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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Pit bull ban likely to remain in place

By: Jen Skerritt

Posted: 02/25/2011 11:18 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Pit bulls will likely remain outlawed in Winnipeg, despite an effort by local advocates to repeal a municipal ban.

A group of Winnipeggers are expected to urge the city's protection and community services committee on Monday to lift the longtime ban, arguing a dog's temperament depends on its owner, not the breed.

St. Vital Coun. Gord Steeves said it's unlikely the city will lift the longtime ban, which was originally enacted after a rise in attacks in the late 1980s. Steeves has already spoken with the group and said their opinions will be considered as part of the committee's wider review of responsible pet ownership.

The review was struck to clamp down on the sale of dogs inside Winnipeg on the heels of a Free Press report that revealed the deplorable conditions of puppy mills outside the city. The final report is expected to be complete in the coming months.

"As far as I can tell, the (pit bull) was banned in reaction to incidents in the community," Steeves said. "I remember those incidents, they were pretty horrific."

Many cities and towns across Canada and the United States have outlawed pit bulls, and Ontario passed a province-wide ban in 2005. Winnipeg city council first enacted a ban in 1990 on the heels of numerous incidents involving the breed. The number of dog bites from multiple breeds, including pit bulls, hit record levels in 1987, when more than 400 dog bites were reported.

Today, Steeves said there are only one or two reports of dog bites every year. He said the fear is that number would rise if a pit bull ban is lifted, and the dogs would be brought to the city and used to guard drug dens.

"They would be abused and trained for this purpose, to guard drug dens in our community," Steeves said.

Pit bull owner Kate Simpkin said any dog can be trained for criminal purposes, and the current bylaw punishes the dog instead of its owner. Simpkin, who lives in the RM of Springfield where there is no ban on pit bull ownership, said cities such as Calgary have a dangerous dog bylaw that applies to every breed, so the onus is on the pet owner to be responsible for their dog's behaviour.

She said Calgary also stipulates that dogs can't be chained up as a guard dog, for example, since this tends to make the animals more aggressive.

While she doesn't expect Winnipeg to change its mind on pit bulls overnight, she said it's important that officials realize the current bylaw isn't working.

"I'm a dog advocate, I'm an animal advocate and they're just dogs, they're not killing machines," Simpkin said. "They're powerful dogs, yes, but so are other breeds."

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

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