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Pit bull population explosion
Cities bear brunt of problems caused by irresponsible owners, but advocates defend the dogs
By Lauren Stanforth
Updated 03:17 p.m., Monday, February 6, 2012


SCHENECTADY — The frightened creature looked like every other dog staring out from shelter cages around the Capital Region — a pit bull.

But this stray, with her wide, questioning eyes, also had nipples that were engorged and hanging low, like she had just given birth.

After a city animal control officer found the stray, renamed Kendra, in the Central State Street neighborhood in January, Kendra's five puppies were aborted by a local veterinarian. Because, as animal advocates will attest, there is no more room in this world for pit bulls, a breed that is being increasingly co-opted by irresponsible owners who more often want the dog as a menacing status symbol rather than a beloved pet. No where is this more true than in cities, including Albany, Troy and Schenectady, where animal control said 75 percent of the dogs seized last month were pit bull mixes.

Pit bulls are being over bred because people believe the dog is inherently aggressive — an idea based on the breed's original job of locking their jaws down on big game during hunting expeditions more than 200 years ago.

Other "mean" dogs have been popular in the past, like the German shepherd or Doberman pinscher. But what is happening now with the pit bull is unmatched, said Brad Shear, executive director of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands. At his shelter, 60 percent of the strays taken in from Troy, Albany and around the Capital Region look like pit bulls. But he used the term "look like" because DNA testing shows that many of them now are mixes of other breeds, including dogs with large heads like mastiffs and rottweilers.

Pit bulls have entered the news for the last 20 years, from NFL star Michael Vick's conviction for his role in a dog fighting ring in 2007, to the case of three pit bulls mauling a Schenectady woman last August. That same month, an Albany man was arrested for swinging a pit bull puppy by its leash and letting its head hit the pavement. But overpopulation of the pit bull is about more than just splashy stories. It is a systemic problem, a barometer for the blight and crime also strangling cities.

Take for example Off Da Rip Bloodlines in Schenectady's Bellevue neighborhood, which sells pit bull supplies. SPCA officials said at the very least its existence encourages the breed's stereotype — if not involving it in illegal activities. Off Da Rip advertises products on its website like muscle builder to help the animal "reach its full potential." Pictures show pit bulls attacking bags attached to trees, a dog wearing a leather breast plate with spikes, and another pit bull posing behind the business' co-owner while the owner brandishes a shotgun.

But Off Da Rip co-owner Dara Sim said people get the wrong idea about the "culture" surrounding pit bull ownership. She insists that the exercise equipment she sells is designed to strengthen the dogs for organized competition, not fights. "I think we've done a lot of work with rescuing dogs and helping people to be more responsible dog owners," Sim said.

Off Da Rip's store on Broadway, the address for which is not advertised, is guarded by a snarling pit bull wearing a heavy chain around its neck.........................>>>>............................>>>>........................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Pit-bull-population-explosion-3038843.php#ixzz1ldk0Abzd

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Dog fight between animal shelter and cops
Posted at: 02/11/2012 11:41 PM | Updated at: 02/12/2012 12:03 AM
By: Dan Levy

SCHENECTADY - An ongoing feud between the city of Schenectady and a local animal shelter escalated Saturday and police now say it could lead to criminal charges against the shelter's director.

It began after the Animal Protective Foundation's Executive Director Rosalie Ault told a man they didn't have any more room for a pair of pit bulls he was trying to drop off at their Scotia shelter. On Saturday morning Ault escorted the man -- and the puppies -- to Schenectady Police headquarters where apparently the fur began to fly.

According to the veterinarian who is now treating the 4-1/2-month-old pit bulls, they are both happy and healthy puppies. Schenectady Police, on the other hand, were not happy when the puppies were pawned off on them Saturday morning......................>>>>.....................>>>>....................http://wnyt.com/article/stories/s2493258.shtml?cat=300&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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Facts about the Feb. 10 Animal Control lncident

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    Category: News & Announcements

These are the facts pertaining to the Schenectady Animal Control incident on February 10, 2012. Please address questions directly to Marguerite Pearson, Director of Communications at pearson@animalprotective.org or 374-3944, ext. 113.

