How to Help Prevent Breed Discrimination in Your Community www.bestfriends.org

How to Help Prevent Breed
Discrimination in Your Community
www.bestfriends.org
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 1
Our Mission:
No More Homeless Pets
Best Friends is working with you and with humane
groups all across the country to bring about a time
when homeless, unwanted animals are no longer being
destroyed in shelters, and when every healthy dog or
cat can be guaranteed a good life in a caring home.
It can happen in any city or town. Someone is
badly injured by a dog. If that dog happens to
be identified by the press as a pit bull, the story
is covered extensively by the media. Within
days, local government officials call for a ban
on all pit-bull-type dogs. This type of “panic
policymaking” based on anger and fear often
leads to ineffective breed-discrimination laws.
These laws not only fail to protect the public
from dangerous dogs, they can result in the
deaths of thousands of good dogs who are
destroyed simply because they are or look like
pit bulls. Breed-discrimination laws also hurt
responsible people who may be forced to choose
between their beloved dog and their home.
YOU can help stop breed discrimination and
make your community safer by becoming
informed about the issue and taking the proven,
effective steps detailed in this action kit.
Animal advocates like you have successfully
defeated and repealed breed-discrimination
measures throughout the country. For example,
in 2009-10, Best Friends Animal Society,
through its “Pit Bulls: Saving America’s Dog”
campaign, worked with energized citizens in
Elgin, Illinois, to defeat an effort by city leaders
to discriminate by breed (see page 10).
This action kit provides resources, tools
and examples that can help you and other
concerned animal lovers in your community
stop breed discrimination and save the lives of
dogs. Here’s how you can make a difference for
dogs and people in your community.
Pit Bulls: Saving America’s Dog
The goals of this Best Friends campaign
are to restore the image of pit bulls
and challenge breed discrimination.
For more information, go to pitbulls.
bestfriends.org. In particular, check out
the Tools to Use section.
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 2
1. Contact Best Friends [page 4]
2. Contact More Friends [page 4]
3. Contact Your Local Politicians [pages 5-6]
4. Get Social [page 7]
5. Update Wikipedia [page 7]
6. Use Economic Pressure [page 7]
7. Contact Local Media [page 7]
Why Breed Discrimination Doesn’t Work [page 8]
What Does Work [page 9]
Dogs Matter! [page 9]
Success in Elgin, Illinois [page 10]
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 3
1. Contact Best Friends
If you are not already part of our “Pit Bulls:
Saving America’s Dog” campaign, you can join
us and learn more at pitbulls.bestfriends.org.
You’ll also want to sign up to receive alerts
on our Advocacy for Animals website, and of
course, visit your Go Local page at network.
bestfriends.org.
• KCDog blog: btoellner.typepad.com/
kcdogblog
• Fight BSL Yahoo group: Go to groups.yahoo.
com and search for “Fight BSL”
If there are any proposed breed-discrimination
measures in your area, please let our team
know by contacting edfritz@bestfriends.org.
The Best Friends team will:
•Send a letter to government officials from
one of our attorneys opposing the measure
and instead recommending proven publicsafety legislation such as breed-neutral
dangerous-dog laws, anti-tethering laws and
leash laws.
•Post alerts and e-mail messages to our Action
Team and Best Friends members in the
community.
•If appropriate, send a letter to the editor
stating the case against breed-discriminatory
laws. Please send us the names of your local
newspapers and websites.
2. Contact More Friends
There are a number of other public resources
in addition to Best Friends that can help you
prevent breed discrimination. Some of the
resources used by Best Friends include:
• Bless the Bullys: www.blessthebullys.com
• StopBSL: www.stopbsl.com
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 4
3. Contact Your Local Politicians
Calls, letters and e-mails from voters
influence elected officials. Here are some
specific actions you can take:
•Call the city or county clerk or the League
of Women Voters (www.lwv.org) to request
contact information for your city and county
officials. Contact information for elected
officials may also be available on your city’s
website. Then call your elected officials and
POLITELY voice your opposition to the law or
proposed measure.
•Make copies of the city council contact list.
Distribute a flyer containing information
about the proposed measure and the contact
information of the local officials at your
veterinarian’s office, dog training classes,
feed stores, pet stores and groomers.
•Ask your local humane society to oppose the
measure. Ask your veterinarian to speak out
and make calls. It is extremely important to
get local veterinarians to testify at hearings
on the proposed legislation. Their expertise
carries great weight with officials.
