Laserfiche WebLink
discrimination.29 <br /> Effective Legislative Alternatives to Panic Policymaking <br /> Demonstrating the high cost of breed-discriminatory laws is a persuasive tool in <br /> preventing panic policymaking, but identifying effective legislative alternatives is <br /> equally essential. <br /> The experience of Illinois during the past decade provides a helpful example. The <br /> state's General Assembly debated a flurry of breed-discriminatory bills because of <br /> several dog attacks, including two that received particularly prominent media <br /> attention. In 2001, 7-year-old Ryan Armstrong was mauled by a stray dog in <br /> Chicago. Armstrong had gotten off his bike to pet some puppies and was <br /> confronted by a fully grown unsterilized male Rottweiler. When Armstrong <br /> attempted to pet the Rottweiler, the dog bit him, nearly severing his thumb from <br /> his hand. Ryan also was bit on his chest and arm before friends were able to chase <br /> the dog away.30 In 2003, Anna Cieslewicz, a 48-year-old pediatric nurse, was <br /> attacked and killed by two unsterilized male dogs in the Dan Ryan Woods in <br /> Chicago.31 <br /> Because of these highly publicized attacks, bills restricting a variety of dog breeds <br /> were introduced. Unlike in many cases, however, the momentum for panic <br /> policymaking was successfully derailed through intensive animal-welfare lobbying <br /> efforts, which included hiring a contract lobbyist. Instead of breed-discriminatory <br /> laws, three comprehensive generic public-safety measures were eventually <br /> passed. <br /> The first was the Ryan Armstrong Act32, which increases penalties for people who <br /> owned dogs that had been declared dangerous or vicious and let them injure <br /> someone. It also mandates the sterilization of any dog found to be dangerous or <br /> vicious by temperament. Significantly, the Ryan Armstrong Act actually prohibits <br /> municipalities or political subdivisions from passing any ordinance or regulation <br /> that was specific to breed. Animal-welfare lobbyists used scientific studies and the <br /> 29 Best Friends Animal Society,Advocacy for Animals,BDL Scoreboard, <br /> http://network.bestfriends.org/groups/advocacy for animals/media/p/155364.aspx(last visited Feb.26,2010). <br /> 30 <br /> http://www.illinois.gov/pressreleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?Sublectl D=1&Rech u m=2226 <br /> 31 Richard Roeper,For woman who loved dogs,a fitting memorial,Chicago Sun-Times,January 21,2003,at 11. <br /> 32 Illinois Public Act 93-0548,Ch.8,Effective date Aug.19,2003. <br />