WRITE LETTERS!! Petition: Repeal Breed Specific Legislation

[kerryclair]

The City of Denver has begun to round up Pit Bulls from their homes and kill them without regard to the individual dogs disposition or demeanor. This is a modern day witch hunt and innocent animals are being killed.

Please click on the link or paste the URL into your browser window and read this article. If you are concerned about this unprecedented over-reach of law, please fax and call the Denver officials listed below. Emailing is good too, but faxing and calling makes a much bigger impression.

Here’s the link to an article in the Rocky Mountain News:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3768197,00.html

Here is a sample letter:

Dear

In 1896 U.S. Supreme Court in Sentel v. New Orleans and Carrolton Railroad (1896) 166 US 698 declared all breeds of dogs to be our property.
Several Federal Circuit Courts have concluded that dogs qualify as property protected under Due Process. Altman v. High Point, 330F.3d 194.

On August 30, 2003 the Alabama Supreme court affirmed American Pit Bull Terriers are not vicious and so have several other courts. Huntsville v Shelia Tack (Ala.08-30-02), No. 1010459,
Zuniga v. San Mateo Dept. of Health Services (1990), 218 Cal.App.3d1521, Carter v. Metro North Assocs. (1998), 255 A.D. 2d 251; 680 N.Y.S. 2d. 229.

As responsible dog owners we have constitutional rights. For 35 years breed bans and restrictions have been attempted. Nowhere has breed specific legislation reduced criminal activity or protected the public from dangerous dogs. 13 states now prohibit breed discrimination laws. We believe our 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th amendment constitutional rights are being violated. Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) criminalizes U.S. citizens. It is cruel and unjust punishment. We are asking the city of Denver to repeal Section 8-55 of REVISED MUNICIPAL CODE, City and County of DENVER, COLORADO Codified through Ord. No. 679-03, adopted September 9, 2003. (Supplement No. 77, Update 3)

Sincerely,

PLEASE WRITE TO THE OFFICIALS IN DENVER ABOUT THIS TRAGIC LAW THAT PASSED-

http://www.denvergov.org/jump_elected_officials.asp

MAYOR
John W. Hickenlooper
1437 Bannock Street
Suite 350
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: (720) 865-9000
Fax: (720) 865-8791
MileHighMayor@ci.denver.co.us

Here are some of the Officials involved with the Pitt Bull Ban: Please write them too.

Governor:
Bill Owens, Governor
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792
Phone (303) 866-2471
Fax (303) 866-2003
governorowens@state.co.us

Attorney General
1525 Sherman St.
5th floor
Denver, CO 80203
(303)866-4500
FAX: (303)866-5691

Department of Environmental Health
Nancy Severson
admincomments@ci.denver.co.us

City Council: THESE PEOPLE SPONSORED THE BILL

District 1
Rick Garcia
2785 Speer Blvd., Suite 246
Denver, Colorado 80211
Phone: (303) 458-4792
Fax: (303) 458-4791
rick.garcia@ci.denver.co.us

District 11
Michael B. Hancock
4730 Oakland St., Suite 200
Denver, Colorado 80239
Phone: (303) 331-3872
Fax: (303) 331-3874
michael.hancock@ci.denver.co.us

Carol Boigon
1437 Bannock St., Suite 451
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: (720) 865-8100
Fax: (720) 865-8103
carol.boigon@ci.denver.co.us

District 6
Charlie Brown
2324 E. Exposition Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80209
Phone: (303) 871-0601
Fax: (303) 698-4908
charlie.brown@ci.denver.co.us

At-Large
Peggy Lehmann
6740 E. Hampden Avenue
Suite 302
Denver, Colorado 80224
Phone: (303) 504-5781
Fax: (303) 504-5786
peggy.lehmann@ci.denver.co.us

At-Large
Doug Linkhart
1437 Bannock St., Suite 451
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: (720) 865-8000
Fax: (720) 865-8003
linkhartatlarge@ci.denver.co.us

District 9
Judy H. Montero
2828 Speer Blvd., Suite 111
Denver, Colorado 80211
Phone: (303) 458-8960
Fax: (720) 865-9540

District 10
Jeanne Robb
1232 E. Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80218
Phone: (303) 377-1807
Fax: (303) 377-1902
jeanne.robb@ci.denver.co.us

District 3
Rosemary E. Rodriguez
69 Knox Ct.
Denver, Colorado 80219
Phone: (303) 922-7755
Fax: (303) 937-4651
rosemary.rodriguez@ci.denver.co.us

District 8 - Council President
Elbra Wedgeworth
3280 Downing St., Unit C
Denver, Colorado 80205
Phone: (303) 298-7641
Fax: (303) 298-9716
elbra.wedgeworth@ci.denver.co.us

__________________________________

Judge Martin F. Egelhoff
City & County Building
1437 Bannock Street, Room 256
Denver, Colorado 80202

[kerryclair]

A little history

Denver passed its pit bull ban in 1989. The ban includes American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers and dogs who are determined to have the majority of the physical characteristics of any of these breeds.



In April of 2004, the State of Colorado passed a law prohibiting municipalities from imposing breed-specific dangerous dog laws. At that time, enforcement of the Denver ban was put on hold while Denver appealed their right as a “home rule” city to determine their own laws in matters of purely local concern. Denver won that case on April 8 of 2005. Animal control officials sent letters to known owners of pit bulls alerting them to the resumption of enforcement of the city’s ban and giving them 30 days to remove their dog(s) from the city. On May 9th, Denver animal control officers resumed enforcement of the ban, including removing pit bulls from the homes of approximately a dozen pit bull owners who had not re-homed their dogs outside of the city.



