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Date Posted: 07:59:01 02/09/04 Mon
Author: Karen
Subject: Boston, MA - USA BSL proposal

The JP Bulletin, dated 2/5/04 local community paper in the Boston area had an article: "City wants to take a bite out of pit bull problems".


It talks about how pit bulls have attacked "little dogs" in areas of Boston i.e.: Hyde Park, South Boston. One of the City Councilors Rob Consalvo of Hyde Park and James Kelly of South Boston are proposing a city ordinance the "Responsible Pit Bull Ordinance". It was submitted in draft last Wednesday.

What is submitted is "Pit bulls according to data from the Massachusetts Bureau of Health were responsible for more reported dog bites (243) in Boston than any other breed of dog last year. In fact the 2002-2003 there were more than twice as many pit bull attacks reported than attacks by any other dog."
This draft ordinance would regulate pit bull ownership in 3 ways:
Pit bull owners would be required to muzzle their dogs while out in public, Owners would also be required to post a sign on their property displaying the words "pit bull dog" to warn law enforcement and outsiders entering that a pit bull resides there and finally, nobody would be allowed to own more than 2 pit bulls.

Consalvo says "I am not trying to smear these dogs and I know not all these dogs are bad ...but I will not waiver that we need to do something..." The article continues to say..Consalvo is not trying to ban pit bulls as was attempted in Lynn, Mass. (that ban was struck down by the state Supreme Court in 1989). Pit bull bans have been upheld in states including Washington, Florida and in towns of WINTHROP MASSACHUSETTS and Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

The article also speaks to "but some dog owners may be avers to what might be perceived as a kind of breed discrimination. They quote, Paul Cahill of the State Bureau of Animal Health "In the past, we've never supported any kind of breed specific legislation". But his stats are:
260 dog bites in Boston reported between 7/02 and 7/03. 71 were pit bulls. The next breed were GSD..35 bites.
Cahill goes on to say that " the bite problem is more from training probs then breed specific. Its up to the individual owner. "
But Consalvo does not see how one could regulate effective dog-training stds. "We are not going into people's homes and micromanage what they do". "My goal is to not go after dog owners, we are not asking you not to have one, we're asking you to take extra safety precautions"

The article then interviews Kara Holmquist , Director of Advocacy of the MSPCA.. and she talks of when this happened in 2002 after a string of highly publicized pit bull "attacks" . At that time she met with city officials and successfully argued to amend the existing "vicious dog" law. "Our basic stance is that a good dangerous dog ordinance is going to prevent bites regardless of the type of dog". She supports a better leash law and other all breed legislation. She points out that dog-bite stats can be misleading..due to the varying popularity of a breed in an area and the absence of a central system to report/track bites. "We would rather see our aco's get at the dogs that are truly dangerous instead of trying to get a dog just because he is a pit bull".
Also "determining that a dog is a pit bull can be difficult" ... the draft of the ordinance defines the breed specifically according to the AKC standards.

Holmquist is going to try to sit down with the city officials. She ends her interview with " we see that its more about owners, its not really the dogs fault" . Consalvo makes clear that the draft isn't final. He wants input from dog owners as well as his fellow councilors - of whom 6 have already endorsed the ordinance. No hearing date has been scheduled yet"

Here are the contact emails for the Mayor (Thomas Menino) and the City Council:

Mayor@ci.boston.ma.us

Paul.Scapicchio@ci.boston.ma.us

James.Kelly@ci.boston.ma.us

Maureen.Feeney@ci.boston.ma.us

Charles.Yancey@ci.boston.ma.us

Rob.Consalvo@ci.boston.ma.us

John.Tobin@ci.boston.ma.us

Chuck.Turner@ci.boston.ma.us

Michael.Ross@ci.boston.ma.us

Jerry.McDermott@ci.boston.ma.us

Michael.F.Flaherty@ci.boston.ma.us

FelixD.Arroyo@ci.boston.ma.us

MauraH@ci.boston.ma.us

Stephen.Murphy@ci.boston.ma.us

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