Update Jan. 31, 2012: The Florida House of Representatives Agriculture and Natural Resources subcommittee has now approved the House version of the bill that would end Miami-Dade County pit bull ban! The bill, H.B. 997, now goes to the Community and Military Affairs Subcommittee. For more on this bill including the Senate version, S.B. 1322, which passed its first committee yesterday, and how you can help pass it, read Animal Law Coalition's reports below.

Update Jan. 30, 2012: The Florida Senate Community Affairs Committee has approved S.B. 1322, the senate version of a bill that would end the Miami-Dade County pit bull ban. The bill must pass 2 other senate committees before it is taken up by the full Florida Senate. The Governmental Oversight and Accountability (GO) and Budget (BC) committees must approve the measure. The House of Representatives version, H.B. 997 is set to be heard by the House Agriculture and Natural Resources subcommittee tomorrow, Jan. 31, 2012 at 3:30 p.m.

Continue to contact your Florida state senator in support of S.B. 1322 and also your Florida state representative in support of the House of Representatives version, H.B. 997. 

For more on the bill and how you can contact your state rep and senator, read Animal Law Coalition's report below.

Original report: A bill has been proposed that could end Miami-Dade County's long time ban on pit bull dogs. Or dogs that animal control say are pit bulls.

It's a simple fix to a Florida law:  Section 767.14 prohibits breed discrimination in Florida except where there was a breed discriminatory ordinance in place prior to October 1, 1990. Of course, the only place that applies to is Miami-Dade which has banned pit bulls since 1989.

By simply amending Section 767.14 to eliminate the clause grandfathering in breed discriminatory ordinances in effect prior to October 1, 1990, the state could effectively bring an end to Miami-Dade's pit bull ban that has resulted in the death of thousands of family pets.

The bill, H.B. 997, was introduced in the state House of Representatives by Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Miami-Dade County Republican. The Senate version, S.B. 1322, has been introduced by state Sen. Jim Norman.

Go here to find your Florida state representative and here to find your state senator. Let Rep. Trujillo and Sen. Norman know you support this legislation: carlos.trujillo@myfloridahouse.gov and norman.jim.web@flsenate.gov  

A number of states prohibit breed discrimination: States that prohibit breed discriminatory laws

There is not one major animal or health organization including the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control, among many others, that supports breed discrimination.

Breed specific legislation does not work to make communities safe. Study after study has proven this. Dogs don't bite because of breed or appearance; they bite out of fear that could have been the result of poor socialization, neglect, abuse, tethering or confinement or isolation.  In other words, it is the owner's negligent or criminal actions that are responsible, not the dog's breed or appearance.

BSL penalizes responsible dog owners and means the death of dogs that are not in any way dangerous.

It is also well-established that people cannot look at a dog and determine its breed. Recently, in Denver Dr. Victoria Voith did a little test on animal shelter directors, dog trainers and others who work with dogs. 

They were asked to view 20 dogs on a videotape and identify each one by breed including whether the dog was a purebred or a mix. The professionals were surprised by how few dogs they identified correctly by breed. Voith believes as many as 75% of the pit bull identifications made by shelter workers, animal control or law enforcement are wrong. She is the author of Shelter Medicine: A Comparison of Visual and DNA Identifications of BREEDS of Dogs. As DNA testing becomes more reliable, it is proving that many of the dogs identified as pit bull are actually a mix of dozens of breeds with little or none of the DNA of pit bull type dogs. 

That means a lot of dogs condemned by BSL are not even "pit bull" breeds. 

BSL is a very costly negative for a community and state and will create a climate where dogs are viewed as enemies rather than family members requiring proper care, management and love. Go here for ways to improve relations in the community with dogs and also how to address the reasons dogs bite and keep communities safe. 

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Sec. 767.14. Nothing
in this act shall limit any local government from placing further
restrictions or additional requirements on owners of dangerous dogs or
developing procedures and criteria for the implementation of this act,
provided that no such regulation is specific to breed and that the
provisions of this act are not lessened by such additional regulations
or requirements. This section shall not apply to any local ordinance
adopted prior to October 1, 1990.