•Send your own personal letter opposing
breed discrimination and breed-specific
legislation to the appropriate elected
government officials, the police chief and
the city attorney. If your city government
also has a city manager who makes policy
recommendations to the city council, contact
him or her about the issue. Send a personal
polite e-mail, too.
board meetings and testify. As the meetings
get closer, or the vote is coming up, purchase
small ads in the local newspaper or distribute
flyers to help get fellow citizens to show
support and attend the meetings.
•At the meetings, wear t-shirts or buttons
showing that you oppose canine profiling.
(By the way, it’s not a good idea to bring
dogs to these meetings unless they are
certified therapy dogs.)
•Provide city council members with the
information they will need to make an
informed decision. Read the articles listed
below and use the information contained in
them in your appeal to lawmakers. You can
also give these articles directly to city officials
or the media.
All Bark and Fiscal Bite: Are BreedDiscriminatory Laws Effective? by Ledy
VanKavage
Fiscal Bite & Breed Discrimination:
Utilizing Scientific Advances & Economic
Tools in Lobbying by Ledy VanKavage
and John Dunham
The Need for a Canine Innocence Project
by Ledy VanKavage
•Send letters discussing the proposed
legislation to the editors of local newspapers
in order to spread the word about the issue
and educate other residents.
•You can also attend city council and county
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 5
•At the meetings, be sure to talk about
how much it would cost your city to enact
a breed-discriminatory or breed-specific
law. You can calculate the cost using Best
Friends’ Fiscal Impact Calculator at www.
guerrillaeconomics.biz/bestfriends.
•You can also mention that if your city passes
a breed-discriminatory provision, the burden
of proof is on the city to prove that the dog
is of a certain breed. Many city attorneys and
police chiefs haven’t kept up with the science
of tracing a dog’s heritage. They should
know that it’s expensive — usually $120 to
$160 per dog — to run DNA tests on all the
mixed-breed dogs in town. For information
on ordering a canine DNA test, visit www.
wisdompanel.com.
•Finally, to further inform city officials,
you might want to send the city attorney
a copy of the American Bar Association
book A Lawyer’s Guide to Dangerous Dog
Laws, which recommends against breed
discrimination. It is available at www.abanet.
org. Click on the Web Store and search for
“dangerous dog laws.”
Visual Identification of Breeds
According to Dr. Victoria Voith, visual
identification, even by professionals,
is often wrong. In a recent study, Dr.
Voith found that, in 87.5 percent of
adopted dogs, breeds identified by
DNA analyses were not the breeds
stated by the adoption agencies.
Animal shelter workers were right in
guessing the heritage of a mixed-breed
dog only 12.5 percent of the time.
Because of the inaccuracy of visual
breed identification, Voith rightly
questioned current public and private
policies based on dog breeds. For more,
go to the National Canine Research
Council website and read Dr. Voith’s
study, called A Comparison of Visual
and DNA Identifications of Breeds.
nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/
dog-bites/dog-bite-studies
Be Courteous and Polite
Keep in mind that community leaders can
be quickly turned off by a large volume
of angry calls from people, especially if
they are not residents of your community.
All of your public calls to action should
encourage activity by local residents and
should be carried out in a respectful and
polite manner.
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 6
4. Get Social
Go on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and
Craig’s List and ask folks to help save our
pets. You can also start a blog or go on your
city newspaper’s blog and leave comments.
Tell people about Pit Bull Positive, a
social networking site specific to pit bulls:
pitbullpositive.ning.com.
to talk to you or Best Friends attorney Ledy
VanKavage, Esq. (ledyv@bestfriends.org)
about why breed-discriminatory laws don’t
work.If they come to interview you and you
have a pit-bull-type dog, make sure the dog
is well-behaved and not on a chain. Dress the
dog up in a bandana or a frilly, silly collar for
the interview.
5. Update Wikipedia
During the interview, mention that it is
extremely expensive to enforce these laws,
and describe how they interfere with the
rights of responsible dog owners. Responsible
owners with good dogs would be forced to
give up their best friend or move out of
the community.
Go to your community’s Wikipedia website
and edit it, mentioning that the town is now
considering breed-discriminatory legislation to
warn dog lovers who may be thinking about
moving to your community.
6. Use Economic Pressure
Contact the town’s chamber of commerce
or tourism council, and ask people from the
surrounding communities to also contact
these groups and businesses. Tell them you’re
going to boycott businesses in the town if the
measure passes.
To figure out how much it will cost your city
to enforce the breed-discriminatory ordinance,
go to Best Friends’ Fiscal Impact Calculator
at www.guerrillaeconomics.biz/bestfriends.
