Absolutely AWFUL News from Best Friends!

Everyone who has spent any time on the internet in the last couple of years knows about the dichotomy of PETA - that they try to advertise themselves as being an animal rights organization that is out there saving animals and doing good political things for animals all over the world, and trying to get people to become vegetarians - because even cows have feelings and we shouldn't eat them - and that is SUCH a good thing - how can anybody put PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) down? Well... they are also a political organization that doesn't believe in pet ownership at all - they think that having pets is the same thing as having slaves in our house - and that domestic animal ownership should be phased out - and animals used on farms should be set free. They also think that certain breeds SHOULD be banned of the face of the earth - ie PIT BULLS - because they ARE inherently dangerous according to PETA - and therfore once they are all gone - we won't have any more problems. PETA actually DOES have a hidden agenda behind the facade of their hippiness, hippness, and flower power. They are actually NOT a good organization to promote and give money to .

But Best Friends Animal Society - they are one of the stalwarts of the animal rescue world - they are STAINLESS - they have always risen above the fray it seems. They could always do no wrong and always seemed to have the right position about everything.

That is - until now. I have to tell you that Best Friends made me cry today I was so heartbroken by what they wrote about their upcoming "Dangerous Dogs Summit" coming up in October. I have written A LOT here about breed specific legislation - that it's not just about pit bulls - that it's about all dogs. It's about respect for all dogs because pit bull isn't a breed and it's impossible to really tell for sure if a dog really is a pit bull and so many types of dogs look like pit bulls and if someone wanted to they could just label your dog incorrectly - and in a backwater no wheresville - your dog would die.

It also allows a hysteria around dogs to build - and there is a growing hysteria about dogs today. And it's unnecessary. But that's not the point of today's post. Today's post is about 2 separate press releases put out by Best Friends about the upcoming summit.

One of them talks about how BSL has failed and what can be done about it? How can the pit bulls be saved? Well Best Friends is going to talk about. Come to the Dangerous Dogs Summit.

The press release on one page is reallly positive - it says things like:
-Examine the failures of the current models of breed-specific legislation
-Explore the psycho-social causes of the problem
-Compare legislation that’s worked in other countries
-Draw up innovative laws
-Launch a grassroots campaign
This summit is for everyone who wants to focus on the root cause of the problem. By the end of this summit you will be able to create positive change in your community.

Now that's a summit I'd think about going to!

But then on another press release - boy, oh boy, it says:

Dangerous Dogs - They are a problem, and we need to address that problem right now

(It talks about a pit bull that killed another dog for a couple paragraphs which allows then to say "Not all pit bulls are bad, but because of their breeding they do have a higher percentage of bad than do most breeds.", and then it goes on to talk about how Denver is killing pit bulls every day and how BSL has been enacted across the country - and then it says:)

Best Friends has a three-point plan - Best Friends is putting together a national initiative that addresses the basic problem of people breeding aggressive dogs:
? It acknowledges that there are dangerous breeds, and that aggressive tendencies have now been bred into their genes.
? It includes legislation making it illegal to breed aggression into dogs.
? It goes after the people who are breeding aggressive dogs, rather than simply the dogs themselves.

All three of these things have already been done in Europe, and those measures are working.

So what does this mean? Best Friends wants to kill dogs. Plain and simple. Best Friends is saying that not all dogs are equal - what people who have been fighting for - some for as long as the last 20 years - in the anti breed specific legislation community - is the fact that ALL DOGS ARE EQUAL. Period. THERE ARE NO BAD DOGS. There are only bad owners. And that is the only thing you can legislate.

For some reason Best Friends seems to have forgotten that they do not have to invent the wheel. Do they need to make a whole bunch of money or something? There are models working in tons of places that have been in put in place that when they are enforced do actually work! When laws are enforced that already exist - you don't need BSL, you don't need dangerous dog summits, you don't need all this bullshit. You don't need all this hysteria. I am absolutely sick about what Best Friends has written. It is so unncessary - they are only adding to the problem with this summit - not helping it. I am SO disappointed. It is so sad - they say that Cesar Millan has set back the dog training movement by 20 years because of his "old school" training methods - well Best Friends has set back the anti-BSL movement by 20 years because of this "Dangerous Dog Summit".

SHAME ON THEM