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posted by martyb on Monday December 31 2018, @02:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the can-you-lease-a-pet,-instead? dept.

Californian law change means pet shops can sell only rescued animals

California is set to become the first state in the US to ban the sale of non-rescue animals in pet shops.

The new law, known as AB 485, takes effect on 1 January. Any businesses violating it face a $500 (£400) fine.

The change means cats, dogs and rabbits sold by retailers cannot be sourced from breeders, only from animal shelters.

Animal rights groups have heralded it as a step forward against so-called "kitten factories" and "puppy mills".

Previously: California Commercial Pet Breeding Law Passed, Signed


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday December 31 2018, @11:59AM (7 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 31 2018, @11:59AM (#780232) Journal

    The dog most likely to bite an owner, or a family member, is my beloved German Shepard. But, the fact is, the dog most likely to KILL a family member, or even a passer by is the pit bull. I've looked at the statistics many times, and I hate the statistics, because the dog I love most is one of the worst offenders. For the number of bites and injuries, my favorite is the absolute worst. But fatalaties belong to the pit bull family.

    Why would you take a chance on them? You have a point, it will probably never turn on you, but if/when it does, you'll most likely be dropping a cold body in the ground.

    I'll take my chances with my sheps. If an especially "mean" German Shepard mangles my arm, it will almost certainly heal.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday December 31 2018, @02:04PM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday December 31 2018, @02:04PM (#780251)

    If an especially "mean" German Shepard mangles my arm, it will almost certainly heal.

    Probably true, but if it's a good mangling you will also have significant nerve damage, possible loss of motor function and almost certain loss of sensation.

    Gnarly scars are more than an aesthetic thing.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday December 31 2018, @07:56PM (1 child)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 31 2018, @07:56PM (#780365) Journal

      That's part of my point though - I've been bitten by sheps many times, but never seriously injured. Never had one even think about going for the kill - they'll take a bite out of you, then back off, unless you corner them and won't allow them to back off. If the pit bull takes a bite, he's going to keep on chewing for awhile.

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 01 2019, @12:46AM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday January 01 2019, @12:46AM (#780457)

        I had a ferret - they're tenacious, but small enough to not do serious damage.

        That's the thing about "bite statistics" - they don't really get into metrics like number of stitches required, time to full recovery, etc.

        My mom had a nutso duck hunting dog - forget the breed atm but, anyway, it got super excited to see new people and hit my big toenail with a tooth - not a bite, but hard enough to split the nail. Was that a bite? It wasn't intended as one, but it was far more painful and long lasting than any ferret injury I ever sustained.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 31 2018, @04:13PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 31 2018, @04:13PM (#780289)

    That happens with a very, very small number of pit bulls out of the total number of pit bulls in existence. Not to mention, the fact that pit bulls can't even be properly identified most of the time puts the statistics further into question. You might also consider how the dog was raised, and how media hype might cause sketchy people to select it because they believe it is especially aggressive, and then raise it in accordance with that belief.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday December 31 2018, @08:06PM (2 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 31 2018, @08:06PM (#780372) Journal

      You can keep telling yourself that, or you can be honest like I was with my sheps.

      In the 13-year period of 2005 through 2017, canines killed 433 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 66% (284) of these deaths. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers contributed to 76% of the total recorded deaths.

      https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-multi-year-fatality-report-2005-2017.php [dogsbite.org]

      Surely you're not going to claim that pit bulls make up 66% of the dog population in this country? That's the only way you can justify pit bulls causing 66% of all dog-caused fatalities. Rottweilers have a bad name, but they aren't even in the same league with the pit bulls. No other breed comes close!