The APF is not an animal control facility, but assists the city and other Schenectady municipalities because there is no other place for this.

Seizure and housing of stray dogs, by NYS Agriculture and Markets law, is the responsibility of municipalities.

The APF’s agreement with the City of Schenectady states that we will not accept dogs when:

1) we don’t have space and
2) they are ill

We have had repeated incidents in which the police /animal control have disregarded these stipulations.

This incident was a line drawn in the sand after years of noncompliance and abuse of our relationship by the city. We have had meetings and extensive communications with corporation counsel, the police and city council stressing the need for a solution to this problem, but we are continually ignored.

What happened:
On Friday, February 10 a man presented two stray dogs that he clamed were from Albany Street in Schenectady. We explained that not only were we full, but we could not accept ill dogs. (They had projectile diarrhea in our lobby.)

If we had sent him to the police department, (which is responsible for transport when animal control is not on duty) they would certainly have turned him away.

So our executive director escorted him to the police department.

The officers gave the following excuses and arguments:
• It’s not our responsibility
• We don’t have appropriate housing
• We have no staff to transport
• We are busy fighting real crimes
• There is no animal control on duty
• How do we even know they are Schenectady strays?

None of these arguments negate or excuse the fact that this is the responsibility of the City of Schenectady and that falls under the police department.

The man with the dogs said he had to go to work so he left the dogs. Ault told the police that it was their responsibility to transport the dogs and left.

Here is some more background to this issue …

FACT:
The term “unfunded mandate” is too often used to deflect the responsibility that was placed on municipalities by state Agriculture and Markets Law decades ago. It is not unfunded; the dog licensing program was in fact developed to fund it. Each municipality by law must have a dog control officer to manage strays and enforce ordinances relating to the impoundment and disposition of animals. Municipalities must also ensure that there is a place to house them.

FACT:
Animal control in Schenectady County is grossly under funded. National per capita costs for animal control run between $8 and $13. In Schenectady County, the per capita expenditure is about .46.

FACT:
The APF cannot become an animal control facility, nor can it meet all the needs of the county. When the shelter was built in 1993, it was not designed for this purpose. It lacks isolation space for incoming strays, which is critical to maintaining the health of our entire dog population.

This posed a serious problem in 2010 when city strays with parvovirus caused us to close the shelter to all dog intake and adoption for nearly four weeks. It prevented us not only from housing stray dogs, but also from serving anyone who needed to bring in their own pet or wanted to adopt.

Another reason we will not promise housing for every animal comes down to making painful and unfair life and death decisions about the animals already in our care. When an aggressive or otherwise unadoptable stray dog comes in, we are required by law to hold that dog for seven days. Since owner surrendered dogs are not subject to a holding period, they would need to be the ones euthanized for space, a practice we are categorically unwilling to adopt.

FACT:
Municipalities pay for sheltering for only the seven day holding period required by law. We then bring unclaimed dogs into our adoption program. At that point we invest hundreds of dollars in each animal by spaying or neutering, providing disease testing and vaccinations. Our caring donors – not taxpayers – fund this care.

Should the city and/or county build a municipal facility, the APF will continue to provide quality veterinary care and rehoming opportunities for adoptable strays that come through the animal control system at our own expense. However citizens should know that the responsibility for implementation of animal control programs and the development of viable housing strategies for strays lie entirely with municipalities that collect taxes and fees for this purpose.

The most egregious insinuation made in the distortion of this situation is that the APF is somehow looking to profit from animal control services. That assertion comes from the Schenectady County SPCA, which has a very shallow understanding of the operation of the APF and the extensive services we provide.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and get the facts.

Quoted from rachel72

Nice to see how everyone is working together in the Renaissance.
Again, the City's inaction (mandating all dogs be registered, not allowing felons to own pit bulls, putting harsher laws for dog attacks) has allowed the dog population (mainly pit bulls) to explode. Even the shelters can't keep up...AND the City can't figure out a way to solve this with the APF? Where's McCarthy? Does he even have a clue?