According to economists, Price George’s County is spending an estimated $1,137,720 annually to enforce the Pit Bull Ban. University of MD Students and animal rights activists are organizing a petition against such a waste.
At the end of March, Terps for Animal Welfare, a student organization at the University of Maryland, hosted Best Friends Animal Society staff on campus, where many were surprised to learn that their county was infamous for its long history of breed discrimination.
Aman Chopra, treasurer of Terps for Animal Welfare, said the group hosted the event to inform students about the need to repeal the county’s pit bull ban. “The law has a lot of negative effects and not a lot of people know about it,” he said.
The group has so far collected 1157 signatures; a number of county council members have also signed.
Matt
I agree that it is unfair to target whole breeds of dogs for this ban, but like many laws that don’t seem to make sense, there is some history to this. Several years ago, there was an outbreak of dog attacks by pit bulls in this county. Some widely-reported cases involved attacks on children, and there were also incidents of dogs attacking their owners, mail carriers, and family pets.
The problem wasn’t the dogs themselves, of course; it was the aggressive training that many owners here were giving them. Dogs were trained for either personal protection, or in some cases, dog-fighting rings. What happened in this county, was like an arms-race. The population of these dogs exploded, and a whole culture sprung up around them. It was basically a competition to see who could produce the most aggressive animal, and as a result, everyone lost.
I know the law seems unfair, but it was not without a reason. It was a public-safety and animal-welfare measure. It might seem to be a poor solution, to some, but it has been effective, and I’ll continue supporting the ban, because it HAS worked. I doubt that many people who remember the original problem would support repealing this law.