HSUS Statement to City Hall re: BSL

[Michael Deneen]

Dear Mayor Summers and Council Members,
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation’s largest animal protection organization, understands what a large responsibility it is to create a safe community for residents and to uphold standards of conduct through the enforcement of reasonable laws. We applaud the Council’s decision to examine Lakewood’s dog management ordinances, specifically the proposed repeal of the current breed ban. We strongly encourage the Council to refrain from implementing breed-specific regulations and instead focus on breed-neutral dog policy.

The era of breed-specific legislation (BSL) is over – communities are repealing their breed-based ordinances after finding it to be extremely expensive, draining, and damaging. It is an ineffective animal management strategy that has failed everywhere it has been tried, and twenty-one states already prohibit BSL. Experts in policy-making recommend against using breed or any single-factor approach towards community animal management, and research has shown that while singling out a particular type of dog may give an illusion of protection, it does not work.
The HSUS wholeheartedly supports reasonable regulations for all dogs and their owners, including provisions for regulating dogs who have shown themselves to be dangerous, as a critical tool in creating safe and humane communities. However, using physical breed standards as a proxy for determining whether a dog is dangerous is incredibly flawed. With advances in science and our increasing knowledge about a dog’s DNA and the relationship to appearance and behavior, we now know that breed is a complex issue that does not neatly translate into predictive behavior patterns. The physical appearance of a dog has no basis in determining whether a dog is likely to harm someone. Instead, breed-neutral factors such as whether a dog is well socialized, altered, receiving veterinary care and other similar issues are significantly more predictive of the likelihood that a dog may be dangerous.

The most effective animal management strategies center around basic laws applied consistently to all dog owners. These laws, such as proper restraint and confinement ordinances, create standardized rules, norms, and expectations in the community and create a safer environment. When these laws are enforced consistently, enforcement agencies are able to positively engage the community through intervention, providing support and information to the vast majority of pet owners who love their pets and take good care of them.

The HSUS would be happy to speak with policy makers in greater detail about this and offer more specific recommendations for breed-neutral laws which give enforcement agencies necessary powers to address dangerous incidents. The best use of limited local resources is an approach which ensures that dog-owning residents are aware of standards and have access to the pet care services, information, and resources conducive to meeting them. Everyone wants to live in a safe community and we should do everything possible to prevent harmful dog-related incidents from occurring. Our resources on dog behavior, dog management and dog ownership are free, and we would welcome the opportunity to partner with the city.

Respectfully,
Corey
Ms. Corey Roscoe
Ohio Director, State Affairs
croscoe@humanesociety.org
t 614.570.0825

[Bridget Conant]

Hmmm

Will the city post THIS statement from the Humane Society on their website?

This is, at least, from a legitimate and credible animal welfare organization

Quite unlike the letter from the radical fringe PETA group the mayor posted on the city website for all the world to see.

Remember, the group that distributes these “comics” to kids. Crazy much?

BFDCD30D-1C30-41F0-8634-E177D9D8A605.jpeg (36.61 KiB) Viewed 3291 times

[Bridget Conant]

Great list of CREDIBLE sources who do not support BSL because there is NO evidence that it increases public safety.

Mr Mayor, I suggest you put your reading glasses on.

http://m.humanesociety.org/issues/breed ... ience.html

[Bridget Conant]

Even Snopes has “outed” the false premise that BSL reduces dog bites and increases public safety. IT DOES NOT.

https://www.snopes.com/2016/10/25/bsl-and-dog-bites/

If the mayor TRULY was concerned with public safety, he would listen to the experts and end the BSL charade.

In reality, communities that adopt BSL signifies the community has a problem.

specific types of dogs become a stand-in for other, deeper problems: recessions, changing demographics, social inequality.

Is the mayor admitting the community has problems from changing demographics?

[mjkuhns]

Some interesting developments on this front.

The city's Facebook account posted the Humane Society's letter. There's an article at cleveland.com too.

There does not appear to be a news release at onelakewood.com… but it also appears that the news release about PETA's endorsement of BSL has gone away.

As a concept, content vanishing so quickly from a government web site without explanation concerns me a little. It also seems rather odd, given that this content was a news release that was published by more than one media outlet; those articles are still out there.

[Bridget Conant]

The mayor steps in doo doo again!

Everyone should look at the “official” city of Lakewood Facebook page.

They posted a widely discredited “study” about dog bites that NO legitimate scientist would accept. BUT, the best part are the comments!

He’s now got dogbites.org and Julie Wall on the case! OMG if you think PETA are lunatics, you’ve simply got to check out dogbites.org and Julie Wall.

These people literally stalk others on the internet and slam boards and forums with gruesome pictures of injured children. Their SOLE purpose in life is to eradicate any and all pitbulls.

Clearly, these are extremely obsessed persons with radical ideas. Their tactics know no boundaries. And now they have their sights set on Lakewood!

Great job mayor. While you worry about pit bulls and desperately seek to keep “them” out, you’ve just unleashed another wave of cray cray.

[Bridget Conant]

The UT “study” the mayor posted on the city website to replace the discredited PETA email post is no more credible than the PETA info.

The former President of the American Veterinary Medical Assoc and a professor at Texas A&M says of the study:

Dr. Bonnie Beaver, a professor of veterinary medicine at Texas A&M University and an expert in dog behavior, described the study as flawed. Beaver, a former president of the American Veterinary Medicine Association, who led a national task force on preventing dog bites, has testified against breed-specific bans before state lawmakers.

“These are serious injuries to humans, and I do not mean to belittle the seriousness of the problem seen at the hospital,” Beaver said. “However, the dog-related data is seriously flawed, and are used at will to try to prove a specific point of view.”

From here:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.mysanant ... 370739.php

[m buckley]

The mayor steps in doo doo again!

Everyone should look at the “official” city of Lakewood Facebook page.

They posted a widely discredited “study” about dog bites that NO legitimate scientist would accept. BUT, the best part are the comments!

He’s now got dogbites.org and Julie Wall on the case! OMG if you think PETA are lunatics, you’ve simply got to check out dogbites.org and Julie Wall.

These people literally stalk others on the internet and slam boards and forums with gruesome pictures of injured children. Their SOLE purpose in life is to eradicate any and all pitbulls.

Clearly, these are extremely obsessed persons with radical ideas. Their tactics know no boundaries. And now they have their sights set on Lakewood!

Great job mayor. While you worry about pit bulls and desperately seek to keep “them” out, you’ve just unleashed another wave of cray cray.

"Clearly, these are extremely obsessed persons with radical ideas. Their tactics know no boundaries."
Then they should feel right at home in Mike Summers' Lakewood.

So PETA crapped out. Thank you Ms.Conant for your diligence.
And now apparently we're onto someone named Julie Wall and dogbites.com. Nothing desperate there.
What's next? Who's next? Keep circling the wagons, Mike. Nothing desperate there.
And all of it, again to borrow from Ms. Conant, to desperately keep "them" out.
My 2018 Lakewood.

[Bridget Conant]

Some interesting developments on this front.

The city's Facebook account posted the Humane Society's letter. There's an article at cleveland.com too.

There does not appear to be a news release at onelakewood.com… but it also appears that the news release about PETA's endorsement of BSL has gone away.

As a concept, content vanishing so quickly from a government web site without explanation concerns me a little. It also seems rather odd, given that this content was a news release that was published by more than one media outlet; those articles are still out there.

They must have assigned Jennifer Pae the “official” City of Lakewood Ohio -Municipal Government Facebook page!

She’s very good at deleting posts!