These are the words of Denver Animal Control director Doug Kelley on whether Denver's pit bull ban has been effective.
The logic behind a breed ban is, in theory, to reduce dog bites and improve public safety. Or, as Kory Nelson, the attorney who championed the Denver pit bull ban, says, it is to eliminate/reduce pit bull deaths and maulings (he also claims that opponents of BSL are actually dog fighters). Denver has not had a serious pit bull mauling since they implemented a ban nearly 20 years ago. Before the ban, there wasn't a huge spike in pit bull maulings and the same held true after the ban. It's a logical fallacy to claim that the unenforced ban had something to do with the non-change.
Besides, a recent survey has shown that dog bites still occur and that pit bulls are 2nd as far as breed is concerned. Labrador Retriever were the most reported breed for bites.
So what has been the winning successes of the breed ban?
Between 2005-2007, the breed ban did cost the lives of nearly 2,000 dogs; dogs who may or may not have been pit bulls. It has increased litigation costs associated with the few willing to challenge authorities on the veracity of their dog's breed. It costs the city more to enforce a breed ban, meaning valuable resources - like animal control officers - are being used to track down suspect, non-threatening dogs while possibly ignoring valid threats from loose, aggressive non pit bull dogs.
So yes, I suppose it does depend on how you define success. Killing dogs based on looks, increased costs of enforcement, lack of reducing dog bites, inability to eliminate pit bulls or pit bull bites...it does not sound like an animal control model I would want to emulate. So why does Denver stick to their guns when they are so clearly in the wrong? They keep repeating the same rhetoric, enforcing the same, ineffective law and keep hoping for a different result - repeating the same thing over and over again, hoping for something different to happen, is the definition of insanity. And that is exactly what Denver's pit bull ban is, insane.
Note: I removed a portion of this post regarding the efficacy of enforcing or not enforcing the ban. You can see some of the reasons why in the comment section.
