Inspired by BlogPaws Be the Change Challenge, Blog the Change for Animals was created by Kim Clune of This One Wild Life and Amy and Rod Burkert of GoPetFriendly.com. We’re honored to participate in the Blog the Change for Animals week!
Which brings me to my personal campaign – bringing the change to Denver itself.
Denver has had Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) banning pit bulls and pit bull-type dogs from the city since 1989. Fortunately, in the 21 years since it’s inception, it hasn’t always been strictly enforced, and the legislation has been challenged numerous times by many groups. Unfortunately, since 2005, any pit bull-type dog spotted by animal control officers can be immediately seized and euthanized.
As the owner of two pit bulls, my heart aches for the owners who have been forced to move, or give up their dogs, or have watched helplessly as their pets were taken from them and destroyed. A blogger friend of mine lives just outside of Denver, and she reports that the shelters are full of pits whose owners, desperate to find a safe place for their now-illegal pets outside of the city limits, relinquished them to already over-crowded shelters where they knew the dogs would at least have a chance at life.
In the 5 years that Denver has been aggressively enforcing (more than 2,000 pit bulls killed in the last 5 years), there has been no evidence that the ban has decreased the total number of dog bites or attacks in the city. Doug Kelley, the Director of the Denver Division of Animal Care and Control, has been quoted as saying that the ban gives people ”a false sense of security.”
Maggie Marton at Oh My Dog! has created and is organizing the Operation:Denver campaign to educate Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper about the facts, rather than the myths, about pits and the people who love them. Maggie is coordinating a postcard campaign to send 10,560 post cards, or a mile’s worth, to the mayor of the Mile High City. Her campaign has made the rounds around the blogosphere and is gaining momentum, but she needs your help! All you have to do is create an electronic postcard (you can download a template for PCs or Macs) and email it to Maggie at operationdenver@gmail.com. That’s it! Just a minute of your time.
She’s received hundreds: some from elementary students who have been fortunate enough to meet Gunney, a rescued “bait dog” who now makes the rounds as a therapy dog, spreading the bully love!
You can check out a gallery of post cards on the Operation:Denver Facebook page. Now she just needs yours…
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow!! I am so, so happy to see this is the topic you selected for Blog the Change, and I’m incredibly grateful that you mentioned the postcard campaign! It’s so hugely important that we educate, spread awareness, and ACT! Thank you so much!!
I second Maggie’s “Wow!” Hosting EndBSL during our very first week in existence, we are so grateful for all Maggie has done to raise awareness on this important issue. It has been a privilege to track her progress and a reassurance to know that Denver’s bully breeds have her on their side. I still try to drop her a bunch of post cards every chance I get and I’m thrilled to see that you are supporting her too.
Thanks for Blogging the Change!
All the best,
Kim (and Amy by proxy)