Abstract
When the words “Pit Bull” come to the front of your mind, what is the first feeling you get? Is it hatred, fear, anger and vicious or is it kindness, loyalty, fun and gentle; whether it be for the good or for the evil, we all can agree that when the word “Pit Bull” comes up there is a feeling we all get inside. The feeling I get inside is disgust, this stems from an attack on my daughter that sent our world into a tailspin. This vicious attack could have been prevented if there was a ban on these breeds of dogs, statistics shown across the world have favored banning pit bull breeds, not only because of the aggressiveness but also because of their killer instinct that was bred into …show more content…
We were attending our next-door neighbors BBQ, that we had never met, and the family had just recently moved in and we were invited to a house warming party. As my daughter went to get a drink in the back yard, a pit bull, which was on a leash, jumped at her, knocking her down. The dog bit and mangled her hand before letting go. This attack has had an enormous effect on her and my family. Our daughter was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital where the ER doctor evaluated her. He immediately called in the hand surgeon due to the severity of the wound. The hand specialist took Ashlyn into surgery immediately to clean and to stitch up the wound. A second surgery occurred a week later. It consisted of re-opening the wound, cutting an additional one-inch down the length of her pinkie finger, locating the severed nerve and re-attaching it using a nerve …show more content…
I would like to see breed bans taking effect in more cities across the U.S. Over 600 U.S. cities have adopted breed-specific laws since the mid -1980s, just after pit bulls (fighting dogs) began leaking into the general population (Vegas, Calhoun, Mader, 1988). Denver is one of those cities, in 2004, the Colorado State legislature passed a statue increasing the penalties and liability for dog attacks and prohibiting any legislation based on breed. This law effectively repealed all pit bull breed bans in Colorado. However, the city and county of Denver contested the law, claiming they were a “home rule” city and the state legislature could not dictate local ordinances such as dog breed bans. They were successful at the district court level and their pit bull breed ban was reinstated. There are appeals in process contesting this ruling, but at this time, breed ban legislation is legal in Colorado for cities that have home rule charters. Unfortunately, during the time this issue was being resolved, there were several highly publicized pit bull attacks and several other Colorado cities moved forward with pit bull legislation of their own. (“Animal Rescue of the Rockies,”