Breed Specific Legislation has killed innocent dogs, and that amounts to Murder!

Innocent dogs have been given a Destroy Order and killed, not because they were vicious and attacked a person or animal, but merely for walking out of an accidentally left open door. In Ontario, it does not take an attack to put one of the Pit bull breeds on the Kill List. All it takes is a simple error with no harm done.

Permit me to tell you a sad story of how two wonderful, friendly family dogs were recently put down due to the Pit bull Ban in Ontario, Canada.

The family were having company over with young nieces and nephews. The weather has become much milder after a long harsh winter and the kids were running in and out playing. Unfortunately, someone had forgotten to close the door and by the time the door was noticed, the two dogs, were no where in the house to be found.

Naturally, panic set in and everyone ran outside calling and searching for the dogs, but they were no where to be found.

Because these dogs were properly registered as required by law and bylaw, a phone call came in from the local Animal Control Centre and they were told they had the dogs. How relieved the owners must have felt as they expected to pay a fine and get their dogs back. But, that is only for other breeds of dogs, not the Pit bull breeds.

They were told the dogs came willingly and jumped in the van for a car ride. These dogs never gave a growl or as much as raised a lip, but because the law was broken as the dogs were 'running at large', that was enough to have the dogs put down. A court date was set and because they knew their dogs were extremely friendly, the owners had hope that they would get their dogs back, but the court was a mere formality. They appealed the decision and went to their town council to see if they could get help. Nothing was available to them.

The children of the family cried as they didn't understand why their doggies weren't home with them and missed them very much. How does a parent explain the absurd law to them? Neither dog was old or in poor health. They knew their dogs were somewhere else, but couldn't understand why their parents weren't going and bring them home.

The ACC kept contacting them to sign the forms to have them put down, but the owners refused. The officer said they were only delaying what was going to happen to them anyway. He told them they would drop the charges of the fine if they relinquish the dogs, but still the owners refused. They continually searched for a way to be able to get their dogs back home to them. I know this as I was contacted in hopes that I would have some answers they didn't know about. It broke my heart to have to tell them the simple truth. There wasn't anything I could do other than give them a name and phone number of a lawyer that takes cases such as this.

Unfortunately, ACC was charging them daily for kennel fees which already amounted to $500.00, along with all the other charges they had gotten from court cost, fines, etc. Had they have knew about the lawyer earlier, this story may have had a happier ending, but the end result was they were pressured into signing their dogs away as the officer kept reminding them the longer they prolonged the inevitable and the results would still end up with the dogs destroyed, the owners broken heartedly finally surrendered and signed the papers.

This is but one of the heart breaking stories and there are many others that are much the same. Not vicious or attacking dogs, but happy, loyal family pet bullies that a simple error stole their life. This is also why, The Ontario Pit bull Ban is so terrifying as bully owners are always having to second guess to try to prevent accidents from occurring. This goes beyond being responsible. This is the government terrifying bully owners for fear of making a simple mistake and with the vague laws, you are never sure if you are following them to their exact specifications.

This page is dedicated to all our 'fallen martyrs of the BSL', not only in Ontario, the other parts of Canada and in states in the U.S.A. too.

If you have lost a beloved victim to the BSL and would like their pictures added, please email me and include your pet's picture, name, where you live and a brief story of how your dog fell victim to BSL. My heart goes out to each and everyone of you. My hope is that history never repeats itself and this is also, why I believe this page is so important.

We must never forget these dogs and how breed ban stole them away from us.

Sadly missed are;

Madonna was one of the first Ontario's Dogs to be killed by the BSL. 

She was rescued from the Humane Society in Guelph, but the family that rescued her to her to the Leash Free Park with their other dog.

She supposing had some kind of altercation with another dog, but neither dogs were hurt. 

The family returned her to the same Humane Society that she had been adopted from and now she was deemed aggressive. 

This death could have been prevented as the Toronto Humane Society was willing to take her, but the Guelph Authorities refused to release her.

Tyra's story is the one I used above as an example above. 

It was her and her pup, Buster (next picture) that took their final walk the day of the open door incident.

She had never shown any aggression her whole life, but that one simple walk was her last.

Her family is still overwhelmed with grief as she was the perfect family dog and very loved.

Poor young Buster, still in the puppy stage and adored by his family.

How could the government put out such a law that would kill innocent puppies like this? 

The sweet look on his face says it all, yet the Ontario Pit bull Ban didn't give him a second thought of robbing him of his life.

In some countries it takes an aggressive act on the part of the dog to either a person or another animal, but in Ontario, a simple error is enough to put your dog down... IF it happens to be a Pit bull breed.

