ontario liberals should stop animal

Ontario Liberals should stop animal cruelty...not practice it

Ontario Liberals should stop animal cruelty...not practice it

As a pit bull owner, this legislation hits close to home for me. My

animal is required to be muzzled in public and is subject to all the

new laws and regulations despite showing absolutely no violent signs

since we adopted her from the humane society 8 years ago. The case

below, is the first court challenge to the new law passed by the

Ontario Liberals. It is a shame that after 100 years of failing to

address the animal cruelty laws in the province, Dalton McGuinty and

Michael Bryant have instead decided to practice animal cruelty

themselves by executing an innocent animal. After the Michael Vick

case in the United States, it should be obvious that Pit bulls tend to

be aggressive only when subject to an environment of dog fighting

(where laws really should be a lot tougher) or an owner who is

abusive. This law that punishes a specific breed is ridiculous.

Hopefully this case brings enough political outrage to change the laws

on both pit bulls and animal cruelty so that they are consistent with

common sense.

Thanks for reading...

Darryl

Owner fighting to save puppy

When did the amended Dog Owners' Liability Act take effect?

Aug. 29, 2005.

Which breeds are banned?

Pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire

terriers, American pit bull terriers and any other dog with traits

"substantially similar" to those breeds.

What are the terms of the ban?

The legislation prohibits the ownership, transfer, import, breeding

and abandonment of pit bulls.

Dogs that belonged to an Ontario resident when the ban took effect, or

were born within 90 days after the ban, are allowed but must be spayed

or neutered and muzzled in public. ("Public" includes everything but

the owner's property.) The muzzle must be strong enough to prevent the

dog from biting through but can't hinder the dog's ability to breathe,

see, pant or drink.

The dogs may not be trained to fight and must be kept on a leash

shorter than 1.8 meters.

What happens if you break the law?

The dog will be confiscated and euthanized.

The owner could face: up to six months in jail; a maximum fine of

$10,000 ($60,000 for corporations); a court order to compensate a

victim.

Rambo is the focus of court challenge of Ontario's pit bull ban

Jan 24, 2008 04:30 AM

Paola Loriggio

Staff Reporter

A pit bull puppy in Mississauga has won a five-week stay of execution,

while his owner contests the charges, in one of the first challenges

to Ontario's ban on the breed.

The 10-month-old dog, named Rambo, was caught by animal control

officers on Christmas Day after he ran away from the back yard of his

owner, Gabriela Nowakowska.

The puppy was born after a provincewide ban on new pit bulls took

effect Aug. 29, 2005. By law, the city must put the dog down.

Nowakowska, 20, was charged last week with ownership of a prohibited

animal. She has been raising money for a lawyer and is scheduled to

appear in provincial court Feb. 29, where, to save her dog, she will

have to prove he isn't a pit bull.

"This is the first time someone decided to stand up and fight for

their dog," said Dulio Rose, manager of animal services. "Normally,

they just abandon them. We've had owners actually drop the leash and

run."

Rambo's case has revived public debate over the legislation.

"The law is an ass," said Councillor Carolyn Parrish (Ward 6), who

plans to help Nowakowska cover the legal fees. "I always said we

should prosecute the owners (of dangerous dogs), not the breed."

According to the Dog Owners' Liability Act, pit bulls born more than

90 days after the ban took effect must be put down.

Last year, after a constitutional challenge by a Toronto woman whose

own dog was exempt, the Ontario Superior Court upheld the law but

tightened the list of affected breeds. Last week, Parrish and fellow

Councillor Pat Saito rallied to save Rambo and urged city staff to

send the dog to a home outside the province, where he would escape the

ban - and a death sentence.

The Toronto Humane Society also offered to relocate the dog but was

turned down, said spokesperson Lee Oliver.

The dog can't leave city of Mississauga custody now that charges have

been laid against Nowakowska, explained Elaine Buckstein, director of

bylaw enforcement. Dog activist Julie King said she has been getting

emails from community members concerned about Rambo and Nowakowska.

"It's so sad that a simple thing like your dog escaping can mean your

dog is killed," said King, spokesperson for the Staffordshire Bull

Terrier Club of Canada, part of a coalition that protested the ban.

"It's incredibly heartbreaking for the people forced to live with the

consequences of a bad law."

Animal control officials said Rambo's plight weighs heavily on

everyone's mind, and they hope for a happy resolution.

"If (Nowakowska) wins, great," said Rose. "I didn't want this law.

None of us did."

************

Rambo has friends in high places

[d5802a6b437e875030552e490b44.jpeg]

Staff photo by Rob Beintema

City councillors Pat Saito and Carolyn Parrish want to ship

10-month-old pit bull cross Rambo out of the province to a responsible

rescue organization.

By: John Stewart

January 18, 2008 11:47 AM - Mississauga politicians are asking City

staff to explore options that would allow Rambo, a pit bull

cross-breed puppy scheduled for euthanasia, to be shipped out of

Ontario to a reputable rescue organization.

