On Banning Dangerous Animals
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As the owner of a (not-really) pit bull, I always get a very modest shudder whenever there is a story of a mauling. The most recent report, of a 12-year old boy in San Francisco killed by his own family's dog inside his home would be, I was sure, the latest excuse for (essentially irrational) calls to ban the breed.
I'm unconditionally opposed to breed-specific legislation, for the same reason I oppose curfews and other pre-emptive prohibitions: It is fundamentally unfair (and economically inefficient) to ascribe unlawful behavior to an entire class based on the anecdotal evidence of a few members of that class. (Compare: I do believe in leash laws, and in DUI laws, because the risk is not anecdotal but demonstrable — an unleashed dog is a risk, a person who has "just two beers" is a risk; an honors student who wants to see the late showing of Episode III is not — without more — a risk, a family pit bull in the confines of the home is not — without more — a risk).
Anyway, back to the recent San Francisco mauling, we now have more details:
It's easy to ban pit bulls — how do you ban a jackass parent? She was the lethal animal here, not the dog.
Other thoughts at Moderate Voice and aTypical Joe.
I'm unconditionally opposed to breed-specific legislation, for the same reason I oppose curfews and other pre-emptive prohibitions: It is fundamentally unfair (and economically inefficient) to ascribe unlawful behavior to an entire class based on the anecdotal evidence of a few members of that class. (Compare: I do believe in leash laws, and in DUI laws, because the risk is not anecdotal but demonstrable — an unleashed dog is a risk, a person who has "just two beers" is a risk; an honors student who wants to see the late showing of Episode III is not — without more — a risk, a family pit bull in the confines of the home is not — without more — a risk).
Anyway, back to the recent San Francisco mauling, we now have more details:
The mother of a 12-year-old boy killed in his own home by one of the family's two pit bulls says she had been so concerned about one of the dogs that she shut her son in the basement to protect him.You read that right — she locked her kid in the basement rather than the dogs.
Maureen Faibish said she ordered Nicholas to stay in the basement while she did errands on June 3, the day he was attacked by one or both of the dogs. She said she was worried about the male dog, Rex, who was acting possessive because the female, Ella, was in heat.
"I put him down there, with a shovel on the door," Faibish said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. "And I told him: 'Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me."
Nicholas apparently found a way to open the basement door.
It's easy to ban pit bulls — how do you ban a jackass parent? She was the lethal animal here, not the dog.
Other thoughts at Moderate Voice and aTypical Joe.
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Posted by KipEsquire on
12 June 2005
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