Originally published July 12, 2023 8:00 pm PDT
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved a new law recently that ends discrimination based on dog breed.
QUICK FACTS:
- Gov. DeSantis signed a measure recently that puts an end to public housing restrictions against specific dog breeds, which have mostly targeted pit bulls.
- As a result of his signature, Miami-Dade County’s ban on certain breeds due to size and weight limitations will end this fall.
- “Many of these bully breeds that we see are well-behaved, house-trained animals—great representatives of dogs in general,” Lisa Glunt, executive director of the Leon County Humane Society said. “But so often they’re hit with a label that makes their living situation unlivable.”
- According to Glunt, “bully breeds” refers to dogs including Boxers, Bulldogs, Bullmastiffs, American Staffordshire Terrier and the American Pit Bull Terrier.
- Currently, Miami-Dade County is the only local government in the state of Florida that prohibits residents from owning pit bulls.
- Between 2005 and 2019, dogs killed 521 Americans, pit bulls accounting for 66% (346) of these deaths, according to dogbite.org.
- From 2005 to 2017, pit bulls killed one citizen every 16.7 days, according to Colorado law firm Fuicelli & Lee.
PIT BULL ATTACK VICTIM MELISSA MOREIRA ON DESANTIS LIFTING THE BAN:
“Be responsible when you’re talking about lifting a ban that could really harm a lot of children and the after effects of what happens to a child not only when they’re mauled in the face,” Moreira said.
BACKGROUND:
- Miami Dade’s original ban was passed in 1989, after a 7-year-old girl was viciously attacked by a pit bull.
- “As a child that went through over eight reconstructive plastic surgeries to my face, it is alarming that the ban could now be lifted,” victim Melissa Moreira said.
- Moreira claims the attack was so traumatizing she still remembers every detail of the event.
- “We were unloading groceries because we’ve been away all weekend and the dog came out of nowhere, knocked me down, ripped off almost most of my lip,” Moreira said. “It was able to be salvaged and most of my forehead, which I had to have about eight plastic surgeries after that.”
Jon Fleetwood contributed to this report.
