Posted on December 16, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

Ann Marie Rogers: Animal Welfare Advocate, Animal Control Officer, Public Safety Advocate - Perspectives of Advocates

Ann Marie Rogers of Responsible Citizens for Public Safety shares her background in animal welfare, animal control and public safety advocacy in our series: Perspectives of Advocates.

My Background

As I have always had a passion for animals, particularly dogs, I volunteered at a local humane society as a teenager and later worked at the Michigan Humane Society in various capacities -- adoption counselor, wildlife specialist, animal behaviorist, evaluator and veterinary technician -- while attending the University of Michigan. I continued there after graduation for some time. I loved the experience and education I received at MHS. Part of good "adoption counseling" was to list the correct breed/mix and discuss breed traits to ensure a good match for the dog and the family who may take them home. It was gratifying to find our wonderful shelter dogs an equally wonderful home. We educated people about animal welfare and preached responsibility and spay/neuter. We felt good making a positive difference in the lives of pets and people.

As a shelter evaluator, it was my job to temperament test the dogs and determine if they were suitable to be adopted into a new home. If a dog passed a temperament test, that was not a guarantee that it would never bite, but it gave us a pretty good indication. If a dog failed a temperament test by displaying aggression to people or other animals, they were humanely euthanized. I did that too. It was my job to decide which animals went up for adoption and which did not and to humanely euthanize those that did not. I did not have any moral objection to euthanasia as I knew the process was humane and in the best interest of the dog and the public. As shelter workers, we saw our share of cruelty cases and knew that there are far worse things for an animal than being put to sleep in the arms of a caring animal lover.

At that time in my area of suburban Detroit, pit bulls were not a popular pet. We did not see many of them turned into our Rochester shelter, but the few that did come in were automatically euthanized. It was the shelter policy at all three branches of Michigan Humane Society. The employees at the shelter understood the policy and the reasons behind it. We knew that pit bulls were bred specifically to kill other dogs and were used in dogfighting. We opposed dogfighting as animal cruelty and any abuse toward pit bulls or any animal, but pit bulls were too dangerous and unpredictable to place for adoption due to their genetics. We knew that you cannot train away inherent genetic aggression. The Detroit MHS cruelty investigators called their genetic propensity for unpredictable aggression "clicking on". We were dedicated to sending good family pets into the community for a win-win for our shelter dogs. We knew that dogs of any breed that had a propensity to bite people or those that were aggressive toward other animals should not be placed for adoption. We knew we could not "save them all" nor should we.

With my MHS education/experience, I later founded No Place Like Home Rescue of Michigan and have operated my nonprofit rescue for over 25 years. I practice the same criteria that was used at Michigan Humane when I worked there. NPLH has placed many wonderful dogs and cats into good homes over the years, and I am proud of this work. We do not place pit bulls, but we do have an outreach program through which we come in contact with a great deal of pit bulls and their owners. I can say from firsthand experience they are wildly overbred and abused. Pit bulls that were given up to NPLH by their owners were taken to a shelter or veterinary office for humane euthanasia. Through the years, my knowledge that pit bulls are unpredictably aggressive was reinforced on a daily basis as we came across animal victims of pit bull attacks and their bereaved owners.

I worked full time as an animal control officer under a police department and again saw animal victims of pit bull attacks. I have enforced state and local Dangerous Dog laws and Animal Cruelty statutes. Through my vast experience in the animal welfare field for over 30 years, and having witnessed and experienced pit bull attacks, it is my opinion that pit bulls do not make safe pets and that breed safety laws that regulate the ownership of pit bulls are essential to enhance public safety and reduce animal cruelty.

No Kill Advances In Michigan And Pit Bull Adoptions Trend

Over the last 10 years or so in Michigan, the "No Kill" philosophy has advanced in animal shelters and rescues and pit bulls are trending as "safe family pets". Even the large, private, Michigan Humane Society where I gained my foundation in animal behavior had done a 180 degree turn and began adopting pit bulls to the public, despite its prior conviction and policy held for over 40 years. Publicly funded animal control agencies are now sending pit bulls into the community too, which endangers public safety. The animal control agency in my county has knowingly sent many dangerous dogs into the community despite their mission statement to "protect public safety". This is irresponsible.

