"Maybe we shouldn't have these animals on the civilized streets"

That's former Attorney General Michael Bryant, the rabid hysteric behind Ontario, Canada's pit bull ban. He's sitting in the back of a police cruiser.

There was a man hanging onto his car, apparently, so Bryant sped down the wrong side of the road and tried to scrape the man off against trees and mailboxes. When the man fell from the car, Bryant ran over him. And then drove away. Killed was Darcy Allan Sheppard, 33, of Toronto. Bryant has been charged "with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death," according to Toronto police Sgt. Tim Burrows.

If you visit no other link, please check out small dead animals: the awesomeness of Kate's headline and the perfection of her sentence-long post make me very happy and very jealous.

Related:
Bryant: "Mark my words, Ontario will be safer"
Pit Bull Ban Author Fail!
MICHAEL BRYANT, THE GUY WHO BANNED 'PIT BULLS' IN ONTARIO, CHARGED IN CYCLIST'S DEATH
Troublemakers: What pit bulls can teach us about profiling [Source of Bryant quote used in this post's title]

Worthy cause? Check.

The forces of Good battle the forces of Evil today, as Caveat explains with this copy of an attorney's press release. The attorney is one of the good guys:

On March 23, 2007, Madam Justice Herman of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released her decision respecting our constitutional challenge to Ontario's pit bull legislation (Cochrane v. Attorney General of Ontario).

Substantial parts of the legislation were struck down. We saved the non-breed "pit bull terriers" but not the purebreds. We made it impossible for the Crown to prove its case with a piece of paper signed by a veterinarian.

But it was not enough. We appealed Justice Herman's decision to the Court of Appeal for Ontario (court file no. C47649). The Attorney General cross-appealed. Our appeals will be heard beginning Monday, September 15, 2008 at the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street West, Toronto beginning at 10:30 a.m. (courtroom to be determined). We have two days of hearings scheduled (September 15 and 16, 2008).

We all know that there is no science, not a shred, to support breed specific legislation. Michael Bryant and his henchmen drafted the usual suspects to create Ontario's ban: ignorance, hysteria and urban legend. Perhaps this time the testimony of experts will be considered. "Breed specific laws are not based in science. [Laws] banning breeds will not make you safer, and the illusion that they will do so is dangerous to humans and unfair to dogs."So says Dr. Karen Overall. So says every other expert on the subject. From their lips to the judge's ear.

Loins girded? Check.

Roasted turnips at the ready? Check.

Horses fed? Check.

Chariot in good working order? Check.

Rhymes memorized? Check.

Steely gaze practised? Check.

Battle plan drawn? Check.

Envoys out front? Check.

Then it's time to go and win one for the Nipper.

God speed, keep the faith, and kick some corrupt Roman government butt. Our thoughts are with you.

Bryant's legacy

From the "Mark my words, Ontario will be safer" Dept:

Family angry after dog mauls infant

KITCHENER-"Hello doggie." Those are the last coherent words Ginger Visneskie remembers before her 2-year-old daughter was attacked by a German shepherd last week[...]

Neighbours who saw the incident say the dog pounced on the child, threw her on the ground and sunk his teeth into her face. While they looked on in horror, Visneskie pulled on the leash and freed Lilly.

In barely five seconds, the child had been bloodied and appeared to be in shock. Visneskie didn't bother calling an ambulance. She and another neighbour put Lilly in the car and raced to the Grand River Hospital.

For the first few hours, Visneskie feared for Lilly's life and her eyesight.

"He'd bitten so close to the eyes, I thought he'd gouged them out," the 29-year-old single mother said.

When doctors finished sewing up the dozen bite marks on Lilly's nose, near her eyes and just below her chin, she had 35 stitches. She will need extensive dental work, doctors told Visneskie, since her lower jaw had been pushed into the roof of the mouth.

She has started a series of rabies shots — five in total — and may need speech therapy. Four of her front teeth were dislocated.

The dog was trying to pull her from danger, no doubt. Read the whole story here, in the Toronto Star.

