Last Summer, Riverside County supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance requiring pit bulls older than 4 months in unincorporated areas of the county to be spayed or neutered. Registered breeders, law enforcement and therapy dogs are exempt from the ordinance, which takes effect next month.
In 2010, San Bernardino County supervisors passed a similar ordinance for unincorporated areas of the county, such as Mentone. Owners of non-sterilized pit bulls can be fined $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $300 for subsequent offenses.
Highland and Yucaipa adopted the same ordinance, according to Brian Cronin, chief of the county’s animal control division, which handles animal control in those two cities.
The San Bernardino County ordinance said pit bull breeds account for about 20 percent of the dogs at animal shelters and are put down more often than any other breed.
Cronin emailed figures showing the county’s intake of pit bulls has decreased 28 percent since the ordinance took effect and that euthanization rates have dropped by 56 percent.
In August 2011, San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control, which oversees unincorporated areas and Highland and Yucaipa, reported a 9.6 decrease in dog bites after enacting a pit bull sterilization law in 2010.
The law, approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors last week, expands upon an ordinance approved last year that requires pit bull owners to spay or neuter their pets.
Supervisor Neil Derry introduced the original proposal in response to an increasing number of attacks by pit bulls in recent years that resulted in four deaths — two of them young children — in the last five years.
The county saw a 9.6 percent decrease in dog bites in the year since the spay/neuter program was instituted, said Brian Cronin, the county’s animal care and control division chief.
The ordinance was passed to reduce the number of dogs destroyed at taxpayer expense, Cronin said.
HAS MANDATORY S/N FOR PITS WORKED FOR SAN BERNARDINO, CA?
YES!!
The following is the six (6) year trend for Pit Bull admissions and euthanasia of this specific type/breed of dog in County owned or operated animal shelter facilities:
FY 2007-08 Admissions 1,623 Euthanized 1,276 (78.6% of intake)
FY 2008-09 Admissions 1,705 Euthanized 1,321 (77.4%) of intake)
FY 2009-10 Admissions 2,066 Euthanized 1,593 (77.1% of intake)
FY 2010-11 Admissions 2,523 Euthanized 1,632 (64.6% of intake)
FY 2011-12 Admissions 2,265 Euthanized 1,085 (47.9% of intake)
FY 2012-13 Admissions 1,815 Euthanized 727 (40% of intake)
You will note, the percentage of Pit Bull type dogs euthanized has been significantly reduced since the implementation of the San Bernardino County Mandatory Pit Bull sterilization ordinance.
The ordinance was implemented in fiscal year 2010-11 in which Pit Bull admissions hit an all time high of 2,523. Last year Pit Bull admissions were at 1,815.
This is a significant reduction in admissions for this type of dog after the ordinance was passed. You can not argue that spay/neuter hasn’t had a positive impact
Toronto dog bites fell after pit bull ban
Patrick Cain, Global News : Monday, November 14, 2011 02:12 PM
The number of dog bites reported in Toronto has fallen since a ban on pit bulls took effect in 2005, public health statistics show.
A total of 486 bites were recorded in 2005. That number fell generally in the six years following, to 379 in 2010.
Provincial laws that banned ‘pit bulls,’ defined as pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers and dogs resembling them took effect in August 2005. Existing dogs were required to be sterilized, and leashed and muzzled in public.
Bites in Toronto blamed on the four affected breeds fell sharply, from 71 in 2005 to only six in 2010. This accounts for most of the reduction in total bites.
The fall in bites blamed on the four breeds tracks a reduction in the dogs themselves, data obtained separately by globalnews dot ca under access-to-information laws shows. Some 1,411 Toronto dogs were in the four breeds in 2008, as opposed to 798 in mid-2011.
“It is encouraging to hear that fewer people are victimized by dangerous dogs,” Ontario Attorney-General John Gerretson said in a statement.
About 1,000 Ontario pit bulls have been put down since the ban took effect.
With totals of Toronto dogs by breed and ten years of bite data, it is possible to see which dogs are most likely to bite in Toronto based on a ratio between dogs of a given breed in 2011 and reported bites over the decade between 2000 and 2010. Below are the 20 most bite-prone dogs. The four prohibited breeds all appear in the top eight slots
Barbara Kay: Study proves pitbull ban is justified
There’s nothing more humiliating for a journalist than pontificating on a subject with ardent conviction, and then being proved wrong. But there’s nothing more gratifying for a journalist than pontificating on a subject with ardent conviction and being proved right.
