Originally published August 6 2005
Underground railroad for dogs
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Since May of this year, a group of people in Denver have been operating their own version of the underground railroad, but this time it is for dogs. Denver has started enforcing its ban on Pit Bull dog ownership, and more than 200 have been killed in the city's animal shelters.
Denver animal lovers have set up an underground network to save pit bulls from being put to death under a city measure that bans residents from owning the dog breed.
More than 290 pit bulls have been killed at Denver's dog pound since the city resumed enforcing the ban in May after overcoming legal challenges to a ban enacted after a series of pit bull attacks, including the fatal mauling of a 3-year-old boy.
"Singling out the breed is absurd," said Rita Anderson, a 59-year-old grandmother who is spearheading the rescue effort.
"Instead of punishing family pets, the city should go after backyard breeders who create vicious dogs by chaining and beating them," she said.
Anderson and her volunteers have taken about 30 pit bulls to an animal refuge 100 miles south of Denver where they hope they will be adopted by people who live in communities that don't ban the breed.
Denver's ordinance prohibits residents from owning, breeding or selling American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, or American Pit Bull Terriers.
The ban also applies to "any dog displaying the majority of physical traits" of the three breeds.
Miami, Cincinnati and Toronto have similar pit bull bans.
Doug Kelley, Denver's animal control director, said 430 pit bulls had been seized since May and 292 had been euthanized.
Kelley said the enforcement of the ban was targeted at owners who might be moving the dogs within city limits to skirt the prohibition but officers were not going door-to-door looking for pit bills to kill, he added.
We will even escort owners and their dogs to the city limits," he said.
But Sonya Dias is not taking any chances with her one-year-old pit bull, Gryffindor.
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