mass_show_of_support_for_pit_bulls/
Mass. show of support for pit bulls
Specialists put burden on breeders, owners
By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | May 15, 2007
Pit bull supporters vastly outnumbered opponents at a State House
hearing yesterday on whether the Legislature should consider a
statewide ban on the breed.
About 150 dog owners, trainers, and animal advocates, many sporting T-
shirts and jackets emblazoned with images of pit bulls, made for a
sometimes raucous crowd, grousing at what they saw as antagonistic
questioning from members of the committee considering the ban after a
series of highly publicized attacks on children and others.
Most of the veterinarians and animal behavior specialists who
testified said a pit bull ban would not protect people from attacks.
Instead of focusing on the breed, they said, the state should hold
breeders and owners more accountable for vicious dogs.
Dr. Nicholas H. Dodman, director of the animal behavior clinic at
Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, also said
that pit bulls were difficult to identify and therefore difficult for
a law to target and that other big, strong dogs can be as dangerous
as pit bulls if improperly cared for or bred.
"I think breed-specific legislation is odious," he said. "It's
fraught with all kinds of problems."
No legislation banning pit bulls has been filed, but Representative
Vincent A. Pedone, House chairman of the Joint Committee on
Municipalities and Regional Government, has expressed interest in the
idea and scheduled the hearing to explore ways to control vicious dogs.
Yesterday he repeatedly asked witnesses whether they would prefer to
be bitten by a German shepherd or a pit bull, and he grilled those
with veterinary exper tise on the pit bull's infamous temperament.
Such questioning infuriated people who sat for hours waiting for
their chance to shower the committee with pit bull testimonials.
Julie Rembrandt Seeley, corresponding secretary of the Massachusetts
Federation of Dog Clubs and Responsible Dog Owners, left the hearing
without testifying after 3 1/2 hours, saying she was convinced that
Pedone was "basically on a pit bull witch hunt.' "
After the hearing, however, Pedone said that a statewide ban would be
difficult to enforce, but that "everything was still being looked
at," including restrictions for specific breeds. "The committee is
going to continue to look at different ideas relative to how we can
update our dog laws and possible breed-specific legislation," said
the Worcester Democrat.
Two children were attacked by pit bulls in separate incidents last
week in Boston.
One of them was Zayre Morant, 7, of Dorchester, who lost a chunk of
his right arm when a neighbor's dog mauled him. The dog was put to
sleep, said April Shearrion, 32, the boy's mother, but she said that
Zayre's arm is infected and that he is in pain.
"I think they should ban them not only in Massachusetts, but in the
US, period," she said. "Some family's going to experience worse than
what I've experienced."
While some have also debated the issue, no Legislature has placed
statewide restrictions on pit bulls, according to Marcy Setter of
Milford, who runs a website, understand-a-bull.com, which tracks such
legislation. Some municipalities have bans, includ ing Denver and
Prince George's County, Md., near Washington, D.C., according to the
website. Many municipalities in Massachusetts and across the country
have adopted restrictions on pit bull ownership.
Since 2004, Boston has required pit bull owners to muzzle their dogs
in public, to spay or neuter them, display warning signs on their
property, and if they rent, to obtain a permission letter from their
landlords, according to the city's website.
In April, Canton approved a new bylaw that prohibits households from
owning multiple pit bulls, said Paul R. DeRensis, the town counsel.
Dodman said butchers once used pit bulls to restrain large bulls
about to be slaughtered: The dogs would attach themselves to the
bulls' noses "like a living nose ring," he said. Later, he said, they
were bred to fight in pits. The term pit bull now encompasses a
number of different breeds, he said. A relative of the pit bull, the
Boston terrier, is the state's official dog.
Pit bulls are strong, powerful animals with a high pain threshold,
Dodman said, and when they bite, they often clamp their jaws and
refuse to let go. He told the committee that fatal pit bull attacks
are relatively rare, and that pit bulls tend to be more aggressive
toward other dogs than toward people. Most attacks on humans, he
said, are the result of careless breeding that produces antisocial
dogs or of owners encour aging their dogs to be aggressive. Most dogs
that bite are males that are not neutered.
"When you count all the things that maleness brings with it --
roaming and mounting and aggression and leg-lifting, urine marking --
there's nothing, really, that a family needs," he said.
Rather than ban pit bulls, Dodman suggested later that the panel
consider other tactics to curb problem dogs, including requir ing
owners to take a test on dog care before they buy a dog and getting
rid of puppy mills and unscrupulous breeders.
Lisa Wangsness can be reached at lwangsness@globe.com.
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