At the moment I am doing a modest little victory dance as I type. One of the first columns I ever wrote for the Post (December 10, 2003) argued that pit bulls were a danger to society because of their nature. Naturally I backed up my claim with plenty of statistical ammunition. And today I feel vindicated.
I was, even as a newbie, aware that readers who disagree with you can get pretty hot under the collar, but I had no idea how exponentially explosive the response is when you diss a dog breed. My column was distributed to dog-owner sites and I received a tsunami of hate mail the like of which I have never seen before or since. I was called unprintable names – and more than one pitbull owner spelled out in graphic detail what he would like to see a trained pit bull do to me. (One responder, curiously enough, expressed the hope that I would get all my fingers chopped off while playing the piano. Not sure what the connection to pitbulls is there.)
Anyway, reasonable people shared my opinion.
Well, all those pitbull owners can now turn their wrathful attention to Dr. Malathi Raghavan, a University of Manitoba epidemiologist, and author of a new study of dog bite cases between 1984-2006 in the journal Injury Prevention that suggests the controversial bans are having a positive effect. After “breed-specific legislation” was passed, Manitoba’s overall provincial rate of bite-related hospitalizations dropped from 3.5 to 2.8 per 100,000 people. A spokeswoman, commenting on the study, conceded that pitbulls “genetically hard-wired” to be combative, but diplomatically added the usual refrain that all dogs have the capacity to be nasty if they are ill-trained.
The idea that pitbulls owned by nice people are no more dangerous than any other breed is a myth, of course. Dogs bite four to five million Americans every year. Serious injuries are up nearly 40% from 1986. Children are victims of 60% of bites and 80% of fatal attacks. Nearly half of all American kids have been bitten by the age of 12. Pitbulls or crosses alone account for more than a third of dog bite fatalities.
Sure all dogs bite, but most dogs let you know before they bite that they have hostile intentions, and they let go after they bite. As I noted in my previous column, “Unlike other biting dogs, pitbulls don’t let go. They are impervious to pain. Neither hoses, blows or kicks will stop them. Other dogs warn of their anger with growls or body language like terrorists, pitbulls attack silently and often with no perceived provocation.
The breeders, trainers and Kennel Clubs know all this. Yet dog civil libertarians resist “profiling” or penalties that impinge on the dog’s “right to due process” (their actual words). Gordon Carvill, (at the time of my 2003 column), president of the American Dog Owners’ Association, is implacable on breed profiling, falsely claiming, “There is no dog born in this world with a predisposition to aggression.” This is canine political correctness run amok. Disinterested experts overwhelmingly disprove this claim with ease.
Just so pitbull owners shouldn’t feel lonely, Rottweilers aren’t always so cuddly either. In 1998 there were 1,237 reported dog attacks in Canada, and a full half of them were accounted for by pitbulls and Rotties. Some jurisdictions in Quebec ban both, and it doesn’t cause me a single minute’s loss of sleep.
It’s a pretty strange society that imposes speed limits on cars (because we all know it isn’t cars that kill, it’s bad drivers) and doesn’t allow guns to be carried in the street (because we all know it isn’t guns that kill, it’s bad people), but (even though we all know it’s pitbulls that kill, whether their owners are good or bad), won’t take the simple step of reducing harm to our citizenry, especially children, their easiest prey, by banning high-risk dogs
Reported dog bites down after Sioux City crackdown with BSL pit bull Ban.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014
Pit Bull Ban (BSL) Results in 37 Percent Decline in Dog Bites
In 2008 Sioux City, Iowa, banned Pit Bulls and vicious dogs within the city limits. Since then, there has been a drastic reduction in the number of reported dog bites.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Fewer people in Sioux City are reporting dog bites in the wake of a crackdown on vicious dogs and Ban on pit bulls .
The Sioux City Journal reports that officers responded to 37 percent fewer dog-bite complaints last year than they did in 2007, the year before the city banned pit bulls.
Police statistics show officers responded to 115 bite reports in 2008.
The number declined every year since then with the exception of 2010,
when 113 bites were reported.
Seventy-three bites were reported in 2013.
Sioux City police and Animal Control records do not track dog bites by breed within the city, the Sioux City Journal states.
