[nagdu] Barking up the right tree?

[Ginger Kutsch]

Barking up the right tree?
Pit bull service dog owners make progress with City Council
Peter Marcus, DDN Staff Writer
Thursday, August 26, 2010  
SERVICE DOG? - To Glenn Belcher, an Operation Desert Storm
veteran, his pit bull, Sky, absolutely is a service dog.  
http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=9737
 
Operation Desert Storm veteran Glenn Belcher suffers from
posttraumatic stress disorder. His 3-year-old pit bull, Sky, is
his only saving grace.
 
But Denver animal control officials won't let Belcher keep his
pit bull because of a 20-year-old city ban on the breed. Never
mind that Sky is considered a service dog, protected by the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Animal Control Director Doug
Kelley simply couldn't approve Sky for use in the city because
Sky is of a banned breed, considered by most on City Council to
be vicious and a danger to the city.
 
Help, however, may be coming to disabled Denverites like Belcher.
A City Council committee on Tuesday moved forward with a change
to the city's 20-year-old ban on the breed that would allow
people with disabilities to own pit bulls that are considered
service dogs.
 
Belcher relies on Sky. He shares his horror stories with his
buddy so that he doesn't have to burden his friends and family
with the pain. When Belcher suffers from night terrors, Sky sits
on his chest to keep him from panicking out of control. Sometimes
Sky wakes Belcher up out of the terrors and eases his trauma with
a lick to the face.
 
"There's no such thing as a bad dog, but there's such a thing as
bad owners," explains Belcher. "That's what happened. This poor
breed has just been side-railed into oblivion, and I think it's
time for the public to understand that it's not the dogs."
 
When Belcher was blocked by animal control from having his
service pit bill in Denver, he took the case to the Wheat
Ridge-based Animal Law Center. Attorneys planned on filing with a
federal court for an injunction preventing the city from blocking
pit bulls as service dogs. But in March, both Denver and Aurora -
which also bans pit bulls - signed a joint stipulation stating
that they wouldn't go after any pit bulls that are considered
service dogs.
 
Attorney Jennifer Edwards isn't resting quite yet. She has filed
a federal lawsuit challenging both Denver's and Aurora's pit bull
bans, arguing that the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits
municipalities from using breed-specific legislation to ban any
service dog. Three plaintiffs are named, including Belcher. 
 
The federal law is clear in that it preempts any municipal
breed-specific ban in cases where the animal has been designated
as a service dog, said Edwards. City attorneys agree.
 
The Animal Law Center's lawsuit also challenges Denver's
prohibition against transporting pit bulls through Denver. City
Council members heard from city attorneys on Tuesday that they
need to update the city's pit bull ban to lift transport
restrictions on pit bull owners who travel through Denver. A
state court actually ruled in 2004 that the city had no right to
prohibit transport of pit bulls through the city. But in over
five years, city officials never updated its law to comply with
the court's order.
 
"It's pretty offensive that this has been on the books this way
for this long in complete violation of the ADA, in complete
violation of our Constitutionally protected rights, and it took a
lawsuit from the Animal Law Center to open their eyes," said
Edwards.
 
The proposed ordinance change passed out of the Health, Safety,
Education and Services Committee on Tuesday and is likely to be
heard by the full City Council on Sept. 13. 
 
City Council members appeared reluctant to back the ordinance
change, but felt their hands were tied by federal law.
Councilwoman Carol Boigon, who has a disability herself and says
she is a proponent of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said
she is concerned that the ordinance change will lead to an abuse
of the system and a sort of back door to legalizing pit bulls.
 
"I'm thinking of all of the drug houses that I have worked on
over the last seven years, and a couple of them have people who
have become paraplegics in bad drug deals, but were still dealing
out of their house, and they had tough dogs," said Boigon. "Was
that a service dog? Well, I don't know, but those certainly were
legitimately handicapped people. I think we're going to be in a
world of hurt down the road on this."
 
Animal Control Director Kelley acknowledged that the city has no
separate licensing process for service dogs. In other words,
anyone can walk in to claim their dog is a service dog, and
animal control officers are not allowed to ask specific questions
about the person's disability because of protections afforded
under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
 
City attorneys acknowledged that the only way for animal control
officers to prove that a person is legitimately using a service
dog would be to follow-up with an investigation. But officials
say there simply are no resources to allow for those
investigations.
 
Councilman Doug Linkhart suggested that Kelley and his department
develop a separate licensing process for service animals, as well
as a test or survey to accompany the application.
 
But in the meantime, concern - or joy depending on which side of
the fence you stand on - is being raised that the ordinance
change is leading to a legalization of pit bulls in the City of
Denver. 
 
Councilwoman Carla Madison - an opponent of the city's pit bull
ban who is attempting to garner support for a bill that would
allow pit bulls if they are specially licensed by the city - said
it is ridiculous for the Council to be enacting piecemeal changes
to the city's pit bull ban.
 
"I just think that this opens kind of a Pandora's box," she told
her colleagues. "You have to observe the dog. Who's going to do
that observation? We don't have that many animal control
officers, and they have enough to do as it is."
 
"Maybe we need to re-look at our pit bull ban and see if there's
some way we can help close that gap . maybe put in place a
dangerous dog act, just look at it differently," Madison
continued.
 
The lawsuit by the Animal Law Center isn't the only lawsuit
Denver is facing. There are at least eight individuals who have
or are currently pursuing or considering lawsuits against the
city.
 
The most prominent case is one filed in 2007 by pit bull advocate
Sonya Dias. The city is spending thousands of dollars defending
itself against the lawsuit.
 
Dias was forced to sell her home in Denver to save her pit bull
Gryffindor. She hopes the continued pressure will lead to a
repeal of the ban.
 
"Any sort of societal change takes time, and thank God we're
moving toward more wiser laws and maybe a little compassion
thrown in there as well," said Dias. "I think it's going to
change, no matter what. What we're doing, and what the
ADA-oriented lawsuit has done is just pushing that to make it
happen a little faster."