Unbanning
pit bulls
The pit bull controversy in NDG is cooling down.
Peter McQueen, city councillor for Côte-des-Neiges/Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, is re-thinking his call made last week for a ban on pit bulls in his riding following a flurry of complaints from angry residents.
The call followed a July 19 pit bull attack on 24-year-old Amanda Gatti. She was bitten repeatedly by a neighbour’s dog in her apartment on Clifton. The dog in question has since been euthanized.
“I was personally involved,” says the Projet Montréal councillor of his reaction to the attack, which occurred down the street from his home.
But McQueen says reaction to his plan has convinced him that a breed ban is not the way to go. He says he’s been flooded with evidence that such bans are ineffective, and that misbehaviour in aggressive dogs can usually be linked to bad owners. McQueen says his party is now looking at other ways to deal with irresponsible dog owners, including higher licence fees.
That’s good news for the SPCA. Tara Garland, director of the emergency shelter, says, “Our position would be opposed (to a ban). It’s not an effective solution to a larger problem, which is ownership.”
ELISABETH FAURE
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