While it sounds on the surface like a kind idea, "no kill" is actually cruel and it endangers public safety. It is a grand, deceptive marketing scheme that preys on ignorant, kind-hearted members of the public that want to adopt a shelter pet. Through "No Kill" policies, dangerous dogs are promoted as safe, bite histories are hidden, breeds are mislabeled, behavioral issues are masked with drugs and flowery descriptions and geriatric animals with illness are passed off as healthy, middle-aged pets. The movement is based in deception and greed ... It's wrong on multiple levels.

I became painfully aware of this trend through my rescue work. In 2016, a shelter in Detroit, operated by a friend, that still prioritizes public safety was under attack for having a "high kill rate". Protesters came to the shelter with nasty signs and harassed customers. The protesters also ran a social media campaign condemning this shelter. Their goal was to shut the shelter down by drying up their donations and frightening them into closing. The shelter was experiencing "Cancel Culture" before the term was widely known. This shelter is in a particularly poor area of Detroit and subsequently the majority of animals that they take in are pit bulls, very ill animals, or aggressive animals, which are unadopatable. The privately funded shelter has every right to operate as they see fit and as they have for over 80 years. I publicly defended this shelter and its policies and publicly advocated for breed safety laws. I soon found myself and my organization under fire by the "No Kill" pit bull advocate protesters, and they tried to cancel me too.

I received literally thousands of vile, obscene death threats, bomb threats, threats of rape and violence and other hate mail via social media, telephone and email. I contacted the local sheriff, the Michigan State Police and the FBI. Some of the threats came from people I knew through rescue work! Other rescue groups began to send threats and incite violence toward me through social media posts. It has been relentless for years and continues to a lesser degree still today. It was shocking and exhausting to field thousands of vile threats on a daily basis. I began to do research in hopes of finding help for my shelter friends and myself and found DogsBite.org and breed safety advocates. I read all the research posted on the site and was astounded to find how many people had been killed by dogs, particularly pit bulls. I always knew pit bulls were dangerous and were bred to kill other dogs, which is bad enough, but I was shocked at the number of people who are severely disfigured, dismembered, disabled or dead because someone else chose a pit bull as a pet! Prior to that point, I had heard of one little child, Xavier Strickland, who was killed by four pit bulls in Detroit in 2015. Despite my knowledge of the danger pit bulls present to other animals, I thought those pit bulls must have been starved to kill and eat a human being. Now I know that starvation is not a prerequisite for a pit bull to kill and consume a human being and that a pit bull kills someone every 10 days. Now I know that pit bulls are the #1 canine killer of people, pets and livestock and that they kill more than all other dog breeds combined. It is a stunning revelation, especially since pit bulls are commonly seen in every neighborhood.

Between discovering much information on DogsBite.org about the frequency and severity of attacks by pit bulls on people and beloved pets, along with the continued threats of harm I received from pit bull advocates, my resolve to stand up to bullies while protecting the public was strengthened. My new advocate friends came in like the Cavalry and did battle for me using their wit, facts and data, dispelling myths on social media. I will always be grateful for their swift action during a time when I was under extreme attack. At that moment I became a public safety advocate against dog attacks. I wanted to help keep people and pets from experiencing a devastating pit bull attack. I wanted to promote breed specific legislation in an effort to save lives.

In the same year, Michigan pit bull advocates were promoting a preemption bill that would remove the authority of local units of government from enacting or enforcing breed specific legislation because it "discriminates" against pit bulls, which they claim is a "misunderstood" breed. "Make Michigan Next" was their slogan in the hopes to inflict bloodsport dogs on the populace. That violent people like violent dogs has been proven in psychological studies.

Evolution To Responsible Citizens for Public Safety, RC4PS.org

Knowledge is power. I used mine to begin Responsible Citizens for Public Safety (RC4PS.org) to advocate for public safety. I joined with DogsBite.org, NationalPitBullVictimAwareness.org, DaxtonsFriends.com, Dogbitelaw.com and Animals24-7.org to help spread the truth.