In separate interviews yesterday, Ward 9 City councillor Pat Saito and

Ward 6 councillor Carolyn Parrish strongly criticized the provincial

legislation aimed at eliminating new pit bulls from being owned in

Ontario and said they're working with animal control staff to see if

there are alternatives to killing the young dog.

"We're going to see if we can get the dog neutered and approve a

24-hour exemption for him to be shipped out of the province," Parrish

said.

That would require his owner, Gabriela Nowakowska, 20, to sign over

ownership of the dog to the City, to allow the special bylaw for this

one dog to be passed.

Since the dog is still owned by Nowakowska and is a prohibited animal

under the legislation, City staff say they do not have the option now

of sending the dog to a responsible rescue organization in a

jurisdiction where pit bulls are allowed.

Rambo, believed to be about 10 months old, was caught on Christmas Day

by animal control officers. The dog had escaped from his owner's back

yard.

"I'm told he's really a sweet dog and everyone at animal control plays

with him. He's just a darling," said Parrish, who owns a bulldog named

Lady Charlotte.

It is "perverse" to pass a law that bans animals based on the fact

they look like a pit bull, said Parrish.

"There has got to be a humane set of rules put in place when the law

is an ass," she added.

"Mr. (Michael) Bryant (who guided the legislation through Queen's

Park) should have to put on gloves and come out here and use the

hypodermic," to put the dog down, Parrish, a former MP, said.

Saito called the pit bull law, "terrible legislation that is poorly

written and poorly worded."

Bans based on breeds do not work, she said.

"It should be based on temperament and the threat of the individual

dog."

It's unacceptable that there are so few options for Rambo, whom the

councillor said is very friendly.

"We should have more options than just to put the dog down," she said.

If the owner goes to court to fight, as planned, the dog will have to

remain in a cage at animal control for months.

"I have a 10-month-old puppy at home and I know if she was put in that

situation, she would just cry and cry," Saito said.

The City must be careful how it deals with the situation, warned

Saito, because it doesn't want to create precedent for other dogs who

could pose a public danger.

"The Province has given municipalities a terrible job to do," in

interpreting and applying the legislation, Saito said.

Nowakowksa said she has almost raised the $500 she needs to meet with

Toronto lawyer Anik Morrow to fight to have Rambo returned. The lawyer

has indicated that Rambo could be "bailed out" until the trial,

although that would seem to fly in the face of the legislation, which

requires municipalities to seize and hold prohibited dogs.

Nowakowksa said her first option is to have Rambo back as a pet. If

the courts rule that he is a pit bull and subject to the legislation,

only then would she consider having him given to a rescue operation,

she said.

She acknowledged that holding the dog in a cage for several months

pending a trial would be hard on him.

City Hall and The News have been flooded with e-mails about the issue

since it came to public attention. Several animal welfare groups

opposed to the pit bull law see the case as a classic example of the

flaws of Bill 132 and are renewing their battle against the

legislation.

jstewart@mississauga.net

************

Detained dog flourishing on death row

Paola Loriggio

Staff Reporter

Rambo, meet Bandit - all the proof you'll ever need that life on

Ontario's death row for doggies isn't, well, a terminal experience.

Rambo, a pit bull puppy hauled into court recently for the simple

crime of being young, now faces death by euthanasia.

But Bandit's been under a death sentence since 2004, when a judge

ordered the pit bull-Labrador cross to be put down for a vicious

attack on a 3-year-old a year earlier.

Today Bandit is doing just fine, say his supporters at the Toronto

Humane Society, which has custody while the appeals work their way

through court.

Bandit's attack on the boy should be blamed on a puppy's lack of

training and boundaries, humane society workers say. With training,

they note, Bandit has turned into a friendly, well-adjusted dog.

"Everybody here likes him," said society president Tim Trow.

Rambo doesn't even have a bite on his rap sheet. The worst thing about

him is his birthday. The 10-month-old puppy was born well after a

province-wide ban on new pit bulls took effect Aug. 29, 2005.

Picked up by Mississauga animal control officers last Christmas Day

after he ran away from the back yard of his owner, Gabriela

Nowakowska, Rambo is in custody while she challenges Ontario's ban.

But there is life after a death sentence - and a rather pleasant one

at that, if Bandit's life at the humane society is any indication.

While the society appeals Bandit's death sentence, the 4-year-old dog

remains in limbo, just one of the many long-term lodgers at the

Toronto shelter.

The year after Bandit bit Daniel Collins - it took more than 200

stitches to close the wound - Ontario passed an amendment saying pit

bulls born more than 90 days after the ban took effect must be put

down. Existing pit bulls are allowed as long as they are sterilized

and wear a muzzle in public.

While awaiting his day in court, Bandit follows a schedule of walks

and naps, and sometimes he gets to go along with Trow to meetings as

proof of the pup's docility. The society prides itself on

rehabilitating dogs others consider aggressive.

"We work with them, we care for them, we love them," Trow said, noting

the shelter's nearly nonexistent euthanasia rate.