8 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009
Indianapolis considers requiring pit bulls to be sterilized
INDIANAPOLIS––Indianapolis city/county council
member Mike Speedy on April 24, 2009 introduced an ordi-
nance to make Indianapolis the biggest city in the U.S. to man-
date sterilizing pit bull terriers.
The introduction comes three years after a breed-spe-
cific ordinance proposed by another Indianapolis councillor met
intense opposition. Her ordinance was watered down into a
conventional dangerous dog law, providing penalities of only
$50 for the first violation and $100 for the second, with
impoundment coming only on third offense.
“An Indianapolis Star review of dog bite data for
2008 revealed that pit bull bites soared 33% from the previous
year and were three times higher than in 2006. Pit bulls also
account for more bites and more severe bites than any other
breed,” reported Heather Gillers of the Star.
Speedy took up the issue after constituent Brenda
Hill, 68, was severely mauled in her own yard in January 2009
by two pit bulls who escaped from a neighbor. Though Hill
survived, the attack followed a familiar pattern: an analysis of
88 U.S. pit bull fatalities by DogsBite.org founder Colleen
Lynn, all occurring in 2006-2008, found that pit bulls are four
times more likely to kill a person off the premises where the
dogs live than all other dog breeds combined.
The 2006 political antagonists are again mobilized.
Mauled by a pit bull in 1992, Caress Garten of Indianapolis
wrote a book inspired by her experience, In Defense of
Innocents, and has advocated for dog attack victims ever since.
Opposing breed-specific legislation are––among others––
Humane Society of Indianapolis executive director John
Aleshire and Indy Pit Crew founder Cynthia Morgan.
Speedy perceived, he told ANIMAL PEOPLE, that
“This issue will not be decided by human interests. This issue
will be resolved by concern about the dogs.”
Before introducing his bill, Speedy consulted other
voices within the large and often polarized Indianapolis humane
community. Speedy won the support of Foundation Against
Companion Animal Euthanasia founders Scott and Ellen
Robinson, who are respectively an emergency room physician
and the director of a low-cost dog and cat sterilization clinic
known worldwide for high output and a record-setting low rate
of surgical complication. Speedy also won the backing of
Humane Society of the U.S. regional representative Desiree
Bender, who founded Where Angels Run, a pit bull shelter in
Arkansas. Speedy incorporated their input into his bill, which
he calls the At Risk Dog Proposal.
“The At Risk Dog proposal is designed to protect
people from devastating dog bites and pit bull breeds from
abuse,” said Speedy. “Additionally, it requires more humane
treatment for all dogs, such as prohibiting direct point chain- bulls––sometimes with loopholes based on hair-splitting dis-
ing. It introduces higher fines for violations with unaltered tinctions among pits and closely related breeds.
dogs, and requires that all dogs and cats leaving the Indiana- Where strict pit bull bans have been enforced, for
polis Animal Care & Control shelter be spayed or neutered. example in Denver for all but 15 months of the past 21 years,
“Pit bull advocates have been giving their all for the they have producd markedly lower numbers of pit bull bites,
last 10 years to pit bull specific spay/neuter, adoption, out- fatalities, impoundments, shelter killing, and arrests for dog-
reach and training programs with little progress,” Speedy told fighting. Denver appears to be the only major U.S. city where
an April 24, 2009 press conference held outside Brenda Hill’s pit bulls consistently account for less than 5% or even less than
home. “It is time that we admit, as a community, that they 10% of dog impounds.
need legislative help,” Speedy said. “They are unable to The Cincinnati city council on March 25, 2009 rein-
achieve the needed results solely by voluntary programs. And forced a pit bull ban in effect since November 2003 by provid-
as I have come to learn, pit bull-type dogs deserve laws that ing that anyone convicted of keeping, breeding, selling or
provide them with extra protection.” transferring ownership of a pit bull in any way, except through
The Speedy bill is similar to ordinances recently surrender to an animal shelter, may be sentenced to serve up to
adopted in Omaha, Little Rock, and San Francisco. The six months in jail, twice the previous maximum penalty of 90
Omaha ordinance has only been in effect for six months, but days. “The changes apply to any dog owner not grandfathered
the Little Rock ordinance has cut pit bull bite incidents in half, in when the pit bull ban went into effect in November 2003,”
animal services director Tracy Roark told WTHR Eyewitness wrote Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Jane Prendergast.
