A potentially dangerous dog law would require spay/neuter, education and training to encourage owners to take responsibility before a serious injury or death occurs.

Dogs and owners can earn lower levels and dogs can even be declared no longer potentially dangerous. 

     2.      Encourage spay/neuter and support funding for free or low cost spay/neuter.

90% of fatal dog attacks are by dogs that have not been spayed/neutered: There is not a single  case of a fatal dog attack by a spayed/neutered pit bull type dog (National Canine Research Council);     

81% of dogs involved in bite incidents were not spayed/neutered (Texas 2002 Severe Animal Attack and Bite Surveillance Summary)

Research cited in a 2000 Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association study indicated unsterilized dogs are 2.6 times more likely to bite.

    3. Mandate spay/neuter for:

Dogs adopted from shelters or rescues or sold by pet stores or online

Dogs impounded more than once after being found at-large or off-leash

Dogs declared potentially dangerous or dangerous

Dogs owned by felons

    4. Ban tethering or chaining and excessive caging or crating of dogs (also a popular technique by dog fighters to make the dogs more aggressive; the Centers for Disease Control has found tethered or chained dogs are 2.8 times more likely to bite)

Lawrence County, Kansas, adopted an anti-tethering ordinance. From 2005 to 2006, the number of calls concerning cruelty and dog fighting dropped from 800 to 260. Officials attribute the decline in large part to the anti-tethering law.  

The USDA and even the AVMA has said tethering dogs is inhumane.

    5. Pass and enforce strong at large or leash laws or enforce such laws and encourage micro chipping

82% of dog bites occur as a result of dogs that are running loose (JAVMA, September 15, 2000)

After passing a leash law, the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, reported a 35% drop in dog bites.

    6. Address through strong laws and education the problem of animal cruelty

Well over half (61%) of fatal dog attacks are by dogs who were not humanely controlled, or who had in some way been abused or neglected (Delise, Fatal Dog Attacks: The Stories Behind the Statistics))

    7. Offer free or low cost training and education about the importance of socializing dogs early and making them part of the family.

81% of dogs involved in fatal dog attacks were isolated and not part of the family (Delise, Fatal Dog Attacks: The Stories Behind the Statistics))

    8. Pass and enforce strong dog fighting laws that make all aspects of dog fighting illegal and include bonding and forfeiture provisions; organize a dog fighting task force

    9. Require dog breeders to register or obtain licenses, limit breeding by age and numbers, ban breeding for aggression and fighting, ban the sale of dogs in pet stores and along roadsides, street corners or sidewalks; require inspections of breeders' facilities and track sales of dogs by breeders.

   10. Help stop the cultural glorification of violence especially involving pit bull type dogs.

Click here for more on breed specific legislation and here for more information on the above alternatives for your community.