{"id":744,"date":"2018-05-28T13:10:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-28T20:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=66357"},"modified":"2018-05-28T13:10:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T20:10:19","slug":"pit-bull-maneuver-lt-gov-newsom-apparently-pivots-on-breed-specific-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/pit-bull-maneuver-lt-gov-newsom-apparently-pivots-on-breed-specific-stance","title":{"rendered":"Pit Bull Maneuver: Lt. Gov. Newsom Apparently Pivots on Breed-Specific Stance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo by Celiaphoto.<\/em><\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, some rescue friends pointed out to me a Facebook page called Pit Bulls Against Gavin Newsom<\/a>. The page takes a stand on an effort that Newsom made in 2005 to enact a pit-bull ban throughout the state, and concern has sparked among pet advocates that Newsom\u2019s ahead in the polls and will try to revive a pit-bull ban effort if elected governor.<\/p>\n

A couple of points before continuing: I\u2019m neither defending nor denouncing Newsom as a candidate, I don\u2019t support breed- or type-specific legislation in any form. When I choose a candidate, it\u2019ll be who\u2019s going to be the best for our state and who\u2019ll get in my stuff in the least way. Hopefully, everyone will vote that way.<\/em><\/p>\n

In summary, two dogs identified as pit bulls\u2014a male and a female\u2014attacked and killed Nicholas Faibish, a 12-year-old family member. Neither dog had been fixed.<\/p>\n

The female, Ella, was shot and killed by a police officer, and Rex, the male, was taken by Animal Control where he was likely euthanized. Young Nicholas\u2019s mother, Maureen Faibish, was met with a barrage of fury that a parent would leave her son at home in a situation that she knew to be dangerous (according to an SFGate<\/em> article<\/a>, Maureen knew that Ella was in heat and had confined Nicholas to the basement); in turn, Maureen lambasted people, including then-mayor Gavin Newsom, who would question the loving personalities of pit bulls, hers in particular.<\/p>\n

Maureen was later tried for felony child endangerment but was acquitted. But the jury was out on Newsom regarding the guilt of pit bulls in general. In the light of the attack, Newsom asked Jackie Speier, who was a state senator at the time, to work on modification of state law, which prohibited banning dogs solely on basis of breed or type.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether Newsom\u2019s initial ban would have included all pit-bull types or aggressive dogs in particular. Peter Ragone, Newsom\u2019s press secretary, was quoted as saying that state law prevents an actual ban on a breed<\/a>, but something was surely on the mayor\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like pit bulls, but there’s a reason we don’t have polar bears or mountain lions in the city,\u201d he was quoted as saying in a CBS News article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Actually, we have had mountain lions in cities upon occasion and it may not be too long before the polar bears arrive. And we\u2019ve had coyotes for ages, too. But this is comparing affenpinschers and orangutans. And owners of dogs that could be considered pit bulls and pit-bull mixes and animal advocates, among them the administrators and members of Pit Bulls Against Gavin Newsom, pressured the legislature to not ban pit bulls or have breed-specific measures at all.<\/p>\n

The resulting bill, SB 861<\/a>, was amended several times and signed in its final form by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2005.<\/p>\n

Don’t Blame It on the Dog This Time<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf pit bulls are trained appropriately and are nice dogs, we love them,\u201d Long Beach resident Wendy Dow said. \u201cBut there are some people that unfortunately train them in a way to be a little bit more aggressive, and so we shouldn\u2019t take it out on the dogs. They shouldn\u2019t be out in a way that will hurt someone, but we don\u2019t think you should euthanize them all!\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the bill calls for allowing cities and counties to provide breed-specific mandatory spay\/neuter for potentially dangerous dogs but does not allow any breed or type to be labeled vicious. Backyard breeding is prohibited, and the responsibility and blame for unregistered dogs and damage caused by attacks will be placed squarely where it belongs\u2014on the owners, as Dow intimated.<\/p>\n

