Keep in mind, when a breed is banned often the people in charge of enforcing the ban are not properly educated about the breeds; thousands of mixed breed dogs are euthanised every year because some one thought they looked like they MIGHT be a banned breed mix.

GET INVOLVED!
Sample letters at bottom of page

HB101- Reverses the state ban on BSL

Track HB101 in the House

CONTACT:
Florida House of Representatives

HB101 is being sponsored by: Rep. Perry E. Thurston, Jr. EMAIL HIM NOW URGENTLY!!!

If HB101 passes, any local government will once again be allowed to ban a specific breed of dog. The ban on "Pit Bull Type Dogs" has caused almost two decade of canine death in Dade County. SEND YOUR REPRESENTATIVES LETTER TO LET THEM KNOW RESPONSIBLE DOG PWNERS OPPOSE THIS BILL.

"Florida law (Section 767.14, F.S.) currently prevents local municipalities from crafting a “dangerous dog” ordinance aimed at a specific breed of dog. As you may be aware, there is a bill that has been filed that seeks to change this law. Representative Thurston is sponsoring House Bill 101, which calls for the deletion of language that prevents local municipalities from imposing a ban on specific breeds of dangerous dogs."

MIAMI BSL- Ban on Pit Bull Type Dogs

Let the Commissioners know how you feel
Even if you are not a Dade citizen, write to them! Their ban affects all of us since those dogs that et confiscated often are brought into neighboring counties and fill up rescue spots just because they LOOK like they are more than 40% "pit".

MIAMI did NOT pass the anti-tethering addition to the revised Chapter 5.

PLEASE help us let them know the practice of tethering a dog is both dangerous to the dog and likely to make the dog dangerous to people!

LINKS:
Board of County Commissioners of Miami-Dade County [website]

Office of the Chair
District 1 - Barbara J. Jordan
District 2 - Dorrin D. Rolle
District 3 - Audrey Edmonson
District 4 - Sally A. Heyman
District 5 - Bruno A. Barreiro
District 6 - Rebeca Sosa
District 7 - Carlos A. Gimenez
District 8 - Katy Sorenson
District 9 - Dennis C. Moss
District 10 - Javier D. Souto EVEN IF YOU SEND ONLY ONE AB BSL, SEND IT TO SOUTO!
District 11 - Joe A. Martinez
District 12 - José "Pepe" Diaz
District 13 - Natacha Seijas

SAMPLE LETTERS
If you would like me to post your letter, story or statistics, send me an email!

LETTER NUMBER ONE

January 2008

Honorable [name]:

It has come to the attention of pet owners and animal lovers across Florida that HB101 is coming up for review. This bill stands in the face of all animal behavioral research and is in direct violation of the rights of all responsible pet owners of Florida. (For specific studies please feel free to contact me).

The devastation of Breed Specific Legislation has been felt by hundreds of family pets in Miami Dade county. Countless stories and personal accounts of well-behaved family pets being taken away and etherized by Animal Services have been heard by County Commissioners in Dade.

For a moment, please imagine these scenarios:

1. You find a tiny puppy at your local shelter and decide to adopt it for your family. Your two children come to love the dog as another sibling. As the dog grows older, it becomes apparent the dog is of an illegal breed. Even though the dog was adopted from your local shelter, one year later when you bring it back for its annual rabies shot, you are informed the dog is being taken away from you because it now conforms to vague descriptions of an illegal breed. What do you say to your children?!

2. You are a loving individual living in another state. When you get your first apartment out of college you go to the shelter and adopt a wonderful, gentle, loving dog. After a few years working long hours and making all the right career moves, you get your dream promotion. You company transfers you to Miami. One night your neighbor gets mad because your guest unknowingly parks in their space. The next day an animal services investigator arrives at your house to seize your dog. Your loving, friendly dog apparently conforms to a Pit Bull terrier, "more than 40% pit bull type dog", to be precise. Your best friend is taken and put to sleep. (BSL can and often does play into neighbor revenge.)

3. A terrible pet overpopulation problem exists in every county in Florida. Of the pure bred dogs that end up in shelters every year, the breeds that are most popular are the breeds that end up there most often. Unfortunately those are: Labradors, Dachshunds, Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Chihuahuas, Boxers and Shepherds, just to mention a few. If any of these breeds are illegal in any given county, it becomes the burden of rescues outside of that county to get them out of the illegal county shelters. This means that dogs in desperate need of help and foster homes outside those counties are compromised by the need of the healthy, friendly and adoptable dogs that must be moved due to breed.

4. Many breeds of dogs that are labeled "aggressive" by some groups of people are among some of the best and most loyal service breeds throughout history. If Breed Specific Legislation is allowed, then a service dog to the blind might be illegal in one county while the SAME dog might mean the difference between life and death for a disabled person in a neighboring county. What if, for example, a Pit Bull was a service dog to a blind person, but not allowed in the county where the blind owner tried to visit? Or what if Dobermans were made illegal in one county, but were the service dogs for the police force in the neighboring county? How can a dog be judged on its breed? Should it not be judged as we judge each other, on the premise that we are are of equal potential of the same good as well as the same bad?

5. For my final scenario I would like to interject a personal experience. I lived in a low income area of Miami Dade county for a few years. My two Dobermans often helped me avoid unnecessary encounters with unsavory characters. I founded a dog rescue and was well aware of the prohibition against Pit Bulls in the county. One night I came home to find over five pit bulls wandering the streets. Of the wandering dogs, there was one young male, intact white dog who was scared and friendly. I stopped my car. I knew this was not a random incident. These were dogs being released from a bad place. I found out a known drug dealer was being raided, so he released the dogs out the back gate to avoid the charges. I wanted to call animal services to help save these dogs from the perils of life on the street, but i feared to call the authorities for being fined for "harboring" a pit bull. I took the white pit mix into my house, until the next morning when I would transfer him over to a rescue out of the county (this was at about 2 am). At 4 am that morning my roommates and I were awoken by an angry man banging at our door. He was waving a gun in the air demanding his dog be returned. This dog should have gone into the custody of people who cared for his well being. Due to the BSL ordinance I was held up at gun point and was forced to relinquish an abused dog back to his abuser. I will never forgive myself for failing that dog, nor will I forgive the system for failing him and ME- an animal rescuer, law abiding citizen and animal rights activist.

HB101 is an infraction on ALL pet lovers. The second the precedent is set that one group of people can discriminate against a breed solely based on the breed, then ALL citizens lose the right of owning the pet of their choice. This country is founded on the belief that NO INDIVIDUAL may be persecuted for the way one looks, the beliefs one holds or any behavior that one holds true as long as one does not cause harm to another. WHY THEN ARE OUR BEST FRIENDS BEING HELD TO STANDARDS WE WOULD CONSIDER GENOCIDE. We need more serious repercussions for the abusers of animals, for the irresponsible pet owners, and for the people that cause harm to other people and other pets by encouraging their animals to be violent. IT IS NEVER A DOGS FAULT. THEY ARE PACK CREATURES WHO LOVE TO BE A PRODUCTIVE MEMBER OF A GROUP. WHY THEN, SHOULD WE NOT HONOR THEM BY BEING PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF OUR OWN SPECIES.

PLEASE, VOTE NO ON HB101.

Thank you, thank you for your consideration, your time and your understanding.