Back Story of the Montreal Pit Bull Ban, What the Vets Omitted and Cited in Their Report and How the Pit Bull Lobby Operates
The Association of Veterinary Doctors of Québec (OMVQ) omitted key parts of medical studies in their report to the ministerial committee. The omissions left some of the studies “unrecognizable.”
The OMVQ report also cited several studies, which they deemed to be “scientific,” but were funded by the heavily financed pro-pit bull lobby. The OMVQ failed to note this conflict of interest.
The 5-part La Presse investigation by Marie-Claude Malboeuf is now translated into English. After its release on August 13, Montreal officials solidified their commitment to pass a pit bull bylaw.
https://blog.dogsbite.org/2016/10/montreal-pit-bull-ban-veterinary-report-pit-bull-lobby.html
HEAD AND NECK BITES (2012-2013) | O’Brien et al.
What the OMVQ communicated
1. “Out of 101 cases, 57% of patients were under 10 years of age.”
2. “Of patients with head and neck bites, 32% were bitten by pit bulls, and breed was not indicated in 34% of cases.”
3. “The second most often implicated breed was the golden retriever.”3
What they didn’t mention
1. Pit bull victims were five times more likely to require surgery.
2. In contrast with other dogs, pit bulls were more likely to attack strangers (+31%) and without provocation (+48%)
3. The importance of pit bulls’ responsibility for bites was a key finding. It confirms and underlines the findings of other publications.
Veterinarians’ Cite Pit Bull Lobby
La Presse called out five unqualified studies cited in the OMVQ report that quickly led the veterinarians’ association to admit it had been a mistake to include them. Four of these studies, policy papers or “self-published books” were authored, co-authored, financed or all three by the American pit bull lobby, whose specialties focus on the impossibility to properly identify a pit bull, including by professional shelter workers, and that breed-specific legislation is ineffective.
The fifth questionable study cited in the OMVQ report is authored by Páraic Ó Súilleabháin -- an Irish psychology student -- (Human hospitalisations due to dog bites in Ireland, 1998-2013: Implications for current breed specific legislation). Ó Súilleabháin is an owner of a restricted breed and the founder of a lobby group, Unmuzzle Ireland, “a conflict of interest he was forced to declare after the fact, under questioning from a journalist from The Sunday Times,” La Presse learned.
more at the link
Pit Bull Bans Saves lives
https://blog.dogsbite.org/2010/06/cities-with-successful-pit-bull-laws.html
Toronto, Canada
Population 2,615,060 | View Ordinance
In October 2014, The Star reported on the glowing success of the 2005 Ontario pit bull ban. Pit bull bites per capital are down by more than a factor of six since 2004.
From 2001 to 2004, pit bulls were more likely to bite people and domestic animals than any other breed, the statistics show.
In 2004, the last full year before the ban, there were 984 pit bulls licensed in Toronto and 168 reported pit bull bites. That’s more than double the rate of German shepherds, the next most aggressive breed.
The figures, compiled by the city’s Animal Services division at the Star’s request, come from comparing a breed’s licensed population with the number of times it was reported to have bitten a person or pet.
Nearly a decade after the ban was put in place, its purpose appears to have been achieved: pit bull bites in the city have virtually disappeared.
In 2013, the pit bull population was down to 501, and there were only 13 reported pit bull bites. (See: related data charts)
--- related editorial ---
Indeed, reported incidents of such attacks have almost disappeared.
Reporter Eric Andrew-Gee and data analyst Joel Eastwood crunched municipal numbers and found that, from 2001 to 2004, pit bulls were more likely than any other breed to bite people and pets in Toronto.
In 2004, the last full year before the ban, there were 984 licensed pit bulls in the city and 168 reported bites. Last year there were 501 pit bulls registered in Toronto, and just 13 bites. That’s right — the number of reported bites went from 168 to 13.
