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Aug 2
New Insurance Law Euthanizes Pit Bulls In Arkansas
If you own a pit bull I do not recommend you move to Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  The city passed an ordinance requiring pit bull owners to purchase $100,000 insurance policies to cover dog attacks.  Since the ordinance went into effect 85 pit bulls have been euthanized according to an article on news-leader.com

A broker with Best Quote Insurance Agency in Pine Bluff, Mike Waymack, said, “There’s grown men calling me, crying, saying ‘They’re about to kill my dog if I don’t find insurance.”  The cost to insure a pit bull in Pine Bluff according to Waymack is about $500 or more annually.

The ordinance also requires pit bull owners to “register their dogs with the city and have the animals sprayed or neutered and marked with a tattoo ID” and “No one younger than 21 can handle a pit bull in public, and the animals cannot be chained in back yards.”


If a pit bull owner decides to defy this ordinance they can be fined and/or their dog can be euthanized.  This is really a tough law for pit bull owners especially those owners with dogs that are not vicious and have never attacked anyone.  While it does hurt the pocketbook a little it could help prevent potential future attacks. 

Do you agree with this ordinance?
 

15 Comments/Trackbacks




I think this is crazy! There is no sense in the owner to have to put insurance or spayed or neuter their pet because of the breed. Someone needs to do more research on the most biting dog because it is not the pitbull. That is a fact.

This is crazy!!

I have a pit bull and it is the best dog I've ever had!! He loves children and everyone else he comes in contact with. It depends on how the pit bull is raised, they are not born man-eaters, they are made that way usually on purpose.

I completely agree with what all three of you have said. Pit bulls are not inherently bad dogs nor are they more predisposed to being aggressive or violent. If a pit bull or any other dog is aggressive chances are that dog was raised to be aggressive or treated violently by its owner. Dogs only respond in an aggressive fashion if they've been approached with aggression.

There is no such thing as a "bad breed." Now reading back on this post I'm appalled that this city actually allowed an ordinance of this kind to pass. There was probably pressure from somewhere to push through the ordinance. It truly doesn't make any sense. If a particular breed attacks someone that doesn't mean every dog of that breed is the same.

Thanks for the comments!

This Is crazy. I Second everything that has been said. The people that passed this law need to do more research. The majority of recorded dog attacks are not the pit bull breed but other types of dog breeds. It is unfortunate that stereotyping of the pit bull breed is allowed. I have a pit bull who is the sweetest family dog we have ever had. We that own this breed have to be great advocates for them and be their voice since they can not speak for themselves. It all boils down to how any dog is raised. Even a chihuahua can be raised to be viscous.

This Is crazy. I Second everything that has been said. The people that passed this law need to do more research. The majority of recorded dog attacks are not the pit bull breed but other types of dog breeds. It is unfortunate that stereotyping of the pit bull breed is allowed. I have a pit bull who is the sweetest family dog we have ever had. We that own this breed have to be great advocates for them and be their voice since they can not speak for themselves. It all boils down to how any dog is raised. Even a chihuahua can be raised to be viscous.

ill tell you what it is all about dog control if they have there way only well to do will have them and the poor mans dog will be no more and in the mean time the powers that be makes money lots of it gettin shed of another poor mans icon of freedom

I WATCHED my family dog be killed my my neighbor's Pit about two months ago. I thought we lived in a safe place with responsible people. I was wrong. Yes, the ordinance sounds a little harsh. My child plays in that back yard and plays at that very same fence. I am not saying that all Pits are bad. But, because of our society they have more chances than other dogs to become that way. How many Chihuahuas have killed? Not many I am sure. It is not about the bites, it is about LIFE. My dog did nothing wrong! Someone stole these people's Pit and trained him to fight. When he was returned to the owners he was left in the backyard while they went to work. I know that they never thought their dog would do what he did. But, was that responsible? There will always be a chance that one might be taught to fight or to be aggressive because of some facination that people have to be mean. My family's lives are not worth putting that to a stop. They don't belong in neighborhoods or in parks or out in public for that matter, because we just don't know what has been done to them. I also think that Michael Vick and his crew deserves to have done to them what they did to those dogs. No animal deserves to be treated that way. Sorry, I am angry and sad.

This is stupid you shouldn't force animal lovers to give up their pets if they cant afford the insurance!!! This is just insane.

blame the deed not the breed

This is insane. It is unfair to persecute Pitbull Terriers in this way. It is racial profiling, and totally unjust. If these laws are going to be stated, they should be in effect for all breeds of dogs. I do believe that dogs should not be chained in yards and should be spay or neutered, but this should not only be for Pitbulls. I am in shock, I have lived with Pitbulls my entire life and never had one "turn on me". I find them to be loyal and intelligent companions, much more so than the labrador retrievers I have also lived with.

My grandmother's chihuahua, Bambi, was one of the most mean-spirited, nasty creatures I ever met... I can't count the amount of times she bit me, and I was a pretty well-behaved kid! My former neighbor's Rottweiler (another oft-maligned breed), however, is an absolute sweetheart. The breed of the animal offers no insurance for or against safety. This leads me to the conclusion that the old adage is true: "There are no bad dogs... just bad owners."
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

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this is ridiculous. pitbulls pose no more of a risk than any other risk if treated right! this is not solving the problem, bad owners! i would move anywhere i had to to keep my 2 pitbulls, and yes i ave 2 kids that my pitbulls adore!!!!!!!

I have a bitbull and she has been with my family for ten years. She has never bit anyone, she has never went after any other dogs, She's house dog she loves kids and people she's probly one of the best dogs you'll ever meet she dosen't like certain noises so she go run and hide under my bed. I have two kids that can love on her pull her ears play with and never has she even acted in a way to hurt them, I take her to the vet for her shots and has nevr acted aggresive towarsd them eather. I dont think that the pitbull should be band just about every pitbull i ever came across are great dogs and are loyal and smart and has never hurt any body or anmial. I think The one that need to be band are the people that make these dogs mean. I would never want to give up my dog because of these types of people. I'll do what's in my power to keep her.

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