The Controversy Over Pit Bulls
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The raging controversy over pit bulls misses the point completely. Each of the recent attacks by these dogs had one simple cause: the owners were violating the leash law. Nearly every community has a leash law, yet it has fallen into such disrespect that the authorities rarely enforce it unless they are barraged by complaints.
We Americans must be the only people in the industrialized world who stoically watch free-roaming dogs ravage trash cans, terrorize children, scare off natural wildlife, reproduce rampantly, kill lawns with urine and turn sidewalks into mine fields of feces. Given this epidemic of civic apathy, it was inevitable that a new type of dog would finally escalate the problem to tragic proportions.
Municipal government should end this pointless debate over the merits of a single breed. It’s time instead to start enforcing or even strengthening their leash laws. Anyone who routinely lets their dog run loose should be severely fined and the dog should be impounded.
And yes, we do have a dog.
GENE FELLNER
ROBBIE FELLNER
South Pasadena
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