Vote Green on SB 75

-protects property rights-enhances public safety-saves tax dollars

Local Control?

Focusing on BEHAVIOR of dog and owner makes sense Uniformity needed

Why? Folks want to move into cities

and can’t because of their pet

Neighbor v. Neighbor

Eight South Dakota Cities

PET DOGS IMPACTED in SD• German Shepherds• Dobermans• Rottweilers• Bullmastiffs• Presa Canarios• Cane Corsos• American Pit Bull Terriers• American Staffordshire Terriers• Staffordshire Bull Terriers Mixes of those breeds

Consistency Is Needed

• Blue heelers were removed from one South Dakota city’s blacklist in 2011.

Local Governments Should Not Infringe on Pet owners’ Property Rights

• National Survey done by Luntz Global in January, 2014.

• 84% of Americans believed that they should be able to own whatever breed of dog they choose.

Breed Discrimination

1. Violates Basic Property Rights2. Focuses on the wrong thing3. Arbitrary4. Expensive5. Ineffective6. It’s not practical

National Trend –PROHIBIT BREED DISCRIMINATION

• 17 states including Minnesota now have prohibitions against breed discrimination

• The White House came out against breed discrimination on its “We the People” website

ABA House of Delegates Resolution 100 -2012

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges all state, territorial, and local legislative bodies and governmental agencies to adopt comprehensive breed-neutral dangerous dog/reckless owner laws that ensure due process protections for owners, encourage responsible pet ownership and focus on the behavior of both dog owners and dogs, and to repeal any breed-discriminatory or breed-specific provisions.

cops.usdoj.gov

U.S. Department of Justice’sCOPS Office

• Breed discriminatory ordinances are contrary to the tenants of community policing.

Dr. Kristopher J. Irizarry

• 1. Dogs of the same breed were selected for physical appearance that is why they all look so similar.

• 2. The physical appearance of a dog does not provide any clue as to its behavior.

(Knowing a dog has a short snout and long hair doesn't give us any info on whether it is afraid of thunder storms or gets along well with cats)

Every Dog is an Individual

• Utah legislator, “ I’ve had a lot of kids and I’ve owned a lot of dogs. One thing I can say for sure is that heredity doesn’t equal behavior.”

Behavioral studies

The American Temperament TestSociety ranks pit bull terriers better than golden retrievers or border collies.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Sak v. City of Aurelia IowaU.S. District Court for the Northern District of IowaWestern Division

2011 WL 6826146 (N.D. Iowa 2011)

Memorandum Opinion and OrderRegarding Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction Dated December 28, 2011

Safe Communities for People and Pets

• The BEST laws focus on behavior — both owners’ behavior and dogs’ behavior.

Reckless owners

Reckless owners should be held accountable

- no exceptions and no excuses

Bad owners lead to bad dogs and that puts everyone at risk.

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 12-2013

Multiple factors involved in dog bite related fatalities-

Most factors in control of dog owners –isolation from positive family interaction, mismanagement by owners, abuse or neglect, dogs left alone with a child, etc.

Co-occurrence of potentially preventable factors in 256 dog bite-related fatalities in the Unites States (2000-2009)- JAVMA, Vol 243, No. 12, December 15, 2013

87.6 % involved a male dog 84.4% the dog was sexually

intact

Breed could only be reliably determined in 17.6%

JAVMA 12- 2013

Waste of Tax Dollars

• Local governments usually don’t think of how much animal policies will cost to implement

• $1 million if the StateImplemented a breeddiscriminatory law

42 U.S.C. § 1983

A person states a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 if he alleges that the defendant deprived him of a constitutional right while acting “under color” of state law.

Burden of Proof

If a city enacts a breed-discriminatory law, the city has the burden of proof.

Penal: BEYOND a reasonable doubt

Civil: Preponderance of evidence

City of Pierre v. Blackwell635 N.W. 2d 581 (SCt. S.D. 2001)

The city brought criminal charges, thus it needed to prove one of the elements, that the dog was dangerous beyond a reasonable doubt. Both sides presented evidence of the “dangerousness” of the dog at trial, but the court did not make an independent assessment of the evidence. It relied solely on the finding of the animal control officer.

There was no independent determination of “dangerous” by a neutral judicial officer as a part of the criminal proceeding. The court goes on to discuss that this would have failed a procedural due process claim in the civil context, too, without exigent circumstances.

Here, the court just reviewed the animal control officer’s decision for legality and due process was not satisfied.

There is nothing “specific” about breed-specific legislation

Find the Pit Bull Pit Bull Rescue Centralwww.pbrc.net

Find the Pit Bull

Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog

Doberman Pinscher Catahoula Leopard Dog Viszla Patterdale Terrier Rottweiler

Dogue de Bordeaux English Bulldog Olde English Bulldogge

Bull Terrier Cane Corso Black Mouth Cur

Boxer American Bulldog American Pit Bull Terrier Bullmastiff Fila Brasileiro Tosa Inu

Dogo Argentino

Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Ca De Bou Boerboel Thai Ridgeback Jack Russell Terrier

Pit Bull Rescue Centralwww.pbrc.net

Catahoula Show Dog Harassed

From KC Dog Blog

Doggie DNA

Shelter Medicine: A Comparison of Visual and DNA Identification of Breeds of DogsVictoria L. Voith, DVM, PhD, DACVB, College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences

In 87.5% of the adopted dogs, breeds were identified by DNA analyses that were not proposed by the adoption agencies.

AmStaf, Aussie

AmStaf, BoxerBasset, Dalmatian,

Staffybull, Wire Fox Terrier

•

Man wins dog back after DNA test proves dog isn’t a pit bull

No genetic trait of American Staffordshire terrier or

Staffordshire bull terrier

“Pit Bull” MixesIntermediate amount of American Staffordshire terrier or Staffordshire bull terrier

Whippet

Dalmatian

Boxer

Sometimes State Legislators Must Act to Protect Citizen’s Property Rights

PROPERTY RIGHTS

This is America. Every American who

follows the right safety rules as a responsible dog owner should be allowed to own whatever breed of dog they choose-

it’s that simple.

.