The new state legislation formally lifts Miami-Dade’s longstanding pit bull ban, adopted in 1989 after a pit bull attacked a seven-year-old lady. Under the county’s now-nixed ordinance, individuals who tried to maintain their pit bulls inside county strains needed to pay a $500 positive for every canine, and the county might seize the animals.
Though it isn’t unusual to identify pit-bull-type canine within the county, Miami-Dade Animal Services tells New Times the company was vigilant in implementing the rule.
“Whenever the enforcement workforce encountered a canine that match the traits and was in violation of the ban, they sometimes acted by citing the proprietor,” a spokesperson from Animal Services says. “In many instances, they supplied the proprietor with an inexpensive period of time to take away the pit bull from the county voluntarily.”
In 1990, the Florida Legislature handed a invoice prohibiting native governments from banning canine based mostly on breed, weight, or dimension. But it allowed current native pet rules to stay in place, so Miami-Dade’s pit bull ban was grandfathered in and stored on the books.
The new legislation, entitled “Authorization of Restrictions Concerning Dogs,” eradicated that exemption and voided remaining native pit bull bans throughout the state as of October 1.
The Humane Society of the United States has lengthy advocated in opposition to breed-specific insurance policies. The group argues these restrictions power canine out of their houses and into restricted shelter house whereas losing animal service companies’ much-needed sources.
“Many animal shelters are flooded with canine, who, due to breed bans, cannot be adopted to the individuals of their communities,” the Humane Society says on its web site. “Shelters in neighboring cities and counties typically find yourself taking within the canine.”
A shelter overcrowding disaster is going on all through South Florida, pressuring some counties to euthanize extra animals and danger dropping their no-kill standing owing to an absence of house.
Miami-Dade Animal Services informed New Times final month that the overpopulation downside has compelled the company to deal with 140 canine at its former headquarters in Medley, which lacks air-con and the glamorous facilities on the new Doral headquarters. While animal rights advocates have claimed that the power is in a dilapidated state and the canine are being uncared for, the county says the animals are nicely cared for and that the Medley web site gives a crucial security web for the canine overflow inhabitants.
In 2009, New Times chronicled how some pit bull house owners left Miami-Dade to keep away from citations below the ban, whereas others stayed put and hoped to keep away from scrutiny from the county. One Kendall man informed New Times he was protecting his pit bull in a darkish bed room day-after-day whereas he labored.
“I’ve to conceal him like he is an abomination or one thing,” he stated. “When I stroll him, individuals put their automobiles in reverse and stare like I’m holding a fucking Bengal tiger.”
Miami-Dade’s now-axed pit bull ban included American pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, and related breeds. The county enacted the ban in 1989 after 7-year-old Melissa Moreira and her mom had been attacked by a pit bull that yr whereas strolling dwelling from a buying journey. Though Moreira survived the assault, she went by greater than eight facial reconstructive surgical procedures within the aftermath.
The newly enacted legislation nonetheless permits native governments and public housing authorities to undertake restrictions on house owners of canine which have bitten or attacked individuals.
Several research have discovered that extreme canine bites are mostly from pit bull-type breeds, combined breeds, and German shepherds. Researchers have identified that pit bulls’ bites are reported at a excessive fee as a result of the canine’ jaw power tends to generate accidents extra extreme than bites from different canine breeds.
A 2022 research discovered, nonetheless, that breed is a poor predictor of particular person behavioral traits, “explaining simply 9 p.c of variation in habits.” The analysis was based mostly on a survey of hundreds of canine house owners, mixed with DNA sequencing to broadly map out canine behavioral tendencies.Â
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) notes that though pit bulls’ genetic origins will be traced again to a line of bull-baiting and combating canine, fashionable pit bulls are largely the “results of random breeding,” and particular person pit bulls have a variety of behavioral predispositions.
“Early optimistic experiences, most notably socialization, are thought of key in stopping aggressive tendencies in canine,” the group says.
“Because of the affect of expertise, the pit bull particularly bred for generations to be aggressive might not battle with canine and the Labrador retriever bred to be a service canine could also be aggressive towards individuals,” ASPCA notes.