CANADA -- Re: “SPCA’s ultimatum to boroughs: scrap ban on pit bulls” (Gazette, May 26).
I was about five months pregnant when I took my two little dogs out for a walk to Jeanne Mance Park, as I did several times a day while living on St. Urbain St. in the Plateau. We were just about to cross the street when out of nowhere this grey pit bull charged us and attacked. In an instant she had my SPCA-rescue Miniature Schnauzer mixed terrier in her jaws, shaking him back and forth for the kill.
Being pregnant, I couldn’t do anything but stand there screaming and wait for my screaming dog (he was screaming) to be killed. I was scared the pit bull would let go of my dog and go after me. The dog’s owner came running, screaming the dog’s name and telling it “NO!” and “STOP!” The pit bull didn’t give a damn. It was terrifying in its kill mode.
My dog swung back and forth, yelping in terror. Finally the owner wrestled the pit bull into submission (and was himself bitten by it) and my dog bolted between my feet. By this time I was completely hysterical.
The pit bull owner told me he had just unlocked his door to come in and the dog charged past him out of the house, apparently with the intent of killing my dog, which the pit bull had seen walk past the condo where it lived minutes before. It came from behind us half a block away to attack.
That is not a pet. That is a weapon in the form of an animal – except where a gun-owner can control the gun, nothing could control this pit bull. My dog escaped with puncture marks to his neck, so we were lucky.
When I think of what could have happened with the stress of the situation and my pregnancy, in the presence of a dog that bit its own owner. …
Police were called and neighbours came out to say that this pit bull had attacked their dogs in the recent past – more than once!
When we moved to Lachine a few months later I was beyond thrilled to hear about its pit bull ban, which has provided relief and a pleasurable life for me. My heart stops every time I see a pit bull. I fear for my children, and myself, and all the people around.
The Gazette story quoted Joël Bergeron, head of the Quebec Order of Veterinarians and an opponent of banning pit bulls, as saying that he is sometimes bitten by dogs while working but it’s just as likely to be a golden retriever or poodle as a pit bull, and that he doesn’t recall ever being bitten by a pit bull.
The pit bull in my story went from sitting alone in its home to full-blown violence in a heartbeat, with zero provocation. A vet is bitten because an animal feels the need to defend itself, out of fear. The pit bull that attacked us was entirely unprovoked and was intent on killing, not nipping to stave off a thermometer.
Shame on Bergeron for attempting to compare the poodles and goldens that bite him in his office to pit bulls in an open space attacking innocent passersby. And shame on the SPCA for its threats to lift a ban that increases public safety.
Hey SPCA: it is about the breed. Pit bulls can’t be poorly raised and a threat to society when they are banned. I hope the rest of the boroughs match Lachine and St. Laurent’s amazing decision to ban them. It is a decision that I, and my SPCA-rescue pit-bull-attack survivor Bernie, applaud and wag at, respectively.
I was about five months pregnant when I took my two little dogs out for a walk to Jeanne Mance Park, as I did several times a day while living on St. Urbain St. in the Plateau. We were just about to cross the street when out of nowhere this grey pit bull charged us and attacked. In an instant she had my SPCA-rescue Miniature Schnauzer mixed terrier in her jaws, shaking him back and forth for the kill.
Being pregnant, I couldn’t do anything but stand there screaming and wait for my screaming dog (he was screaming) to be killed. I was scared the pit bull would let go of my dog and go after me. The dog’s owner came running, screaming the dog’s name and telling it “NO!” and “STOP!” The pit bull didn’t give a damn. It was terrifying in its kill mode.
My dog swung back and forth, yelping in terror. Finally the owner wrestled the pit bull into submission (and was himself bitten by it) and my dog bolted between my feet. By this time I was completely hysterical.
The pit bull owner told me he had just unlocked his door to come in and the dog charged past him out of the house, apparently with the intent of killing my dog, which the pit bull had seen walk past the condo where it lived minutes before. It came from behind us half a block away to attack.
That is not a pet. That is a weapon in the form of an animal – except where a gun-owner can control the gun, nothing could control this pit bull. My dog escaped with puncture marks to his neck, so we were lucky.
When I think of what could have happened with the stress of the situation and my pregnancy, in the presence of a dog that bit its own owner. …
Police were called and neighbours came out to say that this pit bull had attacked their dogs in the recent past – more than once!
When we moved to Lachine a few months later I was beyond thrilled to hear about its pit bull ban, which has provided relief and a pleasurable life for me. My heart stops every time I see a pit bull. I fear for my children, and myself, and all the people around.
The Gazette story quoted Joël Bergeron, head of the Quebec Order of Veterinarians and an opponent of banning pit bulls, as saying that he is sometimes bitten by dogs while working but it’s just as likely to be a golden retriever or poodle as a pit bull, and that he doesn’t recall ever being bitten by a pit bull.
The pit bull in my story went from sitting alone in its home to full-blown violence in a heartbeat, with zero provocation. A vet is bitten because an animal feels the need to defend itself, out of fear. The pit bull that attacked us was entirely unprovoked and was intent on killing, not nipping to stave off a thermometer.
Shame on Bergeron for attempting to compare the poodles and goldens that bite him in his office to pit bulls in an open space attacking innocent passersby. And shame on the SPCA for its threats to lift a ban that increases public safety.
Hey SPCA: it is about the breed. Pit bulls can’t be poorly raised and a threat to society when they are banned. I hope the rest of the boroughs match Lachine and St. Laurent’s amazing decision to ban them. It is a decision that I, and my SPCA-rescue pit-bull-attack survivor Bernie, applaud and wag at, respectively.
(Montreal Gazette - May 27, 2011)