However, Sioux City is the County seat of Woodbury County, and the Siouxland District Health Department provides a breakdown by breed of all bites within the county.
Twenty-six (26) bites by Pit Bulls or Pit bull mixes were reported in the city in 2007– the year before Sioux City Council began discussion of a breed ban, according to the Journal.
That number dropped to six bites countywide in the entire year of 2013.
DOES THIS MEAN THAT BSL WORKS?
This dramatic reduction in dog attacks appears to indicate that breed-specific legislation (BSL) is effective in improving public safety—contrary to claims by advocates that Pit Bulls are no more dangerous than other dogs.
Not all bites are reported to police. Less severe bites or those that do not require hospitalization may be handled by Animal Control.
Though he would like more information to determine for sure whether the ban was responsible for the decrease, Councilman Pete Groetken said the declining numbers show something positive is happening.
The ban included an exception for owners who registered their pit bulls, but no new pit bulls were allowed.
More than 550 were registered before the April 2009 deadline.
That number has since declined to 163.
gee, Tom, I wanted to post a comment but after looking at yours I am too exhausted.
I think you went a smidge overboard. but I fully agree with your position.
WOW – I am quite amazed at all the statistics everyone has gathered on this subject. Statistics can be manipulated by a number of factors. Most of you seem to think that the majority of dog owners are morons and if you own a Pitbull you are even worse. Arguing in this fashion, I believe we should ban all offspring of criminals because they too may commit a crime – That should work well in Denver – No Pitbulls and no children of criminals. Lets not even take into consideration the hundreds of thousands of Pit owners who have taken the time to raise and train their dogs that have become loving super pets for their families – Couldn’t this rationalization be used for the children of criminals? Raise your children and pets well.
Thomas has a lot of statistics – Statistics can be manipulated. I think Denver County does not really have a grip of just how many Pitbull mixes are in the city and county – My Pit mix (with DNA Testing) is now called a Lab Mix – Never bitten or hurt anyone including puppies and children. Listens to me off leash and is the best watch dog I will ever own. I am proud to have been a part of this great dogs life and know many other folks with “Lab Mixes”
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Last Summer, Riverside County supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance requiring pit bulls older than 4 months in unincorporated areas of the county to be spayed or neutered. Registered breeders, law enforcement and therapy dogs are exempt from the ordinance, which takes effect next month.
In 2010, San Bernardino County supervisors passed a similar ordinance for unincorporated areas of the county, such as Mentone. Owners of non-sterilized pit bulls can be fined $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $300 for subsequent offenses.
Highland and Yucaipa adopted the same ordinance, according to Brian Cronin, chief of the county’s animal control division, which handles animal control in those two cities.
The San Bernardino County ordinance said pit bull breeds account for about 20 percent of the dogs at animal shelters and are put down more often than any other breed.
Cronin emailed figures showing the county’s intake of pit bulls has decreased 28 percent since the ordinance took effect and that euthanization rates have dropped by 56 percent.
In August 2011, San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control, which oversees unincorporated areas and Highland and Yucaipa, reported a 9.6 decrease in dog bites after enacting a pit bull sterilization law in 2010.
The law, approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors last week, expands upon an ordinance approved last year that requires pit bull owners to spay or neuter their pets.
Supervisor Neil Derry introduced the original proposal in response to an increasing number of attacks by pit bulls in recent years that resulted in four deaths — two of them young children — in the last five years.
The county saw a 9.6 percent decrease in dog bites in the year since the spay/neuter program was instituted, said Brian Cronin, the county’s animal care and control division chief.
The ordinance was passed to reduce the number of dogs destroyed at taxpayer expense, Cronin said.
HAS MANDATORY S/N FOR PITS WORKED FOR SAN BERNARDINO, CA?
YES!!
The following is the six (6) year trend for Pit Bull admissions and euthanasia of this specific type/breed of dog in County owned or operated animal shelter facilities:
FY 2007-08 Admissions 1,623 Euthanized 1,276 (78.6% of intake)
FY 2008-09 Admissions 1,705 Euthanized 1,321 (77.4%) of intake)
FY 2009-10 Admissions 2,066 Euthanized 1,593 (77.1% of intake)
FY 2010-11 Admissions 2,523 Euthanized 1,632 (64.6% of intake)
FY 2011-12 Admissions 2,265 Euthanized 1,085 (47.9% of intake)
FY 2012-13 Admissions 1,815 Euthanized 727 (40% of intake)
You will note, the percentage of Pit Bull type dogs euthanized has been significantly reduced since the implementation of the San Bernardino County Mandatory Pit Bull sterilization ordinance.
