Dog Trial: Case Of Mistaken Identity?

Miami,FL,USA -- Owner Says Miami-Dade Animal Services Has Wrong dog

POSTED: Saturday, August 1, 2009
UPDATED: 10:39 am EDT August 1, 2009

A 3-year-old Miami-Dade dog that goes by the name Baby Girl was at the center of a Friday afternoon ordinance hearing at the South Dade Justice Center. In June, Miami-Dade Animal Services handed owner Carlos McLiberty a citation stating Baby Girl is a pit bull and needed to be relocated. It has been against county law to own the breed since 1989.

McLiberty, with the help of an aggressive lawyer, set out to prove Baby Girl is not a pit bull but a completely different breed. According to animal services, officers currently determine breeds by visual inspection. McLiberty's attorney, Rima Bardawil, said that leaves room for error. "If you take a dog from the general public, it's going to have traits of a lot of different dogs," she said.

Bardawil said the added popularity of mixed dogs has led to many cases of mistaken identity. She said she hoped DNA testing she had performed on Baby Girl would reveal her true identity. "Under the DNA tests we took, this dog shows four different breeds, none of which are banned in Miami-Dade County," she said. Bardawil said according to the test results, Baby Girl is part whippet, not pit bull.

The results did not convince Hearing Officer Rafael Licea who in the end said the physical description of Baby Girl satisfied the county's pit bull definition.

Despite the verdict animal services said this confusion over breeds could be a sign the ordinance needs to change. "I think that all dogs deserve a second chance. I don't think breed-specific legislation is the answer. We should instead focus on pet owners" said Kathleen Labrada with Miami-Dade Animal Services. "The ordinance was passed in 1989 in response to an increase in attacks by Pit Bulls. As long as it's in effect, we'll continue to enforce it," she added.

Bardawil said she would appeal Friday's decision. She says today's hearing shows how outdated Miami-Dade's pit bull ban is.

http://www.justnews.com/news/20247837/detail.html

 

Man, even with proof these dogs don't have a chance. That should have been thrown out and the owner allowed to keep his dog...

 

I agree... It sucks bad... My dad lives in Dade county and always on me to move down with my wife but we cant go because of our dogs...it really sucks that it's not changed in so long..

 

It's funny reading how dumb "experts" can be.

DNA evidence proving the dog has 0 APBT genetics in it but they are still gonna say it's a pit bull cause it meets their physical description.

I'm just glad my dog is apparently a labrador,atleast that's what the animal control officer said my dog really was after I told him it was a APBT.
I got the dog from my mentor,he got his dogs from some long time dogmen who I feel sure didn't breed a Lab into their bloodlines.He just happened to grow into a 70lb,floppy eared,long muzzled lap dog.

I'm not gonna argue with him roflmao.Let him think it's a lab,keeps me off of their next to screw with list.

 

I hope they will not start taking DNA samples from my Whippet....