Yakima, WA: Is pit bull ban working?

How do you measure the success of a pit bull ban? In my opinion, it should decrease dog bites in the city by a significant amount.

Yet this news article doesn’t even mention dog bite numbers or public safety effects. Instead, “success” or “effectiveness” of Yakima’s ban is evaluated by considering the number of “pit bulls” being confiscated, housed at the animal shelter, and euthanized.

On top of that, the animal control officer interviewed admits that the ban creates a lot of unnecessary work for him; he could be spending his time doing things that actually affect public safety, but instead finds himself chasing “pit bull” ghosts.

http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/53261972.html

Is Yakima’s Pitbull Ban Working?

by Ryan Simms

YAKIMA — Pitbulls are filling up Yakima’s animal shelters despite the fact they’re illegal to own.

[…] And that leads to a very big question— Is the ban even effective? Zigan tells Action News reporter Ryan Simms that he believes it ultimately is, but if more people obeyed the law, his days would be spent differently.

“It would free up a lot of our time, because a lot of the calls we get about pitbulls turn out not to be (about) pitbulls.”[…]