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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Reply To A Plain Dealer Editorial


Re: Mandatory Spay Neuter of Pitbulls
To stigmatize a particular breed of dog is as archaic and offensive as saying a race of people need to be sterilized or worse, exterminated. There is not a single difference. If I may use a historical reference, this sounds positively Hitlerian.
The American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club and dog clubs world-wide as well as veterinary colleges, animals behaviorists and those who study the societal and economic impact of such laws have all denounced these types of laws as incredibly ineffective, costly and in the case of the United States, running close to being unconstitutional.
Who makes the distinction as to what is a "pit bull?" Do you possess this kind of expertise? Time and time again, lay people and dog breed experts have a very hard time picking out the "pit bull" from a pure-bred dog line up.
The only scientific basis are DNA tests and those are not always perfectly accurate. To run DNA tests on all "suspect" dogs would be ridiculously cost prohibitive. And would it just be "pit bulls" or would this run the gamut of American Staffordshire Terriers, Bull Terriers, Bulldogs, Boxers etc.? Any dog with a large square head? Rottweilers? Dobermans? Cane Corsos? Papillons? Where does it stop?
Mandatory spay-neuter laws are costly and ineffective. Rather than spend taxpayers hard-earned money which will only serve to drive backyard breeders into hiding and escalate animal cruelty and neglect cases beyond today's horrific scope, why not provide low-cost spay-neuter programs or better yet, incentives for having a spayed-neutered animals such as lower property taxes? You need responsible pet owners, local kennel clubs, veterinarians, dog trainers and behaviorists, rescue groups to join together to educate the public and provide clinics for low-cost spay-neuter.
If you are going to insist on Mandatory Spay-Neuter Laws, then it should be for ALL dog owners and that has proven time and time again to be an abysmal disaster. Companion animals are never the problem; irresponsible ownership is.
This type of proposed legislation is fear-mongering at its absolute worst and what is even more frightening: it is an intrusion into people's lives and yet another erosion of our civil liberties.
My addendum...not published....
In layman's terms, the woman who proposed this idea for a law is a big ol' scaredy-cat chicken sh*t. 
As Jimmy Cagney said in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, "And that's FOR the record!"

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