There has been a lot of hoopla surrounding the challenge to Miami-Dade's 23 year old Pit Bull Ban. A move to lift the ban, and allow pit bulls within that jurisdiction, was introduced to the Florida legislature this session. You see, the state of Florida itself has a ban on breed specific bans. My understanding is that the Miami-Dade local ban pre-dated the state law and has been "grandfathered" in.
Currently, anyone in violation of the ban in Miami-Dade county will have their pit bull(s) seized, euthanized, and the owner fined $500.00. The law was passed in 1989 after a series of extremely grave dog attacks, the kind pit bulls are famous for, sent residents clamoring for relief.
So, along comes Pit Bull owning Mark Buerhle, a pitcher for the Florida Marlins who was lucky enough to recently land a 58 million dollar contract. Buerhle got the ear of State Legislator Carlos Trujillo who has since been pressing the repeal of the ban.
Somehow I think this may be more about baseball and/or money than dogs, but I digress.
I am not the biggest fan of BSL: I am not *opposed* to it, necessarily, but its another boutique issue that, generally speaking, offers little overall relief from those who use their dogs as offensive weapons. A half a million US citizens are forced to seek medical care yearly as a result of a dog attack. Many of these attacks are not pit bull related (though many of the more serious one's are).
However, I support the local government and people of Miami-Dade in their efforts to uphold their ban.
Dog ownership is NOT a fundamental human right. It should not be protected by the state of Florida or any other entity. Wanna-be pit bull owners in Miami, even if they have 58 million dollars, have no right to demand protection from the state in this matter. The citizens Miami should not be forced by the State to allow pit bulls, or any other animal, within their jurisdiction.
It seems Miami-Dade has shown many years ago that the safety of its citizens is most important....until a sports figure happens along and wants to own a pit bull.
ReplyDeleteMichael Vick is still the most hated man in the NFL because he had involvement with two dogs fighting each other until the death. Yet, a sports figure wants to have a dog that will fight humans to the death and he can garner agreement.
I hope Miami-Dade does not give in to being "star struck." Pit bulls attack and kill. Why would it be a horrific crime for humans to allow dogs to kill each other for sport and then considered "normal" to own dogs proven to attack and kill people? Why in the world would the death of babies be OK while it is abhorrent for dogs to kill each other? It seems we live in a dog world where bad is good and good is bad.
Two sports figures. One reviled with no power who spent time in jail for allowing dogs to kills each other. The other a man of power working to change a law designed to keep dogs from killing people. Incredible.