[quote]Currently, Florida law bans breed discrimination throughout the state except in Miami Dade County where there is a long standing ban on pit bull type dogs.[/quote]

http://www.prlog.org/10201937-court-rules-miamidade-county-pit-bull-ban-une...

[quote]Court Rules Miami-Dade County Pit Bull Ban Unenforceable
A court ruled Miami-Dade's 20 year ban on pit bulls was too vague in defining "pit bull" and unfairly let animal control officers basically guess whether a dog is a pit bull.

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 19, 2009 – Miami-Dade County, Florida - Miami Coalition Against Breed Specific Legislation (MCABSL) and Animal Law Coalition applaud a court ruling that the Miami Dade County Pit Bull ban is too vague, and the county cannot enforce the finding by animal control that a dog is a pit bull that must be euthanized or removed from the county.

The ruling came in a case challenging the finding by Miami Dade County Animal Control that a family pet named Apollo was a “pit bull” that must be removed from the county or euthanized.

The county bans all dogs that “substantially conform” to American Kennel Club standards for American Staffordshire Terriers or Staffordshire Bull Terriers or United Kennel Club standards for American Pit Bull Terriers.

To determine if a dog substantially conforms to these standards, animal control uses a chart that lists 15 body parts such as “head”, “neck”, “lips”, “chest”, “eyes”, “tail”, “hind legs”, etc. The officer places a check mark to indicate whether each characteristic conforms or not to a pit bull. If 3 or more characteristics are checked “conform”, the dog is declared a pit bull.

Rima Bardawil, the attorney for Apollo, pointed out that there is no such chart authorized by the ordinance and it is not clear what standards animal control is using in making its determinations.

Also, Dahlia Canes, executive director of MCABSL, testified that animal control is “constantly” mis-identifying the breeds of dogs. She told the court about one dog that was declared by an animal control officer to be a pit bull mix and ordered euthanized. Canes arranged to have the dog re-evaluated and he was determined to be a mastiff mix. The dog was then adopted to a family in Miami-Dade County.

In this case the animal control officer photographed Apollo from several feet away and then using the photo, picked 3 body parts he said he thought conformed to pit bull standards, whatever those are.

As Canes pointed out later, “Many breeds of dogs and mixes have the same or similar traits. It is impossible to determine breed this way. Seriously, you are going to say a dog is a pit bull based on 3 traits like round eyes, broad shoulders and a muscular body? Dogs are many times genetically a mix of many different breeds. The judge agreed. This proves breed shouldn’t be a factor in deciding whether a dog presents a danger.”
[/quote]

Send them this

ITALY SCRAPS DANGEROUS DOG BLACKLIST

[quote]``This is a historic day because we have established for
the first time the responsibility of the owner or the person
who is momentarily in charge of the animal,`` Martini said.
``The measures adopted in the previous laws had no
scientific foundation. Dangerous breeds do not exist.[/quote]

ANIMAL CONTROL

This is what it is like to live in an area with BSL.
http://www.mississauganews.com/article/23669
When you own a mutt or a mix Breed,you have NO way of knowing whether you must comply or if you have broken the law simply by getting a puppy.

It doesn`t matter to the Authorities if you are a good responsible owner.
They simply want to kill your dog due to looks.

Think logically about this.
Dogs DON`T bite due to Breed or look.

This could happen to you if you support Breed Specific Legislation where you live.

As a retired Animal Control Officer in Florida, I can say with much knowledge on the subject that breed banning is unfair and innefective. The issue with pit bulls is based mainly on the fact that they are the breed of choice for dog fighting which is illegal and inhumane. However most pitbulls as with any other breed, when raised responcibly are sweet friendly pets to people and if raised with other animals are also fine with them. In all my 16+ yrs as an officer, i would rather get a call on a pit bull any day than one on a chow, Our quarentine bite room at our facility had the highest percentage of chow bites than any other breed. Pit bulls were mainly there after being confiscated from active dog fighters and held until prosecution of defendents. Any of those dogs that were friendly to people were adopted out after the case was completed. Any breed of dog can bite under the right circumstances. We always had a mixture in our quarentine kennels from lap dogs to labradors. While severe to fatal maulings do occur on rare occasions, many different breeds are the culprits because the owner has been irresponcible in training and socializing their animals, has not kept them confined to their own property or neighbors have tormented fenced in pets until a point when they do escape confinement and bite their tormentors. Owners with multiple dogs not properly socialized are the worst as when the animals get loose, they return to pack mentality and will do as the leader does. You may have 1 dog that is mean tempered to strangers but 3 other dogs that love everyone. if they all get loose, they will follow in most cases the actions of the mean one what ever breed they are.