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10 thoughts on “Maryland Court of Appeals Holds Pit Bull Owners and Landlords Accountable After an Attack

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  1. That lawyer and his stupid puns about dogs. I nearly went pitbull listening to him.

    Congrats to all who put in the work!

  2. The court did not ignore the bloody elephant in the room…

    This is really going to bite some of the whacked out rescue groups and A/C departments in the ass!

  3. Good points all around. The nutters will have a hard time pleading their way out of this one… They are allowed to keep their pit bulls, so they are left with trying to weasel out of responsibility when their dog attacks and/or kills somebody.

    Personally, I think this should be extended to owners of ANY animal. If "Fluffy" is truly harmless then you have nothing to worry about (and sleep well).

  4. Here's an idea!

    Perhaps the Humane Groups with Tens of $Millions in the bank could put their money where their mouths are and offer low cost liability insurance to Pit owners….

    New Humane Group Slogan:

    Instead of Idiotic Pontification, Provide Financial Indemnification!

  5. The pit bull lobbyists need to understand that if they fight against responsibility here, if they refuse to allow the punishment of the deed not the breed, they will be telling the world that they SUPPORT violent attacks and intend to help make more attacks and deaths happen.

    They will lose public support, which is already waning.

  6. vintage, why are you talking about humane groups? It is a breeder problem.

    The primary proponents of pit bull mayhem and killing are the breeder groups, the Jane Saul Berkey groups, AKC and UKC and all those.

    The idiotic pontificators are primarily the breeders and those connected to them.

    There's millions and millions of dollars in these groups attacking victims and defending violence, as well as opposing protections and refusing to take responsibility.

    Breeders make money from pit bulls. That's the bottom line.

    You don't have pit bulls without the breeders! They and their linked groups like Animal Farm Foundation have a vested interest here.

    It makes no sense to blame humane groups when it is breeders that create this problem and spend vast amounts of money protecting their product, pit bulls. This is their liability problem.

    I do not consider Best Friends Animal Society a humane group any longer, as they are now allied with the breeders who create the problem, and are promoting pit bulls for the financial welfare of breeders and dog fighters.

  7. I believe what Vintage is referring to is that "humane groups" (both national and local) have now had 30 years to resolve the pit bull mauling problem and have done very little except to distort the truth about the pit bull breed to the American public. By venomously opposing all breed-specific pit bull laws, including mandatory pit bull sterilization laws (and I stress "venomously opposing"), they've totally opted OUT of targeting "pit bull breeders" as you say, where the true problem lies. Today's modern pit bull mauling fiasco and the last decade's problem, and the decade before that's problem squarely falls upon human groups for miserably failing to support laws targeted directly at "pit bull breeders." Go ahead, read the HSUS's response to the Maryland law. They are going to fight "pit bull ownership responsibility" right along side the ASPCA and Best Friends.

  8. Great discussion.

    "Instead of Idiotic Pontification, Provide Financial Indemnification!"

    So multi-syllabic, yet pithy! I Love it!

    I agree; the large, monied humane groups have the means to put their money where their enormous mouths are by offering low cost insurance to pit bull owners since they so "venomously" assert that pit bulls are just like any other dog. They know better than everyone so they lay their cards on the table and prove it with low cost insurance for pit bull owners.

    Also, they have enough money to LOBBY for programs and policies that actually are humane for both pit bulls and humans like MSN.

    'They are going (to have ) to fight "pit bull ownership responsibility"'

    This is what is SO beautiful about this ruling!

  9. Markarian (pit bull fan) of the HSUS is already gearing up to get this decision reversed through legislation:

    https://blog.hslf.org/political_animal/

    Note how he uses the words 'dog owners' where in fact he means 'us pit freaks', then proceeds to tell the usual lies.

    There's a call there to write to the Maryland legislature. I hope lots of people respond by writing to explain how grateful the public is for the decision.

  10. Canformd,

    Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the breeders…Its just that our Humane Lobby has turned on the American people. Here is one of my all time favorites: Christine Tomco

    Cut Artery Cited in Fatal Dog Attack
    By Joshua Partlow
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Friday, May 12, 2006

    “One of the three pit bulls that attacked an elderly Calvert County man this week severed at least one of his arteries, possibly causing him to bleed to death, investigators said yesterday … The three pit bulls in the home and the two chained outside belonged to Tomco’s daughter, Christina Tomco, 26. Records show that neighbors complained repeatedly about the dogs running loose. The county cited Christina Tomco nine times in recent years for having unlicensed and unrestrained dogs, an animal control officer said.”

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