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Date Posted: 17:00:14 06/06/05 Mon
Greeley Tribune - Opinion from Trib Editorial
Tribune Opinion
June 5, 2005
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Weld County needs to take the bite out of the pit bull by banning the breed.
Evidence certainly supports the danger of the breed. The dogs break chains, smash through fences and attack both animals and people.
Just last Sunday in Weld County, two pit bulls attacked a foal near Fort Lupton, injuring it so severely it had to be euthanized.
In January, a pit bull broke its chain and went through a Plexiglas covering on a neighbor's dog run to kill two toy poodles inside a woman's home. She recently decided to sue the pit bull's owner for her loss, saying she can't sleep in her house since coming home to the bloody and gruesome scene.
The pit bull's owner, Frank "Ruben" Roth, called himself a loyal pit-bull owner.
"I always will be, and if they say I can't live in this state, then I guess I'm moving away even though I was born and raised here," he said.
In April, Mike McAughey of Greeley, who uses a wheelchair, fended off two pits bulls running loose in his neighborhood when they attacked him in his garage.
In May, police arrested David Riley, 37, of Firestone for ownership of a dangerous dog after the pit bull attacked a neighbor's dog. But it wasn't his or his dog's first offense. His probation in an earlier case was revoked and he is in the Weld County Jail. He had served 60 days and got his dogs back in that case.
This time, Firestone police were called to a home on Florence Avenue at 2:40 a.m., where they found Scout, one of Riley's three dogs, fighting another dog, with Riley also in the yard.
Earlier, Riley's three dogs attacked Adam Stutzman, a caretaker at Coal Ridge Animal Hospital in Longmont, where the dogs were being held. Stutzman required more than 200 stitches and was on a respirator for two days after the incident.
These are just some of this year's cases, and whether it's the breed, the owners or both, such incidents must be stopped.
We think Denver officials have the right idea. The city resumed its enforcement of the law on May 9, which gives pit-bull owners in Denver 30 days to remove their dogs from the city.
But we don't want it to stop at Denver's borders.
Defenders of the breed argue any dog could wreak similar havoc. Statistics prove otherwise. Between 1979 and 1998, pit bulls accounted for almost twice as many deaths as any other breed, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Add to that the strength of their bite -- a pit bull can exert more pounds per square inch during its bite compared to any other breed, according to the humane society -- and it's clearly a dangerous breed.
Owners claim they love their dogs and defend them, literally to the dogs' death at times. Yet it's tough to argue against case after case of vicious attacks.
Banning pit bulls affords Weld residents the protection they deserve. Let's not risk another attack on an innocent person or pet.
We've said it before: Ban pit bulls. It's the right thing for Weld County.
CONTACT
The Weld County Board of Commissioners meets at 9 a.m. each Monday and Wednesday in the first floor meeting room at the Centennial Center Complex, 915 10th St., Greeley.
Commissioners include David Long, Glen Vaad, Rob Masden, Mike Geile and Bill Jerke. Call (970) 356-4000, Ext. 4217.
Web site is www.co.weld.co.us/departments/commissioners.html.
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