Share this information with your local dogloving neighbors, friends and family.
Tell the interviewer that all the following
major organizations oppose breed
discrimination:
•Best Friends Animal Society
•National Animal Control Association
•American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
•Centers for Disease Control
•Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)
•American Humane Association
•American Veterinary Medical Association
If the media need additional background
information on the topic, you can refer them
to any of the resources listed throughout this
action kit.
7. Contact Local Media
Contact the town’s chamber of commerce
Call and e-mail newspapers, local television
stations, and local radio shows. Ask them
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 7
Why Breed Discrimination Doesn’t Work
Below is a list of basic reasons why breed discrimination is an ineffective
policy. Feel free to use any of this information in your personal letters
and phone calls, as well as in letters to the editor or media interviews.
dangerous, instead of investing resources
into proven, effective tactics that make the
community safer.
•A dog is an individual, with his or her own
unique personality. A dog should be judged
on temperament and not appearance.
•Studies of pre- and post-breed-ban dogbite rates in the United Kingdom and Spain
concluded that their breed-discriminatory
laws had no effect whatsoever on reducing
dog bites.
•It is often difficult, even for experts, to
determine the breed of a dog, particularly
when considering mixed-breed dogs.
We challenge you to “Find the Pit Bull”
(courtesy of Pit Bull Rescue Central). www.
pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
•Many dogs are misidentified and
consequently destroyed simply because
of their appearance. Now try to identify a
mixed-breed dog.
network.bestfriends.org/groups/pitbulls/
media/p/134048/download.aspx
•Breed-discriminatory laws cause unintended
hardship to responsible owners of friendly
dogs who happen to fall within the
regulated breed category.
•Breed-discriminatory laws compromise
public safety by requiring officers to enforce
regulation on dogs who may or may not be
•Italy recently revoked its breed restrictions,
stating that the ban had no scientific
justification. For details, read this story on
the Best Friends Network.
network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/pitbulls/
news.aspx?pID=10615
•Calgary, Canada, has the lowest dog-bite
rates in 25 years, without enacting breed
discrimination. For details, read this story on
the Best Friends Network.
network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/pitbulls/
news.aspx?pID=11114
•The police and animal control will lose the
public’s trust by seizing and killing pets
simply because of their appearance. Read
this article by Best Friends’ Ledy VanKavage.
animals.change.org/blog/view/the_need_
for_a_canine_innocence_project
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 8
What Does Work
Dogs Matter!
To have safe, humane communities,
Best Friends encourages you to urge
government officials to focus on reckless
owners instead of punishing responsible
owners of friendly, well-behaved dogs.
Ordinances should be passed that hold
people responsible for the behavior of
their pets, no matter what the breed.
A humane, effective ordinance might
include regulations that:
If you lose round 1 and a breeddiscriminatory law passes, don’t give up!
Take a deep breath and then:
•Encourage residents to spay or neuter their
pets (and charge higher license fees for
unaltered animals)
For more on how to become politically
active for animals, read these books:
•Provide adequate due process provisions
for dog owners through breed-neutral
dangerous dog laws
•Restrict tethering
•Prevent reckless owners from having dogs
• Intensify your efforts and phone calls to
elected officials.
• Keep going to city council meetings and
speaking out against breed discrimination.
• If all else fails, run for public office or help
animal-friendly candidates win.
• Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need by Julie Lewin
• Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
When you do win, publish an ad in local
newspapers thanking your elected officials.
Last, but not least, tell your friends at Best
Friends about what worked in your campaign
and what did not so we can help spread the
word and give support to dog lovers in other
cities across the country.
THANK YOU FOR TAKING ACTION FOR ANIMALS!
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 9
Ad Proof
Ad Number: 485058
Start Date: 03/08/2010
Separation: GrayScale
(15:03, 03/05/10)
PAGE 4
SECTION 5 DAILY HERALD
NF1*
Religion — Special events
Spaghetti dinner: The annual
spaghetti dinner will be from 5 to 7
p.m. Saturday, March 13, at Trinity
United Methodist Church, 1647
Ravine Lane, Carpentersville. Tickets
are $6, $3 for children ages 3-12
and free for kids younger than 3.
