News
Whitehall, Ohio Considers Pit Bull Ordinance
June 10, 2009, 8:39PM MT
By Cheri Moon
Your Action Needed to Prevent Breed Discrimination
Your Action Needed to Prevent Breed Discrimination
Written by Best Friends Staff
To Ohio Residents
Councilwoman Jacquelyn Thompson has once again proposed banning pit bulls in the city of Whitehall, Ohio.
Her proposal garnered little support last year and was ultimately defeated in a 5-2 vote. Regardless of the previous defeat, however, Ohio residents cannot be lackadaisical in their response to the current proposal. BDL is back on the table, and Ohio residents need to respond accordingly.
Please send your POLITE AND RESPECTFUL opposition to the Whitehall city officials listed below.
Request More Useful Legislation
Best Friends opposes canine profiling as it does not reduce dog bite incidents nor effectively manage dangerous dogs. Rather than breed-discriminatory restrictions, Whitehall should mirror good generic dangerous dog/reckless owner laws that have been enacted in Illinois and Minnesota.
Some of these laws include regulations that:
• 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.
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 its breed ban stating the ban had no scientific justification.
• Calgary, Canada has lowest dog bite rates in 25 years, without enacting BDL.
Contact City Council Members Today!
Available contact information listed
• Brent Howard
President of Council
Bhoward@cityofwhitehall.com
• Christopher Rodruguez
At Large; President Pro-Tempore
Crodriguez@cityofwhitehall.com
• Jim Graham
At Large
Jgraham@cityofwhitehall.com
• Jacquelyn K. Thompson
At Large
Jthompson@cityofwhitehall.com
• Robert Bailey
Ward I
Rbailey@cityofwhitehall.com
• Wesley P. Kantor
Ward II
Wkantor@cityofwhitehall.com
• Leo Knoblauch II
Ward III
Lknoblauch@cityofwhitehall.com
• Carol Churchman
Clerk of Council
citycounciloffice@cityofwhitehall.com
• Mayor John A. Wolfe
Phone: 614-338-3106
Fax: 614-338-3119
• Julie Ogg, Secretary to the Mayor
jogg@cityofwhitehall.com
Thank you for taking action for animals!
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.
Photograph by Clay Myers, Best Friends Staff
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends Staff