      I. Breeds of dogs involved in the most human fatalities

              In the 13-year period of 2005 to 2017, canines killed 433 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 66% (284) of these deaths. Within this period, deaths attributed to pit bulls rose from 58% (2005 to 2010) to 71% (2011 to 2017), a 22% rise.1 [Table 2]
              Today, when averaging the last 3 years (2015 to 2017), pit bulls comprise about 6.5% of the total U.S. dog population. This is a 63% rise since the 3-year period of 2010 to 2012 when the total U.S. pit bull population was estimated to be 4%.2
              Rottweilers, the second most lethal dog breed over the 13-year period, inflicted 10% (45) of attacks resulting in death. This is a decrease from an earlier period (2005 to 2010) when rottweilers inflicted 14% of the total recorded deaths. [Table 2]
              A group of dog breeds followed rottweilers, each with fewer than half the number of deaths: German shepherds 20 deaths, mixed-breeds 17 deaths, American bulldogs 15 deaths, mastiff/bullmastiff combination 14 deaths and huskies 13 deaths.
              The 13-year data set shows the combination of pit bulls, rottweilers and "baiting" bull breeds, fighting and guardian breeds -- American bulldogs, mastiffs, bullmastiffs, presa canarios, and cane corsos -- contributed to over 80% of all dog bite fatalities.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @06:47AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @06:47AM (#780566)

        In the 13-year period of 2005 through 2017, canines killed 433 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 66% (284) of these deaths. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers contributed to 76% of the total recorded deaths.

        Out of how many of these dogs? And how were the breeds identified? Many people mistake other dogs for pit bulls.

        But, even assuming the statistics are 100% true, you'd minimize your chances of death far more greatly by just driving less. People are afraid of the strangest things.

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 01 2019, @08:30AM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 01 2019, @08:30AM (#780578) Journal

          I don't understand where you are coming from, really. Let us begin with the fact that dogs are carnivores - or more accurately, carnivorous scavengers. They kill to live, naturally. They are well equipped for the task. The most loved, the tamest, the best behaved dogs will resort to killing, if they are hungry. That is true of all dogs, big, small, or whatever.

          These particular dogs, pit bulls, were intentionally bred to be fighters. They originated in stock that was used to bait bulls, primarily, and the best fighters were bred, and bred, and bred again, to select for the most aggressive animals, with the physical characteristics needed to devastate their opponents. The dogs are superb killers amongst killers. You might even say that the breeding program was designed to produce a vicious animal, that wouldn't back down from anything, including man.

          You want to talk numbers? Click on the link. Pit bulls make up roughly 3% of the dog population in the United States. Yet, those pit bulls account for 66% of all dog related human fatalities. You don't need any more than a third grade education to make sense of the numbers. Keeping a pit bull as a family pet is perhaps not quite suicidal, but it certainly is stupid. Criminally stupid, in fact.

          All other dogs give some kind of warning that they might attack - barking, lowering the ears, growling, hunkering down to lunge, and more. (actually, almost all dogs will go out of their way to avoid a potential confrontation with a human) These pit bulls have been intentionally bred to give no sign of impending attack. Click the link provided, there is an account of an "expert" who went to investigate a pit bull. The damned dog actually wagged, and whined at the expert, to LURE the man within reach. That's right - display submissive behaviour, to lure the victim within reach. When the unsuspecting victim steps just close enough, lunge for the throat! Consequently, you never know if or when the dog will attack. He will strike when you are least expecting it, taking you totally unawares, and he will destroy you with that strike.

          As I say, the dogs are superb killers. If you need a man killing dog for self-defense or defense of a junk yard or some such, or if you need a military service dog, by all means get a pit bull. But, don't be surprised if that killer one day gets tired of you, and eats your throat out. If you INSIST on keeping the animal as a family pet, be prepared to bury your loved ones.

          I've always lived rather dangerously. Some might call me careless, in view of all the things I've done. But, I draw the line at the pit bulls. I won't have one on the property, and I'll kill any stray that comes by that looks very much like a pit bull. It doesn't even have to actually BE a pit bull. If it looks much like one, I'll put it down just to be sure. Of course, all of the stock breeds from which the pit bull was bred are fighting dogs anyway, all of them potentially dangerous. Each and every one of them are more dangerous than German Shepards. The Pit is the distillation of all of the killing instinct of each and every one of those other fighting breeds.

          If I may borrow a phrase from generations long gone, "The only good Pit Bull is a dead Pit Bull."

          To use your car analogy, you would have to have hundreds of different makes and models of cars. Each of them is more or less safe, but one of those makes stands out as "unsafe at any speed". Ralph Nader singled out the Corvair as being especially dangerous. You see no more Corvairs on the road today - they basically shut the company down.