Any justice for Diane Whipple?

You should remember Diane Whipple of San Francisco, who was killed in 2001 by two Presa Canarios. The California Supreme Court has made a ruling that a dog owner who knows the animal is a potential killer and exposes other people to the danger may be guilty of murder for fatal attack. Read about it here.
I would be delighted if they reinstate the murder charge against Marjorie Knoller, and even more delighted by a conviction. I'd like to see the prosecutors extend the charge to her husband.
This is what responsible dog owners have been saying all along...charge the owner. Enforcement is key to preventing dog bites and attacks. If these people had been charged for previous aggressive behaviour by the dogs (30! incidents), Diane Whipple might still be alive.

Proposed Ontario anti-cruelty legislation?

UPDATE: Check out the concerns expressed on chicobandido. Some very valid points raised.

Bill 232 is an Ontario bill proposed to amend the OSPCA Act to provide provincial regulation respecting animal care.

Toronto Humane is promoting it, you can read the THS webpage here.

The Ontario Legislature is open only until June 7th, so anyone supporting this proposed legislation sould call or write the Premier and their MPP now. Like today.

I have some questions about this Bill which I've sent to Robert Runciman (the Bill's presenter), I'll let you, my gentle readers, know if I receive a response.

Vancouver Sun obviously doesn't like dissent

UPDATE: VanSun published some letters today, a week after the piece. How slowly does its staff read?

The Vancouver Sun has published only one letter rebutting its asinine op-ed piece of May 29th, when I know of dozens that were written. Well, I'm publishing my own letter, hehehe.

The writer had some good points but completely loses them (and me) with her abuse of statistics, regurgitation of media hysteria, and unfounded pronouncements based on her personal biases.

Ms. Baker's suggestion that "People need to fight back" may result in a fat lawsuit against her and the Vancouver Sun if anyone is injured while responsibly walking their dog.

The Ontario resident giving advice to carry a big stick was probably a "pit bull" owner, since "pit bull" owners and their unoffending dogs have been harassed and assaulted since the Ontario Liberal government started its hysterical and inaccurate campaign against a shape of dog.

Ms. Baker ignores the fact that the Ontario breed-specific legislation makes responsible dog owners into second-class citizens, and has killed unoffending dogs. Ontario's breed-specific legislation has been challenged in court, and as I understand it (I'm not a lawyer) the judge hearing the legal challenge threw out several major points of the law.

Ms. Baker also ignores the fact that Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, the architect of Ontario's breed ban, was unable to identify the American Pit Bull Terrier in a series of pictures of purebred dogs. Let's have Ms. Baker do a "find the pit bull" test.

Ms. Baker does not serve her readers well when she fails to identify the source of her statistics; her source and motive are therefore questionable. If she has taken numbers out of context from the study conducted by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, she should know that the Center has repudiated any use of its statistics for breed identification purposes and clearly stated that breed identification is the great confounder in dog bite and attack incidents.

Ban irresponsible owners, not the shape of a dog. And ban writers who don't properly research their subject matter.

Schwarzenegger terminating pet ownership in CA?

Lots of press about California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger visiting Canada. But no press on California's Bill AB1634 which threatens to wipe out domestic dogs and cats and eliminate pet ownership in California. Will Arnie use his veto to stop this sun-fried-brain piece of legislation?

Read why this Bill must be stopped.

Read the Bill itself in HTML format here.

Vancouver - Time to call your lawyer

This very poor editorial in the Vancouver Sun contains (along with one or two good points and a lot of abuse of statistics, regurgitation of media hysteria, and unfounded pronouncements based on the writer's personal biases) what I interpret as a suggestion that people physically attack dog owners.

I suggest that any person who is injured in a moronic vigilante attack while responsibly walking their dog, sue Marilyn Baker and the Vancouver Sun for promoting violence against dog owners.
Pass the word in Van.

And call your lawyer now.

Mandatory spay/neuter is not the answer

Huzzah! A well-researched and thoughtful response on why/how mandatory spay/neuter is not the answer some animal rights activists claim it to be. Read all about it.

Welcome to the Coliseum

Every time I read about or hear of animal cruelty, I think of the Roman Coliseum where animals were destroyed, possibly entire species exterminated, for the entertainment of the idiot masses.
Stories like this ESPN one on Michael Vick make me think that humans haven't progressed that far from running naked and catching our food with our hands. We're still barbaric at the core. Read it here.
As supposedly intelligent beings, we should progress beyond using animals fighting to the death for "entertainment".
Some people are low lifes and always will be, though. It's all about the great god money and the small minds of the men involved...and 99.9% of the involvement is male. If it were up to me, these morons would be neutered, then thrown into a pit to fight to the death. No loss. They add nothing to the global gene pool nor the world.

Vis-a-vis useless legislation....

Nice piece by Lorne Gunter in the National Post May 28th.