I became friends with victims of pit bull attacks and their families. I know their stories, the depth of their grief and the extent of their PTSD after losing their loved ones or their own body parts through a brutal dog attack. I grieve with them. I advocate for them. This is my passion and my purpose.

Responsible Citizens for Public Safety promotes breed safety laws (BSL) which enhance public safety and reduce animal cruelty. We write letters on behalf of victims to legislators in cities across the USA and Canada. We offer presentations of facts and data for boards and commissions to consider.

We combat Michigan preemption laws, which would strip the authority of local units of government from protecting their residents against pit bull attacks by giving public testimony before House and Senate Committees. To date, we have been successful in stopping BSL preemption bills during three legislative cycles. We will continue to fight against the disinformation promoted by sponsors of these preemption bills.

We have presented facts and data to Generals, Senators, State Representatives, City Council Members, Township Trustees, Doctors, Health Care workers, Attorneys, Parents and other organizations as well as the general public about the significant threat that pit bulls and their promoters present to public safety.

RC4PS.org has created brochures with relevant facts and data about dangerous dog attacks that are available to download on the site that we use to educate the public.

We held a beautiful Tribute to Victims of pit bull attacks on the steps of the Michigan Capitol Building in October 2019 for National Pit Bull VICTIM Awareness Day, which attracted the media and impacted legislators.

RC4PS.org hosted a Zoom conference in 2020 featuring Colleen Lynn of DogsBite.org and Mia Johnson of National Pit Bull Victim Awareness to discuss the status of BSL in the US at the local, state and federal level as well as resources for victims of dog attacks, which can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

We believe in local control. We believe that communities should have the right to make decisions affecting their citizens, particularly in issues of safety.

The mission of Responsible Citizens for Public Safety is to SAVE LIVES by promoting canine awareness and educating people about the significant threat to public safety presented by the trend to keep pit bull dogs as family pets. We expose the propaganda being promoted by humane organizations. We equip BSL activists. We engage legislators and encourage them to promote public safety through legislating Breed Safety Laws for the state of Michigan and we work toward BSL in every state in the USA. We continue to work toward strong BSL by presenting hard facts and data that PROVE that pit bulls should never be promoted as safe family pets.

We welcome those who wish to join us in our mission and make it yours.

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

2020 Dog Bite Fatality: 14-Year Old Boy Fatally Bitten by Dog at Otter Tail County Breeder; Dog was Imported from Poland

Dion Bush, 14-years old, was killed by a dog imported from Poland in February 2020.

Ully for Sale Advertisement
UPDATE 12/15/20: Advertisements sent into DogsBite.org indicate that Ully, a male long hair German shepherd that was imported from Poland in late February, was still available for sale on December 8. Two days later, Ully attacked and killed 14-year old Dion Bush. Ully was also advertised as being 4-years old, not 3. Ully's owner and the victim's mother, Jennifer Bush, operates LakeView Shepherds. She has since taken down her website (see: Internet Archives).

Commenters on this post have provided more details about Ully and Bush. First, the intact dog was infertile. Between the spring and fall, Ully underwent three failed breeding attempts. According to an April 13 Instagram post by LakeView Shepherds, Ully was seen by the "Repro vet" and was part of the "billionaire club" with "strong swimmers" (had a high sperm count). Bush also has two females, Jurnee and Willa. Both females had Ully breedings, but neither produced litters.

No litters were sired by this dog, at least not in the U.S., according to commenter Lynn who spoke with Bush about the sale of Ully. After the third expected litter failed, Bush put Ully up for sale. Bush told Lynn that Ully "isn't aggressive," but he was in show training and bite work in Poland. Bush also told her, "He can get a little mouthy when over excited." That is atypical language for working dog owners, but typical language by shelter staff when masking aggression in dogs.

"I considered purchasing him," Lynn wrote. "But her comments made my husband nervous. I am heartbroken for her loss but also very concerned that she tried to sell him to us or any other family. It seems her site has been removed of all content and her Facebook page has been changed to 'blog.' I am hoping she provides deposits back to all families considering buying upcoming puppies from her." Lynn and her husband dodged a disaster, as did every other potential buyer of Ully.