Spaying and neutering is a good idea across the board. Unwanted pets are what fill shelters, and the procedures help to manage aggressive temperament\u2014no females in heat, no swains at the ready, threatening to tear to pieces whatever gets in the way, including you. An extensive, thorough study on dog bites conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association<\/a> (AVMA)\u00a0stated that 80 percent of dogs presented to veterinary behaviorists for aggression issues were intact males and 70 percent to 76 percent of dog-bite incidents were from intact males. An impressively comprehensive article by ABC News\u2019 Dean Schabner (\u201cIs Breed to Blame in Fatal Dog Attack?\u201d<\/a>\u00a0June 7, 2005) quoted ASPCA\u00a0<\/a>attorney Ledy VanKavage as giving 95 percent of attacks coming from dogs\u2014and she specified dogs <\/em>and not pit bulls\u2014that hadn\u2019t been spayed or neutered, with 70 percent of the attacks coming from intact males.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislators should look at the statistics and enact legislation to protect people from vicious dogs of any breed, whether it be Pomeranian or Rottweiler,\u201d VanKavage stated in the article.<\/p>\n

Any Dog\u2014or Cat\u2014Can Bite<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In 2007, Long Beach Animal Care Services<\/a> (ACS) reported 364 bites from dogs, with 138 altered, 178 unaltered and 48 unknown. The most bites came from German shepherds (34), Labrador retrievers (15) and pit bulls (127). Yes, the pitties totaled the most bites. But check out the cat bites: there were 57 of them, 16 altered, 30 unaltered and 11 unknown. Cats, too, were broken down by ACS by perceived breed or type: a smattering of domestic longhair and medium hair, Himalayan and Siamese all helped themselves to ankle and hand flesh. Bites from domestic shorthairs totaled 50. I\u2019m a cat person, and I\u2019ve had many of them, almost all of them sweet. I also have a supply of mercurochrome because I\u2019ve been scratched by one pet medium-hair and one rescued beautiful white longhair who hadn\u2019t been neutered and came at me like a banshee. Domestic-shorthair cats aren\u2019t more likely to attack than any other type\u2014they\u2019re simply a lot more common. So it is with pit bulls. Along with Chihuahuas, pit bulls and bully mixes fill the shelters because of overbreeding and popularity among people who keep them for protection and breed them for profit. These owners are also less likely to comply with licensing laws.<\/p>\n

Chihuahuas bite as well\u2014there were 27 of them counted, but there could have been more that weren\u2019t reported. Smaller dogs in general don\u2019t cause the damage that larger, stronger dogs like pit bulls do, although there have been cases of smaller dogs maiming or killing human beings. An Oklahoma woman was recently killed by a pack of six dogs<\/a>\u2014small terrier-dachshund mixes and a border collie\u2014that belonged to her neighbor. But it\u2019s not likely that dachshund mixes will be banned as breeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cOwners of pit bull-type dogs deal with a strong breed stigma; however, controlled studies have not identified this breed group as disproportionately dangerous,\u201d the AVMA\u2019s report reads. \u201cThe pit bull type is particularly ambiguous as a \u2018breed,\u2019 encompassing a range of pedigree breeds, informal types and appearances that cannot be reliably identified. Visual determination of dog breed is known to not always be reliable, and witnesses may be predisposed to assume that a vicious dog is of this type.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image from Pit Bulls Against Gavin Newsom.<\/em><\/p>\n