At less than one year of age,  these beautiful babies had their first run in with the “Pit bull” stigma. The neighbors, with problems selling their house, were uncomfortable living next door to pit bulls and called animal control with a false claim of a pit bull attack. 

The judge,  sentenced them to death.

The owners frantically pleaded until it was overturned and replaced with a $2000 fine, which she paid in full and they were released the next week.

 The neighbour’s intentions had not yet been accomplished and less than a week later animal control was again at her door for her pups.

She explained  to the judge that during this alleged attack, Jaynee was giving birth and Soutan was locked in her bedroom so as not to make her nervous. It was impossible for the two dogs that were watched constantly due to the pregnancy  to escape. 

Her babies spent their 1st & final birthday at Dekalb County Animal Control eating birthday cake through the cages. Six days later, November 7, 2003 they were put to death, even though she paid $1500 more dollars in an attempt to save their lives. 

She says, "I will never forget my babies and the happiness they gave me."

Hopefully, neither will we!

The owner of Snow and Autumn sobs, “Not a day goes by when I don’t think of them.

The neighbourhood we live in isn’t exactly the nicest part of town. Across the street from us are three troublemakers (kids always in trouble with the law) along with two people that have wanted us to sell the dogs to them.

One of which my husband told him if he ever set foot on our property, the law would be called in.”

One of the fellows wanted to buy Snow from them, as he was protective of his yard and growled at the guy who wanted him for fighting purposes that understandably left the couple stressed with fear.

“That was the same guy that entered our backyard. I was outside with the dogs at the time.”

Both dogs were out on 20-foot long chains, just long enough to get around the full yard, as their fence they didn’t feel was secure enough as it was more of a lattice type.

He came into the backyard shouting at me and calling me a bunch of names I won’t repeat, and told me I was going to give him Snow or else there would be trouble.

No one knows who called ACC due to being confidential.

Autumn, A Service Dog In Training (SDIT) was still learning and needed to be put through more of the course.

Without going into detail of the medical history of the owners, which I believe should be private, Snow was also going to be put through the tests to see if he qualified to be more of a therapy dog which she was approved of by her doctor.

Both of the dogs were excellent with children and the owners loved them even more about them.

“At that time, I was nine months pregnant and when ACC brought four police officers with them and they came to me first, then went for the dogs, I got very excited and one of the officers took me and put me in the back of a police cruiser, so I wouldn’t hurt myself they said.”

“They told me I could get them back after a 10 day quarantine and at the same time they would be temperament tested.

They had warned then not to let a male person near Snow, as they were working on him and although he had no problem with male children, loved her husband dearly, but still a lot more work was needed to get him ready for adult males.

“Two days there, they deemed them dangerous I as told”

“They told me a male worker was feeding them and Snow just attacked him. No bite report was shown when asked.”

“Snow would not bite unless provoked, the only thing he will do is not eat the food put down and cower in the corner for the night until comforted by a female. Autumn was protecting her brother (although they were not related in any way), they were fed together as I understand it as they had both kennel doors open which was being held down in front of her.”

“They didn’t put them down until the fourth day of being there. I only found out about them being put down because I phoned to see how they were doing, which I did every day.”

I was told that a letter was sent and another was hand delivered to me. I never received either letter.

Once they told me the address the letter was sent to, it then became obvious they had mixed up the streets and with further investigation, the address they said it was sent to, is non-existent.

Five days later, the hand delivered letter came and I believe it was only to save their ass.

The city Deputy councillor basically told us it was not their job if your animal was put down.

It makes me cry whenever I look at their pictures. We wanted our son to grow up with them and they as his dogs.

Now we are waiting for BSL to get over turned and we are going to own another APBT, but for the time being we are thinking of adopting a rescue APBT. They will never replace the holes in our hearts for Snow or Autumn, but to save a life of another could help to mend our broken hearts and know we are doing a good thing giving another a loving home and family.

As a special treat to this sad memorial page, I'd like to show you a wonderous sight that you could never see in Ontario, as least until we win our ban. 

Savannah, was pregnant when she was rescued into Montreal, Quebec and I thank my dear friend (she knows who she is*hugs*) for keeping me updated and  the thrill of having these pictures sent to me. I cried happy and sad tears all at once. Happy of the joy of seeing puppies again and sad that you wouldn't see this in Ontario. Enjoy!

Here we see Savanna with her pups

This pup was just born and still wet

This is a better picture showing Savanna after cleaning off the pups, nursing them.

 This little pup is suckling

I'm born innocent and anything I learn will be from whoever owns me. I'm going to give a LOT of love when I grow up!

Can you imagine this innocent could cause a threat to people?