Commenter Denny pointed us to the LakeView Shepherds Yelp page. Jessica, of Elk River, gave the breeder a one-star rating: "I selected a puppy from this breeder that ended up biting a chunk open through my ear when I was laying on the ground. It was yanking on it like a chew toy." She also posted a picture of her ear injury. The breeder did offer "to take the dog back" due to him being ill and his dominance/aggression issues, Jessica wrote, but did not return the $500 deposit.

Police killed the "extremely aggressive" dog at the scene, citing at the request of the owner and for "public safety" reasons. The StarTribune reported Monday that importing dogs from other countries into Minnesota is regulated by the state Board of Animal Health. "We don't have a record of [Jennifer Bush] being licensed as a commercial dog and cat breeder," said board spokesman Michael Crusan. All three commenters questioned the judgment of this dog breeder as well.

12/11/20: Teenager Kill by Imported Dog
Battle Lake, MN - A 14-year old boy was discovered dead after being attacked by the family dog, according to the Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office. The attack occurred Thursday afternoon in rural Battle Lake. Shortly after 3:00 pm, deputies responded to a welfare check at a home on Twin Lakes Road, Otter Tail County Sheriff's Lt. Keith Van Dyke said. When they arrived, they found the teenager in the yard. It was clear to the first deputy at the scene the boy was deceased, he said.

The 3-year old dog was purchased from Poland earlier this year.

The family dog, a Polish long hair shepherd, was standing near the teenager's body and was "extremely aggressive" when the deputies arrived on scene, the sheriff's office said. The dog was put down due to public safety and at the request of its owner. The welfare call came from the boy's father, who has a medical condition and cannot leave the house, Van Dyke said. He called out to his son, but got no response. He immediately called the sheriff's office afterward, he said.

The Valley News reports the teenager had not been heard from for about three hours. The Otter Tail County Coroner’s Office is assisting the sheriff’s office with the investigation that remains active and open. The dog has been transported to North Dakota State University for a necropsy. The boy’s identity has not been released. The rural community of Battle Lake is 30 miles east of Fergus Falls and 175 miles northwest of Minneapolis. The population is about 930 people.

Imported Dogs & Teen Deaths

There are plenty of German shepherds, both short and long coat, in the U.S. Unless they were seeking the dog for a specific purpose, such as protection or breeding, it would be unusual to order a dog from an Eastern Bloc country, where many dogs used in police work stem from. The victim was also 14-years old, an extremely rare age for a dog bite fatality victim. In 2019, a 14-year old boy was killed by a pack of protection bred dogs owned by trainer Scott Dunmore.

Over the 16-year period of 2005 through 2020, only 6 teenagers, ages 13 to 19-years old, were killed by dogs, 1% of all dog bite deaths (6 of 566). Stunningly, half of those teenagers were killed in the single year of 2019. The last time we reported a fatal dog mauling in Minnesota was 10 years ago, after the death of infant Robert Hocker in Independence. In the most recent death, a rare dog breed, a rare victim age group and a rare state, equates to three rarities at once.

Afternoon Updates

The Detroit Lakes Tribune reports the boy's family raises German shepherds (thus, the imported dog). Van Dyke said the attack happened after the teenager went out to tend to the dogs. "The father was incapacitated with a medical injury so he wasn’t able to take care of the dogs himself," he said. The boy was a ninth grader at Battle Lake High School. On Friday, the school sent a letter to families informing them of his death and that counseling would be available for students.

The Star Tribune reports the attack occurred in the 30800 block of Twin Lakes Road. There is a breeder of long coat German shepherds who lives on this block, according to web searches. Her name is Jennifer Bush and she operates LakeView Shepherds Kennel. She advertises on K-9classifieds.com (police dogs). Her breeding bitch is a progeny of dogs with IPO titles. The culprit dog was not your average pet dog. At 3-years old, the dog may have held titles in protection too.

Notably, the "Our Stud" page is blank. We predicted this was the case because the stud was the killer (the breeder removed the page after the Thursday attack). Internet Archives show the stud is "Ully" and "was imported from Poland Feb. 2020 and greeted me with pure happiness and licking. Sweet, sweet guy! He is social and loves to be loved on," states the website. Ully "comes from amazing and proven lines and was sired by "VA1 BSZS 2016 Jackson vom Zisawinkel IPO3."