The ordinance was implemented in fiscal year 2010-11 in which Pit Bull admissions hit an all time high of 2,523. Last year Pit Bull admissions were at 1,815.
This is a significant reduction in admissions for this type of dog after the ordinance was passed. You can not argue that spay/neuter hasn’t had a positive impact
Toronto dog bites fell after pit bull ban
Patrick Cain, Global News : Monday, November 14, 2011 02:12 PM
The number of dog bites reported in Toronto has fallen since a ban on pit bulls took effect in 2005, public health statistics show.
A total of 486 bites were recorded in 2005. That number fell generally in the six years following, to 379 in 2010.
Provincial laws that banned ‘pit bulls,’ defined as pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers and dogs resembling them took effect in August 2005. Existing dogs were required to be sterilized, and leashed and muzzled in public.
Bites in Toronto blamed on the four affected breeds fell sharply, from 71 in 2005 to only six in 2010. This accounts for most of the reduction in total bites.
The fall in bites blamed on the four breeds tracks a reduction in the dogs themselves, data obtained separately by globalnews dot ca under access-to-information laws shows. Some 1,411 Toronto dogs were in the four breeds in 2008, as opposed to 798 in mid-2011.
“It is encouraging to hear that fewer people are victimized by dangerous dogs,” Ontario Attorney-General John Gerretson said in a statement.
About 1,000 Ontario pit bulls have been put down since the ban took effect.
With totals of Toronto dogs by breed and ten years of bite data, it is possible to see which dogs are most likely to bite in Toronto based on a ratio between dogs of a given breed in 2011 and reported bites over the decade between 2000 and 2010. Below are the 20 most bite-prone dogs. The four prohibited breeds all appear in the top eight slots
Barbara Kay: Study proves pitbull ban is justified
There’s nothing more humiliating for a journalist than pontificating on a subject with ardent conviction, and then being proved wrong. But there’s nothing more gratifying for a journalist than pontificating on a subject with ardent conviction and being proved right.
At the moment I am doing a modest little victory dance as I type. One of the first columns I ever wrote for the Post (December 10, 2003) argued that pit bulls were a danger to society because of their nature. Naturally I backed up my claim with plenty of statistical ammunition. And today I feel vindicated.
I was, even as a newbie, aware that readers who disagree with you can get pretty hot under the collar, but I had no idea how exponentially explosive the response is when you diss a dog breed. My column was distributed to dog-owner sites and I received a tsunami of hate mail the like of which I have never seen before or since. I was called unprintable names – and more than one pitbull owner spelled out in graphic detail what he would like to see a trained pit bull do to me. (One responder, curiously enough, expressed the hope that I would get all my fingers chopped off while playing the piano. Not sure what the connection to pitbulls is there.)
Anyway, reasonable people shared my opinion.
Well, all those pitbull owners can now turn their wrathful attention to Dr. Malathi Raghavan, a University of Manitoba epidemiologist, and author of a new study of dog bite cases between 1984-2006 in the journal Injury Prevention that suggests the controversial bans are having a positive effect. After “breed-specific legislation” was passed, Manitoba’s overall provincial rate of bite-related hospitalizations dropped from 3.5 to 2.8 per 100,000 people. A spokeswoman, commenting on the study, conceded that pitbulls “genetically hard-wired” to be combative, but diplomatically added the usual refrain that all dogs have the capacity to be nasty if they are ill-trained.
The idea that pitbulls owned by nice people are no more dangerous than any other breed is a myth, of course. Dogs bite four to five million Americans every year. Serious injuries are up nearly 40% from 1986. Children are victims of 60% of bites and 80% of fatal attacks. Nearly half of all American kids have been bitten by the age of 12. Pitbulls or crosses alone account for more than a third of dog bite fatalities.
Sure all dogs bite, but most dogs let you know before they bite that they have hostile intentions, and they let go after they bite. As I noted in my previous column, “Unlike other biting dogs, pitbulls don’t let go. They are impervious to pain. Neither hoses, blows or kicks will stop them. Other dogs warn of their anger with growls or body language like terrorists, pitbulls attack silently and often with no perceived provocation.
