AKC Joins Denver Fight
August 13th, 2008The American Kennel Club (AKC) has announced that they will officially be joining
Karen R. Breslin of the Progressive Law Center, LLC of Lakewood,
Colorado and the Washington D.C. office of Kaye Scholer LLP in
representing dog-owning plaintiffs Sonya Dias and others who are
asserting that the Denver ordinance banning pit bulls within the city
limits is unconstitutional.
The Denver ordinance bans ownership or possession of the Staffordshire
Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the American
Pit Bull Terrier and/or any dog with a majority of physical traits of
one or more of these breeds within the city or county of Denver. Since
2005, as a result of this ordinance, several hundred dogs within the
city limits had been euthanized.
The AKC’s position statement on BSL reads as follows:
“The AKC supports reasonable, enforceable, non-discriminatory laws to
govern the ownership of dogs and that dog owners should be
responsible for their dogs. We support laws that: establish a fair
process by which specific dogs are identified as “dangerous” based on
stated, measurable actions; impose appropriate penalties on
irresponsible owners; and establish a well-defined method for dealing
with dogs proven to be dangerous. We believe that, if necessary, dogs
proven to be “dangerous” may need to be humanely destroyed. The AKC
strongly opposes any legislation that determines a dog to be “dangerous”
based on specific breeds or phenotypic classes of dogs.”
Please send your support for their decision to fight BSL in Denver to the AKC!

