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The internet was outraged recently when a story got out that North Carolina was instituting a breed ban on Monday which would result in the killing of Dobermans, Great Danes, Huskies, German Shepherds, a bunch of others and of course Pit Bulls. I've owned the first four in that list so of course I had to find out what that was about.

Apparently, the ban wasn't coming into effect on Monday but instead public discussions were going to be held on Monday (that's yesterday) and it's not really North Carolina considering this ban as much as it is a town in NC, called Cumberland County, and according to the Cumberland County Animal Control Board, it's an adoption ban, not an outright ownership ban. This ban would have included Rotties, Am Staffs, Pit Bulls, Chow Chows and Presa Canarios. The adoption ban, if approved, would mean that if a dog fitting any of those breed descriptions ended up at the CCAC, it would be held for 72 hours and if it remained unclaimed, it would be euthanized. It would not be put into general adoption.

That's a terrible policy but not as bad as a state wide slaughter on twice as many breeds starting yesterday.

Anyway, in the confusion, the internet got outraged and piledrived the county with 18,000 emails and dozens of dog lovers showed up at the CCAC board meeting. Many who showed up at the meeting were intelligent and eloquent in their critique of breed bans of any sort and, in the end, the adoption ban idea was dropped. The CCAC will, instead, look at ways they can more carefully vet the people who go in to adopt.

So, in this instance, the internet getting hysterical over something not quite true actually resulted in something positive and that North Carolina Cumberland County council have made our own provincial government leaders, who refused to listen to the public outcry against breed bans when our breed ban was being debated back in 2005, look like a bunch of undemocratic, stupid as fuck, dog hating hicks.

References:

http://www.change.org/petitions/dr-jeannette-m-council-drop-the-72-hour-kill-proposal

http://blessthebullys.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/cumberland-county-nc-wants-to-limit-adoptions-of-certain-breeds/

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/12/06/1142020?sac=Local


Now you can too can use the internet to get righteously outraged and help get rid of Ontario's senseless Pit Bull slaughter by supporting Hershey's Bill. Please sign the petition at MPP Randy Hillier's website.



1 Comment to “Myths, misconceptions and plain old stupid”

  1. Anonymous says:

    I love your anger too, well said.

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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