Success in Elgin, Illinois
Variety show: Wesley United
Methodist Church in Elgin hosts its
20th “Fun ‘n Frolics” family-oriented
variety show at 3 p.m. Saturday,
March 13, at the church, 1070 South
St. This year’s blend of talent includes dance, jokes, songs, drama,
musical instruments (including classical guitar, piano, cello, viola, and
violin), and more. Admission to the
show is donations of nonperishable
food items. The food will be given
to the Elgin All Peoples’ Interfaith
Food Pantry. After the show, stay for
a potluck supper featuring salads
and desserts, with a freewill offering going to the church missions
committee. For details, call (847)
742-7256.
pastor for Highland Fellowship
Church and headmaster of Highland
Christian Academy. The concert
will benefit the scholarship fund
for Highland Christian Academy.
Admission is $10. Tickets may also
be purchased in advance by calling
(847) 741-5530. Highland Christian
Academy is a private Christian
school affiliated with Highland Fellowship Church for 25 years.
Handbell concert: The Bar-
rington Area Festival Handbell Concert will be at 7 p.m. Sunday, March
14, at Village Church of Barrington,
1600 E. Main St., Barrington. Eight
bell choirs totaling more than 100
ringers will be participating. Choirs
will perform individual selections
and will play several songs en
masse. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
This is a free concert.
Attention Elgin Taxpayers & Pet Lovers!
The Elgin City Council is considering passing a breeddiscriminatory ordinance that could potentially cause
undue hardship to responsible taxpaying citizens.
If the ordinance passes, any mixed-breed dog that
resembles a “pit bull,” living with a responsible family
that is financially unable to comply with onerous
restrictions could be seized and killed. The ordinance
will also cost taxpayers thousands of dollars in litigation
and DNA testing to determine if a dog is a “pit bull.”
To see what these restrictions might cost
Elgin Taxpayers to enact and enforce visit:
http://www.guerrillaeconomics.biz/bestfriends/
This is America: Responsible dog owners should
be allowed to have any breed of dog they choose. An
ordinance that truly increases public safety would target
reckless owners and prevent them from owning any dog.
Please contact the City of Elgin at 847-931-5590
Angel Food Ministries: Angel
Ministries is now available
and ask the following city councilmen toFood
oppose
breed
through St. John’s Lutheran Church
and School, 300 Jefferson St.,
discrimination: Concert fundraiser: A special
Algonquin. Each month’s menu is
concert by renowned pianist Huntley
Brown and Elgin OPERA vocalist
Holmes will take place at 6
Mayor Ed SchockJeorge
p.m. Sunday, March 14, at Highland
Fellowship Church, 2250 W.
355 Jefferson Ave,
Elgin,
60120
Highland
Ave., Elgin.IL
A silent
auction
will also be available. Brown has
performed on television, radio and
concert in more than 30 countries
Councilman BobinandGilliam
is currently the pianist for Ruth
and Friends Ministries. A
50 S. Grove Ave,Graham
Elgin,
ILBrown
60120
native
of Jamaica,
is a Judson University alumni and currently
resides in Aurora. Holmes, an Elgin
is a graduate of St. Edward
Councilman Johnnative,
Prigge
High School and Judson University.
He currently sings with the Elgin
821 Bellevue Ave,
Elgin,
IL as60120
OPERA.
Holmes serves
senior
different and consists of fresh, frozen and packaged food. The cost for
a box is $30. There is no purchase
limit for boxes of Angel Food. There
are no applications or qualifications
necessary to purchase. Generally,
one box of Angel Food assists in
feeding a family of four for about
one week or a single senior citizen
for almost a month. Each month,
Angel Food Ministries also offers
“specialty boxes” of steak, chicken,
pork or other foods. There is no
purchase limit for specialty boxes or
bonus foods. There are no applications or qualifications necessary to
purchase. To better help families in
need, Angel Food Ministries partici-
pates in the Food Stamp Program.
This program is designed to help
low-income families buy the food
they need for good nutrition. Anyone
may purchase an unlimited number
of boxes by placing an order with
a local host site. Order forms are
available online at angelfoodministries.com and for credit card
payments, customers must use the
online payment form. For individuals
making payment in cash, check
or Link Cards, forms and payment
are accepted in St. John’s Activity
Center from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays
and 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Sundays.
On Wednesday, March 17, forms
are available in the church office
from 10 a.m. to noon. Orders must
be received by noon Wednesday,
March 17. Order pickup is from 9
to 10 a.m. Saturday, March 27. For
details, call Linda Klbecka at (847)
658-9300.
Recital series: The Dundee and
Elgin Area Lenten Recital Series
will be from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m.
Thursdays at various local churches.
On Thursday, March 18, organist
Vernon Studt will perform at First
Congregational Church, 11628 Main
St., Huntley. For details, call (847)
669-3691.
