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AVMA policy <br /> Animal Fighting <br /> (Approved by the AVMA Executive Board November 1999;revised April 2000;June 2007) <br /> The AVMA condemns events involving animals in which injury or death is intended.The AVMA <br /> supports the enforcement of laws against the use and transport of animals and equipment for fighting <br /> ventures. Further,the AVMA recommends that animal fighting be considered a felony offense. The <br /> AVMA encourages veterinarians to collaborate with law enforcement with respect to recognition, <br /> enforcement, and education. <br /> AV€VIA jaurnals Home I JAM\online <br /> Responsible ownership the alternative to breed <br /> banning, other restrictions <br /> DEAN J. MONTI <br /> A man is out for a stroll in his community with his Bull <br /> Terrier. He is stopped by the local animal control officer <br /> and told that "pit bulls" are restricted from his <br /> community. The man cannot prove that his dog is not a <br /> pit bull-type dog and that it is a well-trained, household <br /> pet. The dog is confiscated and euthanatized. <br /> Think it could never happen in your community? <br /> Although only one state currently has a statewide breed <br /> restriction (Ohio), hundreds of communities within the .. <br /> United States are actively pursuing breed bans and vPd 5 <br /> breed-restrictive legislation. <br /> When Robert Duffy, executive director of the American f7- <br /> Dog Owners Association, learned that breed banning <br /> attempts in Germany during the past year included approximately 16 breeds, he <br /> worried that the spectrum of breed banning in the United States could increase as <br /> incidents characterize certain breeds as dangerous. <br /> "We get involved in many of these issues," he said, "writing to legislators, asking how <br /> animal control officers can be charged with enforcing breed bans and restrictions when <br /> they have little or no training to identify specific breeds. Even if they could, there is <br /> really no way of defining what a 'pit bull' is and isn't." <br /> In an ADOA letter he sends to legislators across the country, Duffy cites approximately <br /> 15 breeds that are similar in appearance to breeds that have been targeted as <br /> dangerous. "Owners of these dogs would not take kindly to their dogs being <br /> misidentified and something bad happening to them as a result," he said. "In a lot of <br /> cases the animal control officer is the final judge." <br /> Duffy has identified cities all over the country that are attempting to ban or restrict pit <br />