The breeders, trainers and Kennel Clubs know all this. Yet dog civil libertarians resist “profiling” or penalties that impinge on the dog’s “right to due process” (their actual words). Gordon Carvill, (at the time of my 2003 column), president of the American Dog Owners’ Association, is implacable on breed profiling, falsely claiming, “There is no dog born in this world with a predisposition to aggression.” This is canine political correctness run amok. Disinterested experts overwhelmingly disprove this claim with ease.
Just so pitbull owners shouldn’t feel lonely, Rottweilers aren’t always so cuddly either. In 1998 there were 1,237 reported dog attacks in Canada, and a full half of them were accounted for by pitbulls and Rotties. Some jurisdictions in Quebec ban both, and it doesn’t cause me a single minute’s loss of sleep.
It’s a pretty strange society that imposes speed limits on cars (because we all know it isn’t cars that kill, it’s bad drivers) and doesn’t allow guns to be carried in the street (because we all know it isn’t guns that kill, it’s bad people), but (even though we all know it’s pitbulls that kill, whether their owners are good or bad), won’t take the simple step of reducing harm to our citizenry, especially children, their easiest prey, by banning high-risk dogs
Reported dog bites down after Sioux City crackdown with BSL pit bull Ban.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014
Pit Bull Ban (BSL) Results in 37 Percent Decline in Dog Bites
In 2008 Sioux City, Iowa, banned Pit Bulls and vicious dogs within the city limits. Since then, there has been a drastic reduction in the number of reported dog bites.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Fewer people in Sioux City are reporting dog bites in the wake of a crackdown on vicious dogs and Ban on pit bulls .
The Sioux City Journal reports that officers responded to 37 percent fewer dog-bite complaints last year than they did in 2007, the year before the city banned pit bulls.
Police statistics show officers responded to 115 bite reports in 2008.
The number declined every year since then with the exception of 2010,
when 113 bites were reported.
Seventy-three bites were reported in 2013.
Sioux City police and Animal Control records do not track dog bites by breed within the city, the Sioux City Journal states.
However, Sioux City is the County seat of Woodbury County, and the Siouxland District Health Department provides a breakdown by breed of all bites within the county.
Twenty-six (26) bites by Pit Bulls or Pit bull mixes were reported in the city in 2007– the year before Sioux City Council began discussion of a breed ban, according to the Journal.
That number dropped to six bites countywide in the entire year of 2013.
DOES THIS MEAN THAT BSL WORKS?
This dramatic reduction in dog attacks appears to indicate that breed-specific legislation (BSL) is effective in improving public safety—contrary to claims by advocates that Pit Bulls are no more dangerous than other dogs.
Not all bites are reported to police. Less severe bites or those that do not require hospitalization may be handled by Animal Control.
Though he would like more information to determine for sure whether the ban was responsible for the decrease, Councilman Pete Groetken said the declining numbers show something positive is happening.
The ban included an exception for owners who registered their pit bulls, but no new pit bulls were allowed.
More than 550 were registered before the April 2009 deadline.
That number has since declined to 163.
gee, Tom, I wanted to post a comment but after looking at yours I am too exhausted.
I think you went a smidge overboard. but I fully agree with your position.
WOW – I am quite amazed at all the statistics everyone has gathered on this subject. Statistics can be manipulated by a number of factors. Most of you seem to think that the majority of dog owners are morons and if you own a Pitbull you are even worse. Arguing in this fashion, I believe we should ban all offspring of criminals because they too may commit a crime – That should work well in Denver – No Pitbulls and no children of criminals. Lets not even take into consideration the hundreds of thousands of Pit owners who have taken the time to raise and train their dogs that have become loving super pets for their families – Couldn’t this rationalization be used for the children of criminals? Raise your children and pets well.
Thomas has a lot of statistics – Statistics can be manipulated. I think Denver County does not really have a grip of just how many Pitbull mixes are in the city and county – My Pit mix (with DNA Testing) is now called a Lab Mix – Never bitten or hurt anyone including puppies and children. Listens to me off leash and is the best watch dog I will ever own. I am proud to have been a part of this great dogs life and know many other folks with “Lab Mixes”