Bill would ban pit bull breeding

Gallup, NM -- The breeding of pit bulls could be banned statewide as early as July, if a bill proposed by a state senator is passed into law.

Under a bill proposed by Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, breeding of pit bulls will be prohibited, owners of pit bulls will be required to neuter or spay the dogs and new pit bulls will not be permitted in New Mexico after July 1, 2005.

The manager of the McKinley County Animal Control Center said his employees nab about three to 12 stray pit bulls a month, locally. About 300 to 400 stray animals are apprehended a month throughout McKinley County.

In an explanation of the bill, breeds such as Akitas, Malamutes, Bulldogs, Boxers, Canary dogs, Chow Chows, Dobermans, German Shepherds, Danes, Huskies and Rottweilers are classified as dangerous dogs.

Dr. Clinton Balok, of the Cedar Medical Center, said he's experienced the fierceness of a Rotweiller first hand. Balok was about to begin the process of giving a dog a rabies shot, when he was attacked inside a Crownpoint clinic.

"I almost lost my arm," Balok said. "He was going for my throat, but I gave him my arm instead."

Balok lost use of the limb for several months, which is a serious set back for a surgeon.

"If it had been a woman or a smaller child, they would have been dead," he said.

The dog was destroyed, following the incident. Balok said when the animals are raised in an aggressive environment, their tendency to attack increases.

"It's their nature to fight," he said. "It goes back generations .... It's their genetics mixed with a hate-filled environment that creates a monster. They lost a lot of gentleness they used to posses and it's not their fault."

He said the dogs are often unfairly blamed for their owners' actions.

"Animals often take the brunt of everything," Balok said. "But maybe they are only the instrument of a greater villain."

He described some pit bull owners' desire to own the animals that are known as fight dogs as "a macho thing."

"It's a cool thing to have a dog with huge jaw muscles," he said.

Owners of all dogs who bite could pay upward of $1,000 in fines. Complaints can also be issued against a dog that has threatened an individual. Desecration could be given to the animal control officer to decide whether the dog should be quarantined or possibly destroyed.

Under the bill, a $7,500 fine would be issued to individuals who are involved in dog fighting. "Increased penalties are fine and good for after the fact and hopefully they will make people act more responsibly, but my bill is designed to prevent attacks from happening in the first place by banning the breeding of pit bulls," Beffort said.

If passed, the law would also require existing pit bulls to be kept indoors or inside a pen, if outdoors.

In a phone interview, Beffort said nationwide only 1 percent of dogs are pit bulls, but 50 percent of the reported maulings are by pit bulls. And of that 50 percent, 80 percent of those maulings involved young children.

"The public is outraged on a weekly basis that there are these attacks," she said.

Beffort said a petition is circulating throughout the Grants and Gallup area to ban the dogs.

Balok said a better option to the ban on pit bull breeding is to expand it to all breeds of dogs due to large number that already exist or to require dog owners to spay or neuter their animal.

He said passing laws concerning the dogs are important, but so is their enforcement.

"Establishing is one part of the equation," he said. "The other is enforcement in court."

 

How can they just do that its wrong. How would they like it if the pets they loved were to be banned. Pitbulls are not vicious dogs it is the stupid people that own them that make them that way. Any breed of dog can snap on a person it all depends on how well you know the dog.

 

Dog fighting is legal in Japan and most people who own pitbulls are dogmen.I almost never heard people get attacked by pitbulls in Japan.Dogfighters in Taiwan,Hongkong,Philipine and Thailand never get worry of being arrested for fighting their dogs and the people who live in those countries don't have dog attack problem like what the people in US have.I think US goverment should learn from those countries .

 

Yes...All this breed banning is BULLSHIT! Our Pitbulls are in trouble with the "Ban"......If you want to help fight against breed ban, Go to http://www.nationalcaninealliance.org./ and sign up......They're an organization who's trying to stop any breed ban that shows up in the United States and in Canada.....And believe me this breed ban is going to spread across the United States like a plague...... All Pitbull, American Staffordshire, and Staffordshire Bull terrier owners need to sign up and help stop this "Ban"..... CHECK OUT THE SITE & SIGN UP!!!!!! Cause BSL SUX!!!

 

don't get me started. i feel like i say the same damn thing day in & day out. my dogs are going anywhere. they can put my lil 5 ft tall ass in jail first. second, as for Mr. Balok, any smart vet would 1) have someone hold the dog during vaccinations ("animals raised in an aggressive enviro." possibly...but not too many dogs enjoy having things shoved up their butts & then shots given) that's what tech & assistants are for & 2) if he was so "sure" that the dog is an aggressive dog, why wasn't there a muzzle on the dog? we see several aggressive dogs, ranging from poodles, to chi's, to great danes, to labs (you get my point) & if i think or know that the animal will bite, it's gets a lovely "seatbelt" over it's mouth. & we NEVER touch, feel, or vacc. an unrestrained animal at our clinic! we (vets & techs) fight over who gets to treat the pit bulls cause no one enjoys having some sweater wearing chihuahua nawing on our fingers.