City of Brampton hires an outside lawyer
Written by Steve Barker on February 24th, 2010
The city of Brampton has hired an outside lawyer to continue to persecute the owners of docile family pets, including a 75-year-old lady on a pension.
Category Archives: Legislation
Unbelievable misuse of taxpayers’ money
Written by Steve Barker on February 13th, 2010
I have to say, I cannot recall ever seeing a city do this before. The City of Brampton has taken out a full-page ad in their local newspaper in order to “defend” their employees’ actions in seizing two family pets and scheduling their destruction. So, not only does Rui Branco (the owner of one of the dogs) have to pay for his own lawyer, but his (and many other irate dog owners’) taxes are being used to help the city try to kill his dog and to try to hoodwink the public with cover-their-butt propaganda!
Can’t travel through Winnipeg with my dog, either!
Written by Steve Barker on February 7th, 2010
Some people made a suggestion to a friend of mine that, if she wants to move from the West Coast of Canada to Nova Scotia with her dogs, she should drive to Winnipeg and then fly the rest of the way in order to skip dog-hating Ontario. I investigated that possibility and here’s the (bad) news.
In case anyone was wondering?
Written by Steve Barker on February 6th, 2010
In 2005, a lady wrote to then Ontario Minister of Tourism, Jim Bradley, to find out if she could drive through Ontario with her dogs to get from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia. This was his reply.
News articles about Brampton dogs and letters to the editors
Written by Steve Barker on February 3rd, 2010
Here are all the news stories I can find about the two dogs seized in Brampton. I have also included info for writing letters to the editors of the major Toronto and national newspapers, as well as the Brampton Guardian.
Two boxer-crosses seized as "pit bulls" in Brampton
Written by Steve Barker on January 30th, 2010
Brampton, Ontario, has really put their foot in it this time! These are two more cases that really need both media and public attention, ASAP.
Complicit in their own diminishment
Written by Steve Barker on January 27th, 2010
In case you were wondering how anybody could persuade 70+ intelligent, rational, elected government representatives to define a dog as dangerous based only on they way it looks, here’s a Toronto Star article explaining how.
Toledo’s "pit bull" law unconstitutional!
Written by Steve Barker on January 22nd, 2010
Great news! Portions of Toledo Ohio’s pit bull restrictions have been struck down by a judge.
Kitchener-Waterloo pit bull committee meeting minutes 1997
Written by Steve Barker on January 19th, 2010
I saw a discussion about pit bull myths on Facebook and it reminded me of some documents I have from government meetings regarding the city of Kitchener, Ontario. Here are some of the crazier things that were said by authorities at those meetings.
Great article on responsible dog ownership
Written by Steve Barker on January 16th, 2010
Here is a great article by LeeAnn O’Reilly, president of the Dog Legislation Council of Canada, with whom I have worked for six years.
Journalist with good news story ends on a sour note
Written by Steve Barker on January 16th, 2010
Some good news out of Ontario for two condemned young dogs. They’ve been shipped to the SPCA in Fredericton, New Brunswick. It’s a shame that Shawn Berry from the Daily Gleaner felt it necessary to end the story by quoting from the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeals judges. In my opinion, it is probably one of the most inaccurate and inflammatory statements ever put into print by a judge about “pit bulls”.
Another dictatorship town in Canada
Written by Steve Barker on January 11th, 2010
Carstairs, Alberta, has a dog bylaw that restricts three “breeds”. One isn’t a breed at all and the other two are misspelled!
Ozzy: Musician, reality TV star, and now DOG BEHAVIOUR EXPERT?
Written by Steve Barker on January 11th, 2010
Somehow, Ozzy Osbourne has morphed from bat-eating heavy metal rock star (who I thought was great) to reality TV family man to now self-appointed expert on dog breed identification and dog behaviour.
Animal Rights reviewed (again)
Written by Steve Barker on December 24th, 2009
I was in a bookstore yesterday browsing the pet section and came across Ingrid Newkirk’s book “The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights”. I didn’t buy it, although I still may. What I did do, however, was collect all my earlier articles on animal rights organizations. Here is what I’ve collected to-date.
No animal cruelty charges?
Written by Steve Barker on December 18th, 2009
An emaciated pit bull and her eight neglected puppies, whose teenage owners advertised them for sale on craigslist.org, are recovering at the Nanaimo SPCA. No charges are expected to be filed.
Welcome to Tom Skeldon’s nightmare!!
Written by Steve Barker on December 16th, 2009
A puppy Monday escaped an almost certain death at the Lucas County Dog Warden’s Office and is now in the care of an animal rescue group after a rare transfer of a “pit bull”-type dog out of the county’s pound. Under traditional circumstances, the puppy could have soon faced euthanasia under Dog Warden Tom Skeldon’s longstanding policy against adopting or transferring out any “pit bulls” from the pound. Once a “pit bull” dog reaches 3 months of age, there are no restrictions against Mr. Skeldon’s practice of killing all adult “pit bulls” regardless of behavior.
What if the Denver "pit bull" tribunal is wrong?
Written by Steve Barker on October 21st, 2009
Any time someone makes the “gods” of breed identification look like idiots, I’m all for it!
Dead dogs from Denver
Written by Steve Barker on October 2nd, 2009
WARNING! The following links contain pictures of dead dogs, dogs that have died as a direct result of Denver’s ban on “pit bulls”.
Another tin-pot dictatorship I’ll never visit!!
Written by Steve Barker on October 1st, 2009
Neguac, New Brunswick (Canada), has passed a bylaw banning “pit bulls”. The town has NOT included a grandfather clause, which means that all existing dogs that fall under their definition must leave the town immediately or be confiscated.
Attention politicians! Dog owners DO vote!
Written by Steve Barker on September 30th, 2009
The former mayor of Paradise Newfoundland found out the hard way yesterday that not only do dog owners vote, they don’t forget.