Dog Ban Reversal Saves Pit Bulls, Angers City

Freshly sprung from dog pound death row, Buddy the bull terrier sauntered along a rainy sidewalk pausing here and there to sniff a tree or water a lawn.

“Yep, it was curtains for Bud,” said Ben Wilson, as he watched his pet savor his newfound freedom. “I’d go to the pound every day and rub his belly and then have to leave. He was so depressed.”

Buddy, who resembles a fire plug with legs, was slated for death when he was granted a last minute reprieve by Colorado Gov. Bill Owens who signed a bill April 21 outlawing bans on pit bulls and related breeds, calling such measures “doggy profiling.”

But the new law, and Denver’s reaction to it, has caused much snapping and snarling between local officials, dog lovers and civil rights advocates.

Denver City Council, which banned pit bulls in 1989 after a series of deadly attacks and maulings, authorized its city attorney on Monday to sue the state for violating the community’s home rule responsibilities.

Dog advocacy groups said they would take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court if Denver prevailed. And a local lawyer said that profiling dogs has led to profiling owners.

“I can’t complain about the dog law but I can complain about the guy on the other end of the leash,” said lawyer David Suro, who represents a Latino whose dog was picked up. “Of the 1,000 people charged with pit bull violations in the last five years, 62% are Hispanic.”

He plans to file a motion in municipal court claiming the city is targeting Latino dog owners.

Denver is not alone in banning the dogs -- Miami, Cincinnati and a number of smaller cities have too. If a pit bull is seen in Denver, the owner is given a warning to move it outside city limits. If it’s spotted again, it is taken to the pound where it could be euthanized. Since the ban took effect, hundreds of the dogs have met that fate.

“It’s impossible for any species of dog to be genetically dangerous. They can be aggressive due to their environmental conditions,” said Glen Bui, vice president of the American Canine Assn. in Seattle which has fought breed bans around the country and wants to do the same in Denver. “This gives Denver a false sense of security. It’s the attempted genocide of a breed of dog.”

But city officials say everyone else should butt out.

“Tell me please if there is anything more local in government than a dog catcher?” asked Charlie Brown, a city councilman. “We do not have state dog catchers in Colorado, we have city dog catchers that we pay for. We have the right to create our own ordinances based on Denver’s dog problems. It’s time to draw a line, and I am drawing it in front of the dog pound.”

Denver’s ban went into effect after pit bulls, in separate attacks, mauled a local minister and killed a 5-year-old boy. Neighborhood groups demanded action from the city, leading to tense debates over whether pit bull behavior was a matter of training or instinct.

“It was very heated on both sides,” recalled Cathy Reynolds, a city council member at the time. “These animals had become notorious in the neighborhoods for their attacks.”

The ban covers the American pit bull terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier and the Staffordshire bull terrier.

In November, three pit bulls in rural Elbert County south of Denver killed a woman and seriously injured two others before they were shot by sheriff’s deputies. The lack of such attacks in Denver, City Council members said, is evidence the ban is working.

Karen Delise, author of the book “Fatal Dog Attacks,” said about 20 people a year are killed by dogs nationwide and the chance of it happening again in the same city or county was akin to lightning striking twice in the same place.

Delise, who collects data on dog attacks, said there were at least 2 million pit bulls in the United States. Some are trained to fight but she said there was no evidence that pit bulls in general were inherently vicious or more prone to attack than other dogs.

“When I call around the country and hear the shelters are full of these dogs it gives me the message that there are too many pit bulls and too many irresponsible owners,” she said. “Banning a breed puts the focus on the dog and you are ignoring the real factors that contributed to its behavior.”

Buddy, the dog pardoned by the governor, is an 8-year-old, 35-pound Staffordshire bull terrier who has not hurt anyone. Wilson would walk him in Denver’s Washington Park drawing stares and occasional warnings from locals about the ordinance.

“I couldn’t believe the city would actually enforce it,” he said.

One day Buddy escaped from the yard and was picked up by animal control. Wilson’s dog was returned with a warning to move it out of the city. He put Buddy up for adoption but didn’t like the looks of those wanting to take him, suspecting they planned to train him as a fighting or attack dog.

Then two weeks ago, his wife was in the backyard planting flowers when animal control officers showed up and spotted the dog.

“They took him away,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Wilson, 33, wrote letters, contacted lawyers and e-mailed Republican State Rep. Debbie Stafford from nearby Aurora. Stafford was sponsoring a bill that would stiffen civil penalties on dog owners whose animals attack. It contained a provision forbidding breed bans.

“I think breed bans are horrible,” Stafford said. “Denver has killed thousands of innocent family pets. Last year alone, it killed 410 pit bulls that never hurt anyone.”

Stafford rushed the bill through the legislature hoping to head off Buddy’s scheduled April 30 demise. The governor signed it into law last month, saving Buddy and 21 other dogs.

For now at least, the squat pooch is wallowing in the bosom of his family. He rolled on Wilson’s living room floor, shook off the rain and propped up his big square head to be patted.

Wilson happily obliged.

“See,” he said. “He’s a lover, not a fighter.”