In the statement she states that the APL and Jennifer Scott fully followed procedures to insure Charlie was approved to be honed in Lakewood. She further states that visibly classifying a dog as a put bull is inaccurate in most every case.
She implores Lakewood to move away from Breed Specific Legislation.
How's that for a smackdown?
When will Lakewood do the right thing?
Here is the text of the Facebook post if you don't use Facebook.
We're with Charlie!
Earlier this week, the city of Lakewood, which specifically bans "pit bulls dogs and canary dogs," gave Charlie's owner 30 days to get him out of the city.
Charlie was adopted from the Cleveland APL as a puppy. His owner and our adoption team followed Lakewood's approval process to a 'T' and permission was granted for Charlie to move in. But, when the sweet, goofy boy escaped through an open gate and ended up at the Lakewood Animal Shelter, everything changed, and not because he had done anything wrong other than go for an unauthorized romp. More details are in the story below.
The Cleveland APL is vehemently against breed bans and breed discrimination. Not only are these bans a flawed and ineffective strategy for protecting the public from truly dangerous dogs, but they are virtually impossible to enforce with any modicum of objectivity and fairness to the animals and families involved.
Trying to identify the breed of a dog by visual identification is an exercise in futility. Studies have shown that experienced animal professionals, such as veterinarians, dog wardens, animal welfare workers, and dog trainers are about 25% accurate when we try to visually identify the breed of a dog. We'd do better to flip a coin! Yet, animals and families are being destroyed by breed-specific legislation simply because of how a dog looks, not how it behaves.
We implore Lakewood to overturn this flawed ordinance in favor of enacting an effective and enforceable dangerous dog law that will better protect public safety and hold irresponsible owners accountable. While we're at it, Parma, Garfield Heights, Warrensville Heights, and Akron, too!
And, as I said earlier ... #ImWithCharlie ... we're with Charlie ... 100% ...
Sharon Harvey
CEO, Cleveland Animal Protective League