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Highland Park Mulls Pit Bull Ban After Attack

May 06, 2009, 1:56PM MT

By Cheri Moon

Illinois Residents, please ask city council members to regulate dangerous dogs—not ban breeds

Illinois Residents, please ask city council members to regulate dangerous dogs—not ban breeds

by Best Friends Staff

After a 14-year-old girl was bitten on the face and arm, Highland Park Mayor Michael Belsky has called for a citywide ban on pit bulls.

According to reports, Belsky refers to pit bulls as mercurial, unpredictable and lethal.

Belsky has been working with state legislators to amend Illinois law, but Highland Park is a home rule community and would be able to enact a breed ban.

Belsky was quoted in an article by Chicago Breaking News Center saying that regardless of what legislators do, "my feeling is we should be proactive and do it anyway."

He plans to propose the ban on pit bulls as early as the next City Council meeting Monday with a public hearing to be scheduled at a later date.

Best Friends’ Help Refused
Approximately three month ago, Ledy VanKavage, Best Friends’ senior legislative analyst, offered to speak to officials in Highland Park and present the benefits and effectiveness of good dangerous dog and reckless owner laws. Her offer was denied.

Best Friends is asking Mayor Belsky and Highland Park officials to accept VanKavage’s offer and become familiar with effective and proven techniques to manage dangerous dogs.

Request Effective Legislation
Best Friends opposes canine profiling as it does not reduce dog bite incidents nor effectively manages dangerous dogs. Rather than breed-discriminatory restrictions, Highland Park should pass general dangerous dog/reckless owner laws:

• Protect innocent dogs and responsible owners.
• Encourage residents to spay/neuter their pets.
• Effectively identify and manage truly dangerous dogs.
• Restrict tethering.
• Enforce stricter consequences for dog fighting.
• Prevent reckless owners from having dogs.

Attend City Council Meetings
The Highland Park City Council regularly meets on the second and fourth Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers in City Hall, 1707 St. Johns Avenue, Highland Park, Illinois. Call (847) 432-0800 to confirm meeting times and dates.

Contact Council Members Today!
An effective email/phone call to council members needs only three things:

1. Provide your name and address at the end of your letter AND on the envelope or in the email/phone call.

2. Ask for specific action
Ask city council members to pass general dangerous dog/reckless owner laws that are not specific to breeds.

3. Give reasons and examples
Chose from the list below or share your own. Remember to be always be respectful and avoid being emotional. This is your chance to educate someone about truly effective ways to manage dangerous dogs.

• It is often difficult for even experts to determine the breed of a dog-particularly with mixed breed dogs. Click here to find the pit bulls on the web. Many dogs are misidentified and confiscated simply for their appearance.

• Breed discriminatory laws cause unintended hardship to responsible owners of friendly dogs that happen to fall within the regulated breed category.

• Breed-discriminatory laws compromise public safety by requiring officers to enforce regulation on dogs that may or may not be dangerous instead of investing resources into proven, effective tactics that make the community safer.

• A dog is an individual with its own personality. It should be judged on its temperament and not its appearance.

• Studies of pre and post breed ban dog-bite-rates in the United Kingdom and Spain concluded that their pit bull breed ban had no effect whatsoever on reducing dog bites.

• Italy recently revoked is breed ban stating the ordinance had no scientific justification.

Council Contact Information

• Scott Levenfeld
Councilman
312-441-1950
slevenfeld@earthlink.net

• James Kirsch
Councilman
847-926-8919
hpkirsch@comcast.net

• Michael C. Brenner
Mayor Pro Tem
847-433-1270
mrboating@aol.com

• Steven W. Mandel
Councilman
847-831-0373
stevemandel@comcast.net

• Lawrence D. Silberman
Councilman
312-704-4095
lawrence.silberman@53.com

• Terri R. Olian
Councilwoman
847-432-5662
oliancouncil@hpolian.com

• Michael D. Belsky
Mayor of Highland Park
847-926-1009
Email Mayor Belsky

Additional Information and Resources

• Join the Stop BDL community for more information on how you can help put an end to breed discrimination.
• Learn more about breed bans and dog bite facts at the National Canine Research Council.

Stock photo by Clay Myers, Best Friends Staff
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends Staff

Comments

Posted May 07, 2009, 3:26PM by kwalton

i sent an email to everyone and included a picture of a pit mix i rescued. hopefully they will wise up before the vote!

Posted May 12, 2009, 6:6PM by nicol

Please e-mail all the officials in the above article, and besides stating your opposition to BSL, also urge them to attend the following:

The Illinois State Bar Association is doing a program on “Hot Topics In Animal Law” in Grafton, IL on Friday, June 12th. One of the topics that will be discussed is: “Muzzling Reckless Owners and Neutering Dangerous Dogs”.

http://www.isba.org/lawed/2009/06animalgrafton/

The Highland Park City Council will be meeting on 22nd June to disucss BSL, so this event is timely and exactly the kind of information they need.

Posted May 06, 2009, 8:41PM by bullylove01

done, i made sure to email each and every one of them with plenty of good reasons on why this type of legislation doesn't work. thanks so much for posting this and keep us updated!

Posted May 12, 2009, 6:0PM by nicol

Please, all animal lovers sign the following petition against Denver’s breed ban. Denver has slaughtered thousands of dogs, not because they have done anything wrong, but simply because of the way they look. Armed officers crash into people’s homes and seize the dogs at gunpoint and euthanize them. This senseless massacre of innocent family dogs must be stopped.

Please sign and circulate far and wide:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/spend-no-dollars-in-denver-colorado

Please also see:

http://www.denverkillsdogs.com/

http://www.roverlution.org/