Ginger the Pit Bull and the Law

Animals again. On a week with no garbage pickup, no day care and, possibly, no liquor, let's turn to animals to make sense out of life.

Frankly, I was surprised last week when the City decided to appeal the Ontario Court Justice ruling that, as my colleague Nick Aveling wrote, would have saved Ginger the pit bull's life. Two months ago, Ontario Court Justice Mary Hogan set aside a 2007 order to have Ginger destroyed, noting her "concern that such a dog would be ordered destroyed in circumstances where the dog had no culpability whatsoever."

She didn't accept the original findings about the fight between Ginger and a German shepherd cross, Buddy. In late 2005, Ginger was accused of attacking Buddy in a Toronto park and, following a 2007 trial before a Justice of the Peace in the Ontario Court of Justice, was ordered destroyed. Her owner, Philip Huggins appealed the death sentence and Hogan ruled Buddy had attacked Ginger, tearing off the pit bull's muzzle.

That's not the part of the ruling that makes the appeal by the City and Ontario Attorney-General's Office seem surprising to me. 

It's what has been said about the legislation itself. In granting the appeal last week, Court of Appeal Justice Russell Juriansz said the law is ambiguous.

That was Hogan's conclusion too. She criticized the Ontario legislation requiring pit bulls that bite, attack or pose a menace to humans or animals be automatically put down. She called it both ambiguous and absurd. You'll remember the legislation is the work of former attorney-general, Michael Bryant. Under his stewardship, the  Dog Owner's Liability Act (DOLA) was amended to forbid ownership of pit bulls in Ontario. It allowed existing animals to live with restrictions, including mandatory destruction for biting.

City and A-G lawyers went ahead with their appeal despite comments about "ambiguity" that suggest there's a problem with the law and with rulings based on the law. Justice Juriansz said the "ambiguity raises a question of law alone, that in my view is significant enough to warrant consideration by the court."

Does a pit bull that bites to save a baby's life from attack have to be put down? What about a dog that fights off a coyote? Justice Hogan pointed out the legislation means a pit pull that attacks a burgler must be euthanized. Should a dog that bites in self-defense be put down?

It is going to be an interesting decision. Clayton Ruby, the Toronto criminal and constitutional lawyer who's taken on Ginger's case for Huggins, says he's optimistic. He argues if the Appeal Tribunal (of three judges) agrees the law is ambiguous, the court could set conditions for determining what constitutes a bite, i.e. it can't be defensive or a rescue action. That would then have to be taken into consideration whenever the law is applied.

For now, Ginger is back with Huggins after being in custody with Toronto Animal Services for more than three years. The City of Toronto, says Ruby, had no power to take the dog away in the first place.

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Interesting analysis on the role of social networking in Iran from DailyDish blogger and former skeptic, Andrew Sullivan.

Comments

[BowWow]

I wonder if anyone thought this Law might possibly head down the path of ambiguous and absurd when the former AG
(now CEO of "Invest Toronto"-I hope he`s being closely supervised)
wasn`t able to identify the Breed(1 of 3) he wanted to exterminate.
That should have been the first clue.

I wonder how many people can pick the 'pit' mixes out of this lineup?
http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/find-a-bull1.pdf

If you own a Golden Retriever,you better start worrying about BSL.
Check out Harley.
http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/canines-issues/breed-identification/

I wonder how much money Mayor Miller has spent trying to kill this one dog?
I`m sure the homeless and the food banks would like to know.

If anyone even remotely thinks the Ontario Gov`t told the Public the truth about this issue,read this
http://www.ontla.on.ca/committee-proceedings/transcripts/files_html/2005-01-24_M009.htm#P672_181318

You might be able to justify stealing money out of the pockets of taxpayers if the facts backed them up on this but they`re nothing but liars.

If the Public gets angry enough they can force them to repeal this law.

Here`s the contact info
Premier
https://www.premier.gov.on.ca/feedback/feedback.asp?Lang=EN

AG Chris Bentley
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_detail.do?locale=en&ID=2123

Your MPP
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do?locale=en

Mayor David Miller
http://www.toronto.ca/mayor_miller/contact.htm

It`s time to put a stop to this Ontario.
Pressure them and keep the pressure on until the killing stops.

[Chris]

Can someone send me a link to an article showing that Bryant failed to identify a pit bull in a three-dog lineup? I'd like to quote that to show what idiots and madmen the BSL supporters are?