Public perception of pit bulls and some language in SB 861 that seems to indicate that certain breeds produce aggressive dogs are what\u2019s troubling Dawn Capp, an employment lawyer and one of the administrators of Pit Bulls Against Gavin Newsom. She\u2019s troubled that if elected, Newsom may enact a ban on pit bulls such as Denver has,<\/a> which would prohibit the ownership of any pit bull within the city and allow the confiscation of dogs that are perceived to be pit bulls.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has a deal-breaker issue, and for me, it\u2019s breed-specific stuff,\u201d she said. \u201cIf Newsom\u2019s elected governor, we\u2019re one headline away from making tougher restrictions on pit bulls and mixes. After Nicholas Faibish died, he commissioned a task force. He cited a lot of best practices, and these were all-out breed bans. He talked about selective enforcements of existing laws only against pit bulls\u2014they wouldn\u2019t be allowed to run off leash and so on. It was selective enforcing, like racial profiling. I think it is likely that, given how strongly he held that position that, should he see an opportunity or an excuse, we can find ourselves dealing with such an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capp said that the vocal opposition by advocates led to the amendment of the bill to spaying and neutering of dogs seen as dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could have done spay-and-neuter at any time by not targeting the pit bulls,\u201d Capp said. \u201cWhat that boils down to is a lot of good dogs who\u2019ve done nothing are losing their lives, and this causes a lot of heartbreak for their owners. What makes pit bulls statistically more aggressive is that some of the owners are not the most responsible people. It\u2019s an image thing to have a pit bull [in some communities], and that\u2019s the reason those particular dogs are a problem: the owners are problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capp said that she\u2019d have thrown the book at Maureen Faibish and anyone who owned a dangerous pet and didn\u2019t take the responsibility seriously enough to prevent it from harming anyone.<\/p>\n

Watchdog Group at the Ready<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thirteen years after the tragic attack and the passing of SB 861, pet advocates are still concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat concerns me are similar laws that have led to people’s dogs being confiscated if they even looked like a pit bull, at least so I read,\u201d pet volunteer Melanie Lakey said. \u201cI want Newsom to give his current stance on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recently has. Gavin Newsom\u2019s attitude may have evolved toward differentiating between pit bulls and dangerous dogs and wanting to extend the spay\/neuter mandate to all cats and dogs to prevent unwanted pets. An inquiry to his office specifically asking these questions prompted this response from Rhys Williams, his spokesman:<\/p>\n

Lt. Governor Newsom believes that dog-breed-specific laws are ineffective at enhancing public safety and jeopardize the welfare of dogs identified as belonging to specific breeds.\u00a0Concern for the welfare of animals is in Lt. Governor Newsom’s\u00a0DNA. His father\u00a0served as president of the Mountain Lion Foundation, which spearheaded the campaign that ended sport hunting of mountain lions. Lt. Governor Newsom\u00a0has also supported the phase-out of toxic lead hunting ammunition, the ban harassing bears and bobcats with dogs, the end of cruel bull hooks used with elephants in entertainment, the prohibition of trade in shark fins, elephant tusks, and rhinoceros horns, and ending the extreme confinement of egg-laying hens, veal calves and breeding pigs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A request for further clarification went unanswered. The prepackaged response may be a feeling from his office that small media outlets and pet columnists merit no more than a kibble toss, but the first sentence at least indicates that Newsom has indeed become educated on the difference between dangerous animals and breeds and types that have gotten a bad rap, and he doesn\u2019t feel the need to speak further on it. I can say with absolute certainty that Capp and the rest of the advocacy community had more than a paw in this. That’s what they exist for. I do know that I missed an excellent opportunity to ask him in person when he was in Long Beach last weekend and I was not. But Capp and a lot of other people are as focused on Newsom\u2019s first statement as a puppy on your sandwich. Whoever\u2019s elected, they will be on the alert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to keep a very close eye and ramp up our advocacy efforts so we don\u2019t end up like Denver, where we have to fight for our dogs\u2019 very existence,\u201d Capp said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cBlame It on the Dog.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

~ Popular saying bandied around for decades; also the title of a hilarious but enlightening book by Jim Dawson, whose subject has little to do with canines<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor’s note:<\/strong> a previous version of this story stated that the final form of SB 861 was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2005. It was, in fact, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems Newsom has indeed become educated on the difference between dangerous animals and breeds and types that have gotten a bad rap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":65925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[68],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets","tag-the-scratching-post","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}