Suki
04-09-2007, 09:16 PM
we're losing, ....:( unfortunately, it won't allow me to post the voting link, ...
Dog owners who've been forced to move out of Denver have filed a lawsuit. Should pit bulls be banned in Denver? ( Read the story (http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5628087?source=poll).)
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0409/20070409__8384137_200.jpg (http://test.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1488026 ) A pit bull in the Denver Animal Shelter. (AP)
Pit bull owners sue Denver
By The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 04/09/2007 04:43:06 PM MDT
Denver is being sued in federal court by pit bull owners who say they were forced to move out of the city or give up their pets because of Denver's ban on the breed. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of three dog owners. "The lawsuit alleges that Denver's ordinance violates (the) plaintiffs' Fourteenth Amendment rights to liberty and property and to due process of law," the Progressive Law Center, which joined in filing the suit, said in a statement Monday. The lawsuits' backers claim that over the last two years in Denver, "at least 1,100 dogs have been seized and killed under the law."
The lawsuit names as defendants the city and county of Denver, Mayor John Hickenlooper and officials overseeing the city's animal-control division.
Download (http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0409/20070409_035255_Pitbull.pdf) a 13-page PDF of the lawsuit.
The suit was filed on behalf of Sonya Dias and Hillary Engel, who it says are dog owners who were forced to move out of Denver because of the pit bull ordinance, and Sheryl White, whose dog allegedly was seized under the city ban. Attorneys who filed the lawsuit late Friday, including David Lane, say they are seeking class-action status for the suit. Denver originally passed a pit bull ban in 1989. In 2004, when a state law took effect barring cities and counties from enacting breed-specific legislation regulating dogs, Denver stopped enforcing its ordinance, according to the lawsuit. The city then challenged the state law in court, saying it violated Denver's home-rule rights. A Denver District Court judge affirmed the city's position in an April 2005 ruling, and the city has since resumed enforcement of its pit bull ban, according to the lawsuit. After Denver's pit bull ban was reinstated, officials in Aurora, Commerce City and Lone Tree followed suit in banning the breed amid worries that Denver's cast-off pit bulls might flood their cities. Supporters of pit bull restrictions in Denver and elsewhere say such dogs are particularly vicious and pose a danger to the public in densely populated areas.
"A pit bull attack is more likely to cause serious bodily injury than any other breed. & They will try to rip your flesh, like a shark," Denver Assistant City Attorney Kory Nelson said in a 2005 interview about the reinstated ban. Other Colorado cities have beefed up vicious-dog ordinances without singling out pit bulls. Defenders of pit bulls say the dogs are unfairly singled out and that other breeds are more dangerous. A federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of deaths caused by dogs between 1979 and 1998 nationwide found that pit bull-type dogs caused 66 deaths out of a total of 238 fatalities involving at least 25 dog breeds.
The Denver ordinance deems dogs of three breeds the Staffordshire bull terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier and the American pit bull terrier - to be pit bulls if they have "the majority of physical traits" common to pit bulls.
http://test.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_5628087 (http://test.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_5628087)
Dog owners who've been forced to move out of Denver have filed a lawsuit. Should pit bulls be banned in Denver? ( Read the story (http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5628087?source=poll).)
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0409/20070409__8384137_200.jpg (http://test.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1488026 ) A pit bull in the Denver Animal Shelter. (AP)
Pit bull owners sue Denver
By The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 04/09/2007 04:43:06 PM MDT
Denver is being sued in federal court by pit bull owners who say they were forced to move out of the city or give up their pets because of Denver's ban on the breed. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of three dog owners. "The lawsuit alleges that Denver's ordinance violates (the) plaintiffs' Fourteenth Amendment rights to liberty and property and to due process of law," the Progressive Law Center, which joined in filing the suit, said in a statement Monday. The lawsuits' backers claim that over the last two years in Denver, "at least 1,100 dogs have been seized and killed under the law."
The lawsuit names as defendants the city and county of Denver, Mayor John Hickenlooper and officials overseeing the city's animal-control division.
Download (http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0409/20070409_035255_Pitbull.pdf) a 13-page PDF of the lawsuit.
The suit was filed on behalf of Sonya Dias and Hillary Engel, who it says are dog owners who were forced to move out of Denver because of the pit bull ordinance, and Sheryl White, whose dog allegedly was seized under the city ban. Attorneys who filed the lawsuit late Friday, including David Lane, say they are seeking class-action status for the suit. Denver originally passed a pit bull ban in 1989. In 2004, when a state law took effect barring cities and counties from enacting breed-specific legislation regulating dogs, Denver stopped enforcing its ordinance, according to the lawsuit. The city then challenged the state law in court, saying it violated Denver's home-rule rights. A Denver District Court judge affirmed the city's position in an April 2005 ruling, and the city has since resumed enforcement of its pit bull ban, according to the lawsuit. After Denver's pit bull ban was reinstated, officials in Aurora, Commerce City and Lone Tree followed suit in banning the breed amid worries that Denver's cast-off pit bulls might flood their cities. Supporters of pit bull restrictions in Denver and elsewhere say such dogs are particularly vicious and pose a danger to the public in densely populated areas.
"A pit bull attack is more likely to cause serious bodily injury than any other breed. & They will try to rip your flesh, like a shark," Denver Assistant City Attorney Kory Nelson said in a 2005 interview about the reinstated ban. Other Colorado cities have beefed up vicious-dog ordinances without singling out pit bulls. Defenders of pit bulls say the dogs are unfairly singled out and that other breeds are more dangerous. A federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of deaths caused by dogs between 1979 and 1998 nationwide found that pit bull-type dogs caused 66 deaths out of a total of 238 fatalities involving at least 25 dog breeds.
The Denver ordinance deems dogs of three breeds the Staffordshire bull terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier and the American pit bull terrier - to be pit bulls if they have "the majority of physical traits" common to pit bulls.
http://test.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_5628087 (http://test.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_5628087)