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.
I love your anger too, well said.
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