The teenager has since been identified as Dion Bush.

The website continues, "Ully is a very go with the flow and even tempered male. He is highly intelligent and adjusted in our home very well. He has a silly side; loves to play and make us laugh." Ully also savagely killed a 14-year old boy on December 10 and the breeder tried to hide this. How many puppies has Ully sired since being imported from Poland -- not six months ago, but nine months ago? The breeder forgot about the Internet Archives, but our nonprofit did not.

The kennel's only stud dog, named "Ully," was imported from Poland in February 2020.

The circumstances caused by Covid-19 should never be underestimated. But typically between November 1 and December 15 of each year, there are 5 to 7 reported dog bite fatalities, not 2.

Baseline reporting requirements:
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

We’ve Heard It All Before! by The Old Timer - Perspectives of Advocates

So Save your Pit Bull Defenses. They Aren’t New, Clever or Even Sound.

Guest author, The Old Timer, discusses how "We've heard it all before." The worn out, tired tropes repeated by pit bull advocates ad nauseam for over a decade.

The day that would launch my advocacy for the victims of pit bull attacks all began more than a decade ago when I logged onto one of my favorite blogs. It was a daily ritual, checking in with my favorites to get the latest news and insight.

But on this particular morning, the news wasn’t good. The blogger’s cat, not only the mascot of his blog but of the local shelter, had been killed most savagely by a 2-year old foster pit bull. The specifics were gruesome and the blogger was sick with grief and anger. He lashed out at pit bulls, a breed he had never trusted.

The entire blog community grieved with him. The comment section was full of messages of sympathy and pain at such a senseless death of a cat they felt belonged to all of them. Yet, among the condolences were sprinkled defenses of the breed the blogger had just publicly trashed.

“It was how the dog was raised,” one commenter claimed. “He must have been abused,” another commenter asserted with zero evidence. And of course, there was the obligatory, “not all pit bulls are bad. Any dog can bite or attack.”

I suppose that should have been the end of it for me. I should have grieved along with the community and moved on. But I wondered: Was this incident rare? Did this happen a lot or had I witnessed something completely outside the normal?

I would ask them, if dogs are simply a product of their environment, then why did you raise your dog to be aggressive and bite people? I never expected a reply from my question and rest assured I never received one.

I opened up a new browser and typed in the phrase “pit bull attack” and my eyes were opened. I spent hours that day reading article after article about pit bulls killing not only animals, but human beings. My emotions were raw. I sobbed when I read the story of a father whose baby was killed by his babysitter’s pit bull. The description of the event was vivid. How, I wondered, could the victim's families move on from such a senseless tragedy and how did more people not know about these mauling deaths?

That was the beginning of my journey into the world of victim advocacy. I began to actively seek out recent articles about pit bull fatalities. I devoured the comment sections, noting both sides of the arguments that were represented. On one side were people claiming that pit bulls were no different than any other dog. Many of them insisted that it was how they were raised while simultaneously claiming that a small dog they raised was meaner than any pit bull they’d ever encountered.

It was that defense that most likely prompted my first reply on a news comment section. If that was the case, I would ask them, if dogs are simply a product of their environment, then why did you raise your dog to be aggressive and bite people? I never expected a reply from my question and rest assured I never received one.

It wasn't long before I was regularly commenting on news site comment sections. I joined what appeared to be a well-established group of men and women attempting to educate the public on the danger of owning a pit bull. Many of their names became familiar to me. I began to think of them as my comrades-in-arms. We were battling against those who felt that the deaths of innocent children and senior citizens were simply the cost of doing business for the right to own a fighting breed.

I also began to see a startling trend that after several months, I began to call out publicly in the comment thread. While there were people attempting to educate the populace on the dangers of pit bulls, there were also pit bull advocates, the same ones, who repeatedly flocked to those comment sections to defend the breed.

For years, fatalities caused by pit bulls were occurring quite frequently in this country -- coming one death every week to 10 days. And like clockwork, every week to 10 days, those same pit bull advocates would show up in the comment section defending the breed, even on a news article about the heartbreaking death of another child. It didn’t seem to matter to them. And they would regurgitate the same weak defenses, hoping everyone would simply forget that just a few days before that, they were making the same defenses after the fighting breed had mauled another innocent victim.