Recital series: On Friday, March
19, the Gargoyle Brass with Michael
Surratt as organist will play as part
of the Jane Hampton Chipman Memorial Recital Series at 7:30 p.m. at
First Congregational United Church
of Christ, 256 E. Chicago St., Elgin.
It is free and open to the public. For
details, call (847) 741-4045 or visit
fcc-elgin.org.
Trivia Night: St. Catherine of
Siena Catholic School in West
Dundee will host Trivia Night Saturday, March 20. Check-in begins at
6 p.m., with the first round starting
at 6:45 p.m. and will go until the fun
ends. Trivia questions will be asked
over five rounds, with 15 questions
per round. The rounds are arts
and entertainment, geography and
history, sports, religion and miscellaneous. The cost of entry is $30
per person or a team of 10 for $300.
Interactive raffles and silent and live
auctions will provide a full evening
of entertainment and fun. Finger
food is included and a cash bar will
be open throughout the event. The
winning team will get a spin on the
prize wheel and the chance to be
named “Trivia Night Champions.”
For ticket information, call (847)
426-4808.
Spirit of Life Chorus: Bethle-
hem Lutheran Church, 401 W. Main
St., West Dundee, is hosting the
Spirit of Life Chorus at 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 20. The community
is invited to join in listening to this
inspirational chorus of more than
70 voices. Services at Bethlehem
are at 8 and 10:30 Sundays with the
Rev. Steven R. Woita officiating. For
details, call (847) 426-7311 or visit
bethlehemdundee.org.
Bells of Hope: The First
Congregational Church’s Jubilate
Handbell Choir will present their
third annual “Bells of Hope” concert
at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 21, at the
church, 461 Pierson St., Crystal
Lake. The Jubilate Bell Choir has 12
bell ringers, many of whom have
played with the group from many
years. The program will feature
a variety of music, including the
“How Can I Keep From Singing” and
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Elgin, IL
Please call these officials who voted for the
ordinance and ask them to strike the canine-profiling
sections.
Thank you for speaking out for Elgin’s pets.
Continued from Page 2
in worship and are each supported by free will donations.
Donations for the evening
meal help to support Immanuel’s youth ministry. For
details, call (847) 428-4477 or
visit immanuel-ed.org.
Morning Star: Join Morning
Star Church and The River
Church for a weekend of insightful teaching and revela-
tion with Anne Elmer, author
of The Elijah List’s best-selling
book “Transported by the Lion
of Judah.” Elmer and her husband, Malgwyn, were both
born, brought up and married
in the North of England, but
after 16 years in a small Lancashire village, they moved to
live just outside Paris, France,
where they now run a small
Christian publishing company. The meetings will be at 7:15
p.m. Friday, March 19, and 10
a.m. Sunday, March 21, at the
church, 41W350 Powers Road,
Huntley. For details, call (847)
669-9800 or visit morningstarwoc.org and theriver-church.
com.
followed by the Lenten service
at 7 p.m. The Trinity Seniors
group have plans to attend the
Spirit of Life concert Saturday,
March 20. To attend, call the
church at (847) 669-5780.
Trinity Lutheran: Trinity Lutheran Church, 11008 Church
St., Huntley, will hold Lenten
services at noon and 7 p.m.
Wednesdays throughout the
Lenten season. There is a soup
and sandwich supper at 6 p.m.,
First Congregational: On Laetare Sunday, March 14, the
annual Children’s Spring Cantata will be performed at the
9 and 10:45 a.m. services at
First Congregational Church,
461 Pierson St., Crystal Lake.
Food
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The citizens of Elgin, Illinois, successfully fought breed-specific
language in a local animal ordinance. Above is the call to
action and at right is the thank-you notice to the mayor and
city council. Click here to read an editorial by Steve Dale
posted on Chicago Now.
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A Special Thanks
Elgin’s responsible dog owners are cheering the
councils decision to remove the breed specific
language from the new animal ordinance.
The responsible dog owning citizens of Elgin
united and made a stance. Thank you Mayor and
City Council for listening and pursuing an animal
ordinance that holds people accountable for the
behavior and care of their dogs.
Special thanks goes to
Councilmen David Kaptain, Richard Dunne, and
John Steffen. for their sound judgment.
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The opportunities are • A
endless. The memories
will last forever. • &
Why not charter a coach
this summer and take in a
professional sports team,
concert, the theater, a day
in Chicago, Ravinia, Country
Thunder, Milwaukee, Navy
Pier, Galena and more.
Taysia the service dog will continue
to visit her friends in nursing homes and hospitals
How to help prevent breed discrimination in your community
pg 10