Exactly one week ago today, history was in the making in Cleveland, Ohio. For nearly 25 years, Pit Bull dogs were declared vicious in the the city’s dog ordinance. The last quarter of a century, Pit Bull dogs were deemed too dangerous to live without special requirements, including liability insurance, to protect the public in the event one bit, or even worse, killed another person…But what if a dog other than a Pit Bull attacks…? What preemptive safety measure protects those people? After all, other types of dogs are innocent unless, or up until, that dog does bite. Pit Bulls are Guilty ‘Til Proven Innocent the day they take their first breath at birth.
Each year, thousands of “Pit Bulls” are killed in shelters and pounds due to being…Pit Bull, or for just “looking” like one. Discrimination hasn’t been socially acceptable for decades in respect to people. At some point the people spoke out against the injustice being handed to them. But these canine victims of suppression and cruelty remain voiceless, at the mercy and solely dependant upon the people to talk for them. What man doesn’t understand he fears, and what man fears he kills, couldn’t be more true. Meanwhile, laws that kill for looking a certain way continue to be carried out and hope seems trampled by the inevitable defeat.
But with change, a new page of the book turns to a another chapter. And on June 6, 2011, Cleveland City Council passed the removal of its Breed Specific Legislation (BSL), creating a breed neutral law that puts all dogs and dog owners on the same, level playing field, effectively ending the Pit Bull prejudice and calling it history.
prestonsperch 