News. “There was a day when you could walk down any street Many Ohio cities enacted pit bull bans of varying
in central Little Rock and see several pit bulls chained up. You strength circa 20 years ago, after the state had four fatal pit bull
don’t see that anymore,” Roark said. attacks in 1986-1988. Since then, Ohio has had only two more
The San Francisco ordinance took effect in January dog attack fatalities, both by pit bulls, and one of those, in
2006. “In the two and a half after the law went into effect, 23% 1993, resulted in the dog owner being convicted of murder.
fewer pit bulls were impounded and 33% fewer were eutha- Opponents of breed bans and other breed-specific leg-
nized than in the 2.5 years prior to the law,” San Francisco islation have repeatedly tried to overturn them on constitutional
Department of Animal Care & Control acting director Rebecca grounds. However, the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2008
Katz told ANIMAL PEOPLE. upheld the constitutionality of breed-specific dog regulation by
Nationally, pit bulls have risen from under 1% of the refusing to hear an appeal of a case against the Toledo ordi-
U.S. dog population through the first 85 years of the 20th centu- nance. The Toledo ordinance limits possession of pit bull terri-
ry, and 5% of shelter admissions when the first breed-specific ers to one per person, and requires that pit bulls be muzzled
surveys of shelter dogs were done in the late 1980s, to about when off their home property.
5% of the dogs, 25% of shelter admissions, and 50% of shelter The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of Toledo in
dog killing since 2000. Among the U.S. pit bull population of August 2007. The Ohio Supreme Court verdict followed other
about 3.5 million, about a third per year enter shelters, com- court decisions upholding breed-specific legislation in
pared with about 5% of the dogs of all other breeds combined. Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New
About one million pit bulls per year are killed in shelters. Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Dogfighting has leaped from
near extinction as recently as 1990, with
just a few remaining strongholds reported
Living next door to a pit bull
in the South, to more prominence than at INDIANAPOLIS––An online three basic questions, but membership
any time since the rise of the U.S. poll conducted by WTHR-TV found directory information permitted tracking
humane movement in the mid-19th centu- 69% community support for council many biographical variables.
ry. And pit bulls have accounted for half member Mike Speedy’s proposed At Except for having more formal
or more of all fatal and disfiguring dog Risk Dogs ordinance, against 26% education than most Americans, the
attacks in at least 27 consecutive years. opposition and 5% undecided. respondents in composite mirrored U.S.
Older legislation seeking to cur- The ordinance would require demographic norms, including in urban/
tail the problems associated with pit bulls sterilizing pit bull terriers. rural balance, geographic distribution,
has typically just banned keeping pit “1,988 people participated. income range, and response from visible
With all of the critical comments on the minorities. More men responded than
stories from pit bull fans, I’m surprised women, reflective of the membership of
so many voted in favor. Keep in mind the societies, so proportional weighting
our poll is not scientific, meaning it was used to achieve gender balance.
would be easy to skew with coordinated 68%, including 71% of the
effort,” said Sara Galer of WTHR. men and 62% of the women, agreed that
ANIMAL PEOPLE findings they would prefer not to live next door to
suggest that the WTHR results are actu- a pit bull. 28%––29% of the men but
ally close to residual public opinion only 21% of the women––did not object
nationwide, and are unique chiefly in to living next door to a pit bull.
attracting enough input to overcome Four percent of the respon-
attempts to skew it. dents had a pit bull, about equal to the
Uncontrolled online surveys rate of keeping pit bulls in the general
similar to the WTHR poll often follow population. 76% of respondents had
local reportage of dog attack fatalities pets, far above the U.S. norm of 57%;
and disfigurements, about 75% of which 24% had children, all of whom also had
are inflicted by pit bulls and Rottweilers. pets; 24% had neither pets nor children.
Monitoring such surveys, ANIMAL No men were undecided about
PEOPLE has observed that the initial living next to a pit bull, but 18% of the
response usually skews heavily in favor women were undecided, all of whom
of breed-specific legislation, but after had pets but no children living at home.
the first few dozen votes are recorded, Among all respondents with
input tips abruptly the other way–– pets, 69% would prefer not to live next
unless the poll is quickly closed. door to a pit bull. Among all respon-
Organized response tends to come dents with children at home, 80% would
chiefly from opponents of breed-specific prefer not to live next door to a pit bull.
legislation, but dog attack victims and Among all respondents who had ever
their families sometimes try to rally had children, 86% would prefer not to
counter-response. live next door to a pit bull.
ANIMAL PEOPLE won-
dered if the usual early poll tilt in favor
of breed-specific legislation reflected
residual opinion, likely to be found in
any survey at any time, or just reaction
to local incidents. Finding a definitive
answer might require polling thousands.
But a tightly controlled small survey of
people from places where there have not
been recent pit bull attacks or legislative
debate might provide clues.
ANIMAL PEOPLE surveyed
several dozen volunteers from among
the membership of two professional
societies having no direct involvement
with animal issues. The volunteers were
not told in advance what they would be
asked about. They were asked only
CATHOLIC CONCERN
FOR ANIMALS
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www.catholic-animals.org
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