And so it went for almost a decade. The never-ending, soul-crushing deaths continued to occur. And battle worn and weary victims advocates would take to the internet in an attempt to educate the public.

Of course, by now, another generation of fresh soldiers have taken up the battle, but the information war still rages. There are people who continue to educate in order to end the senseless deaths of humans mauled by pit bull-type dogs and they continue to beat back the notions that these dogs are safe, loyal family dogs that “would more likely lick you to death” than ever bite anyone.

That’s the thing of it, really. All of the defenses and excuses about the breed -- we’ve heard them all before. Any argument some pit bull rookie-fanatic or “Johnny Come Lately” can bring to the issue isn’t new and fresh. They are worn-out, tired tropes that have been tried and repeated ad nauseam for years. And it’s stopped nothing. Pit bulls continue to kill innocent people. (Since I began my advocacy 10 years ago, pit bulls have killed around 335 Americans.) Chihuahuas bite. We get it. But they don’t kill.

So save your pat phrases and your propaganda and rhetoric. You aren’t the next pit bull savior and you’re not the one warrior who will impart such an original argument that the entire world will see the wisdom in it. It’s not going to happen, and before long, a pit bull, who never showed any signs of aggression, will kill someone, leaving the seasoned-veterans of this fight to wonder if more time and energy should be spent by pit bull advocates figuring out how to stop these deaths rather than defending the breed after the deaths occur.

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

DogsBite's GivingTuesday Challenge 2020 - Rising Above & Beyond During COVID-19

Join us on December 1 for our GivingTuesday Challenge 2020 on Facebook!

DogsBite's 2020 Fundraiser
DogsBite.org - Tuesday, December 1 is #GivingTuesday. This year we are fundraising for "Rising Above and Beyond During COVID-19." Facebook will match up to $7 million dollars under a new matching scheme! The match starts at 8:00 am Eastern Time. We promised you in May that we would "Stay the course during COVID-19." We did. And then some. We rose above and beyond during this global pandemic to ensure the integrity of our national dog bite fatality statistics.

We sent out 30 FOIAs, public information requests, for dog bite fatalities and uncovered 7 unreported deaths inflicted by pit bull breeds.

Of the total breed identification photographs captured for fatal dog maulings since January, our nonprofit is responsible for 77%. How many is the U.S. media responsible for? Only 23%. Between our FOIAs and gathering of breed identification photographs, our nonprofit contributed to over half of all U.S. dog bite fatality reports so far in 2020. With the month of November dropping to only one reported fatality, we know there will be considerable FOIA work ahead of us too.

How Does the Match Work?

This year, Facebook has changed the matching rules. The first $2 million is matched 100% and will last less than a minute. For the remaining $5 million, Facebook will match 10%, ensuring that the match lasts longer. If you donate within the first 30 minutes, your gift could be matched by 10%. The speed is part of the challenge! Thousands of nonprofits are competing for these match dollars. Facebook donations all day long on GivingTuesday are FREE of transaction fees as well.

Ways to Participate

You can donate directly to our Facebook campaign. Facebook also encourages people to start their own fundraiser for a nonprofit. On Monday evening or Tuesday morning, you can start a fundraiser for DogsBite.org by using one of our campaign graphics. You can also create a campaign "In Memory" of a special person or pet or use one of our graphics to create a theme. Then share it on your Timeline and tell your friends why it is important to act on GivingTuesday.

Ways to Give

Many of our blog readers are already monthly or annual donors. Thank you so much to all of you! GivingTuesday is always a giving day to attract new people to our cause and to invite casual readers of the blog to support our cause on this global giving day. There are also many ways to give to DogsBite. You can give a one-time gift or a re-occurring gift through PayPal, you can give to our ongoing GoFundMe charity page and you can give to our PayPal Giving Fund page.

Help us reach our goal of $8,000 for DogsBite's GivingTuesday Challenge 2020!

DogsBite's GivingTuesday Challenge 2020 - Rising Above & Beyond During COVID-19.

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