Some points to consider

* At least three Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists have testified in Denver court that pit bulls are different than other breeds of dogs (this is the city’s justification for a breed-specific ban). This is not terribly surprising since dogs have been bred to serve specific purposes for centuries—the very fact that any one dog is considered a different breed than another suggests that there will be certain differences in the physical and behavioral attributes of the dog. None of the three behaviorists recommended breed-specific legislation (BSL), however. In fact, all three are opposed to BSL.
* In addition to the aforementioned animal behaviorists, BSL is opposed by nearly every national animal welfare organization and the American Veterinary Medical Association. The Task Force on Canine Aggression, which was organized by the American Veterinary Medical Association, included representatives from the American Medical Association, veterinary medicine, law, animal control, the Centers for Disease Control, the Humane Society of the United States and the insurance industry. In 2001, after reviewing hundreds of pieces of related research, the Task Force recommended against breed discrimination and breed-specific legislation. Please see the Task Force’s “Community Approach to Dog Bite Prevention” at http://www.avma..org/pubhlth/dogbite/dogbite.pdf.
* Another (not breed-specific) Denver dangerous dog ordinance allows for owners of a “dangerous dog” (a dog that has bitten or attacked or has a known propensity to bite or attack a human or other animal) to keep the dog if they are able to meet certain guidelines (including escape-proof housing and muzzling the dog when off the property). This means that in the City of Denver, a pit bull—regardless his/her temperament and/or history—is prohibited based solely on breed, but a dog that has actually bitten or attacked is allowed under certain circumstances. There are more controls on friendly pit bulls than on aggressive dogs of other breeds!
* BSL is difficult and expensive to enforce and does not necessarily reduce the number of pit bulls in a community. In fact, the number of pit bulls impounded by Denver Animal Control has increased over 5 consecutive years—from 103 per year in 1999 to 672 per year in 2003—indicating that the ban has not resulted in a decrease of pit bulls in the city.



Time for a change? Help make it happen!

Denver Animal Control Director, Doug Kelly, says that the city is reviewing other models of dangerous dog ordinances around the country and determining whether changes to the current ordinances may be in order. We encourage you to contact the Denver City Council members, thank them for reconsidering their dangerous dog ordinances, and ask them to develop fair and effective dangerous dog ordinances that are not breed-specific. (Contact information for Denver City Council members can be found at the bottom of this message.) If you live inside of Denver, let them know that you are a citizen of Denver and do not want your tax dollars going toward enforcement of this ban. If you live outside of the Denver, let them know that this ordinance has received national attention and affects how Denver is perceived across the nation.



Mayor
John W. Hickenlooper
1437 Bannock Street
Suite 350
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: (720) 865-9000
Fax: (720) 865-8791
MileHighMayor@ci.denver.co.us

Governor
Bill Owens, Governor
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792
Phone (303) 866-2471
Fax (303) 866-2003
governorowens@state.co.us

Attorney General
1525 Sherman St.
5th floor
Denver, CO 80203
(303)866-4500
FAX: (303)866-5691

Department of Environmental Health
Nancy Severson
admincomments@ci.denver.co.us

City Council

District 1
Rick Garcia
2785 Speer Blvd., Suite 246
Denver, Colorado 80211
Phone: (303) 458-4792
Fax: (303) 458-4791
rick.garcia@ci.denver.co.us

District 11
Michael B. Hancock
4730 Oakland St., Suite 200
Denver, Colorado 80239
Phone: (303) 331-3872
Fax: (303) 331-3874
michael.hancock@ci.denver.co.us

Carol Boigon
1437 Bannock St., Suite 451
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: (720) 865-8100
Fax: (720) 865-8103
carol.boigon@ci.denver.co.us

District 6
Charlie Brown
2324 E. Exposition Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80209
Phone: (303) 871-0601
Fax: (303) 698-4908
charlie.brown@ci.denver.co.us

At-Large
Peggy Lehmann
6740 E. Hampden Avenue
Suite 302
Denver, Colorado 80224
Phone: (303) 504-5781
Fax: (303) 504-5786
peggy.lehmann@ci.denver.co.us

At-Large
Doug Linkhart
1437 Bannock St., Suite 451
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: (720) 865-8000
Fax: (720) 865-8003
linkhartatlarge@ci.denver.co.us

District 9
Judy H. Montero
2828 Speer Blvd., Suite 111
Denver, Colorado 80211
Phone: (303) 458-8960
Fax: (720) 865-9540

District 10
Jeanne Robb
1232 E. Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80218
Phone: (303) 377-1807
Fax: (303) 377-1902
jeanne.robb@ci.denver.co.us

District 3
Rosemary E. Rodriguez
69 Knox Ct.
Denver, Colorado 80219
Phone: (303) 922-7755
Fax: (303) 937-4651
rosemary.rodriguez@ci.denver.co.us

District 8 - Council President
Elbra Wedgeworth
3280 Downing St., Unit C
Denver, Colorado 80205
Phone: (303) 298-7641
Fax: (303) 298-9716
elbra.wedgeworth@ci.denver.co.us

Judge Martin F. Egelhoff
City & County Building
1437 Bannock Street, Room 256
Denver, Colorado 80202



More info

For more information on BSL and how you can get involved in fighting it:

http://www.understand-a-bull.com (there is a special page about the Denver situation with local contacts for more information and local activities)

http://www.pbrc.net/breedspecific.html



For more information on the Denver pit bull ban and the city’s justification for the ban, please visit the city’s web site at: http://www.denvergov.org/City_Attorney/54517143template3jump.asp