Ask families of deceased kids about dog-bite statistics

An excellent response to Letters to the Editor in the Yorkregion.com.

Ask families of deceased kids about dog-bite statistics

Letters to the Editor
Oct 13, 2007
Re: Alice in Wonderland opinions useless, letter to the editor by Art Woodruff, Oct. 11.

Mr. Woodruff would like to see back-up data on bite statistics? So would we all.

That was just one of the recommendations put forward at the public hearings into amendments to the Dog Owners Liability Act that was completely ignored by the Liberal panel.

Perhaps we could ask the family of 17-month-old Korie Lyn Edwards, killed this summer by her grandparents’ Rottweiler-German shepherd cross in Smiths Falls.

What did recent amendments to act do to protect Korie Lyn?

Before you leap to the conclusion that the solution is to add Rottweilers and German shepherds (and any dogs substantially similar) to our list of banned breeds consider the following statistics.

“Actually, the lead biter is the Labrador retriever,” said Mr. Emile Therien, head of the Canada Safety Council “The problem is that if you try to ban a particular breed, you never stop.”

Statistics kept in the United States from 1965-2001 indicate at least 36 different breeds/types of dog have been involved in fatal attacks. This number rises to at least 52 breeds/types when surveying fatal attacks worldwide.

The Toronto “dog to human” bite statistics from animal services for 2001-2003 show about 70 breeds are reported as biting each year.

At the coroner’s inquest into the 1998 death of eight-year-old Courtney Trempe in Stouffville, mauled by a bull mastiff, the committee made 36 recommendations, none of which were to ban certain breeds of dogs.

During the public hearings into Liberal amendments to the dog owners act, the two political parties opposing the breed-specific portions made their own amendments based on the Courtney Trempe inquest findings.

They focused not on breed, but rather on responsible dog ownership through the education of dog owners, as well as the education of parents and children, funding for municipalities and the establishment of a dog bite registry.

The Liberals voted down these amendments and chose instead the cheap and easy and politically popular solution; the pit bull placebo.

So Alice, do you feel safer in Wonderland now?

Jean DabrosKingston