Toronto's gulag for dogs

Dogs aren't people. Toronto's city animal shelters aren't Guantánamo. But dogs aren't refrigerators or cars, either, so forgive me for comparing Toronto's shelter system to a prison system, a place of isolation and suffering, when the wardens issue chilling statements like this:

A sign of just how controversial the [pit bull] issue can be, animal services officials refuse to allow the media to photograph or have contact with the condemned dogs in their shelters.

"All it would do is make the public very upset about that particular one dog and whoever might own that dog -- it would potentially cause them further upset," says animal services manager Eletta Purdy.

"Make the public very upset"? And why on earth shouldn't we be "very upset" that a good dog — a dog that has never harmed nor threatened to harm anyone — may be scheduled to die because of a brindle coat or a broad head? Why on earth shouldn't a family rage that a beloved, trustworthy companion was taken from them on the basis of a law rooted in ignorance and hysteria?

We should all rage against such criminal idiocy — and against the politicians capable of enacting such flawed legislation. Don't imagine that their judgment will improve or their knowledge increase when they turn to laws aimed at people.

The blockquote above was taken from an article in the Toronto Sun: an article so badly written that the reporter never mentions the total number of dog bites recorded each year; and never mentions the fact that Ontario's lone dog-attack fatality of 2007 did not involve a pit bull. No, Ontario is not safer.

But if we hide the cruelty, maybe we can get away with it. Maybe we can disappear a few breeds and make Michael Bryant and like-minded bigots happy. And if the public doesn't raise too much of a fuss — well then, we'll flex our power a bit more.

No, Ontario is not safer.

Bryant: "Mark my words, Ontario will be safer"

Ignorance, hysteria and urban legend are terrible grounds for legislation. Want proof? Take a look at AB 1634 Attorney General Michael Bryant of Ontario, Canada. Bryant yields to no one when it comes to ignorance and hysteria. He wanted a pit bull ban for the province, and he got one: Ontario banned the ownership of pit bulls in 2005.

CBC News reported:

The legislation prevents people from acquiring a number of breeds of dogs classified as pit bulls, and requires those who already own the dogs to neuter and muzzle their animals.

There had been a number of highly-publicized attacks, but never any pit bull-related fatalities in the province of Ontario.

Banning the breed might give people a false sense of security, worried Sheila McDonald, director of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies. "There are other breeds that have been involved in dog incidents [...] [One] huge thing that is extremely lacking in Canada is a database of dog bite incidents. And that has been recommended at several inquests into fatal dog attacks and has never been followed up on."

Nonsense, said Bryant. "Mark my words, Ontario will be safer."

Anyone who knows anything about dogs could have predicted what would happen next:

toronto.ctv.ca July 2, 2007

A 17-month-old girl is dead after being mauled by her grandparents' dog near Ottawa on Canada Day.

Police say the Korie-Lyn Edwards was visiting her grandparents in Montague Township when their 10-year-old Rottweiler-German shepherd mix attacked her.

"Basically the girl had just wandered where the dog was tied up. The dog had no history of biting, socialized with adults and children, so this is obviously just a tragic circumstance," said Const. Paige Whiting of the Ontario Provincial Police on Monday.

Edwards suffered severe head injuries. The girl's parents rushed her to the local hospital and she was later airlifted to the children's hospital in Ottawa, where she died.

The dog has been turned over to Lanark County animal control officials and is expected to be euthanized at the family's request.

"It's just a wake up call for most dog owners that even pets, we have to be vigilant especially around small children, they can be very unpredictable," Whiting said.

An autopsy will be performed in the next few days. Police don't expect to lay charges.

Michael Bryant bears a measure of responsibility for this child's death. When someone in a position of authority insists that there are "safe" breeds and "dangerous" breeds, and encourages people to believe that their responsibility for preventing dog bites begins and ends with the selection of a "safe" breed, he is lying to the public, and he is putting children, in particular, at risk of serious injury.

For more about Bryant, pit bulls, generalizations and stereotypes, see Malcolm Gladwell's article Troublemakers: what pit bulls can teach us about profiling. Link in the sidebar --- it's a classic.