Brampton officials forget to pull heads in before shutting window. Again.

These two dogs are on death row in Brampton. Crime: not a damn thing. They're nice dogs, with loving - and very worried - owners. Brampton sez they're ticking time bombs, though, on account of being "pit bulls." So Brampton officials have to kill them. It's the law.

How on earth [a commenter wonders] can a city veterinarian, in good conscience, euthanize a healthy dog that 1) has never harmed or threatened to harm anyone; 2) has never been the subject of complaint by neighbors; 3) has never escaped from his yard or been found wandering loose; 4) has a license and a law-abiding owner; and 5) is by all accounts a friendly, much-loved companion?

How can animal control officers justify entering a family's home and taking possession of such a dog?

How can city bureaucrats justify their willingness to inflict such cruelty on a dog and such anguish on law-abiding citizens?

Beats the hell out of me. But it's apparently business as usual in the Ontario city of Brampton: two families are sick with worry and two dogs have been impounded and may be killed, and killed soon, because of Brampton's canine version of the one-drop rule. Doesn't matter if Momma Dog was a Boxer and Dad was an AmBull mix: there might be some pit bull blood in there somewhere, and we can't have that.

Seems Brampton didn't get the memo that ignorance, hysteria and urban legend are terrible grounds for legislation; and Brampton officials lack the balls, the brains and the integrity to take a stand against a crappy law that hurts citizens, kills good dogs and wastes the taxpayers' hard-earned money. And that's where things stand tonight, in 2010, in Ontario, Canada.


H/T: One Bark at a Time

Related:
From Brent's awesome KC Dog Blog: The Problems with BSL - Brampton, Ontario Edition [be sure to check out the links]

"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]

Your tax dollars at work: "A lawless act by law enforcement"

Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, with their dogs Chase, left, and Payton. Both dogs were shot and killed during a home invasion — by "law enforcement."

Gotta love that war on [some] drugs. Warrant? We don't need no stinkin' warrant! We'll smash your door in and shoot your dogs, and if we want to interrogate you for a couple hours while your dead Labradors lie in pools of blood at your feet, we'll do that too, you big crybabies.

From the Washington Post editorial:

The drug raid by Prince George's County law officers on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo last week was a Keystone Kops operation from start to finish.

Acting on a tip that a 32-pound package of marijuana had been sent by Federal Express from Arizona to Mr. Calvo's home (addressed to his wife, Trinity Tomsic), Prince George's police swung into action. Which is to say they got on the phone, calling law enforcement agencies to see who might have a SWAT team available to bust the unsuspecting Calvo family. (It seems the police department's own team was tied up.) After being turned down at least once, they finally struck a deal with the Prince George's Sheriff's Office, whose track record with domestic disputes is extensive but whose experience with drug busts is slight. And it showed.

Without bothering to alert Berwyn Heights police, sheriff's deputies moved into position. Posing as a deliveryman, a deputy took the package to the family's door. After Mr. Calvo's mother-in-law initially refused to sign for it, the package was finally taken into the home, where it sat, unopened, on the living room floor. Whereupon the deputies, guns drawn, kicked in the door, stormed the house and shot to death the Calvos' two Labrador retrievers, one of them, apparently, as it attempted to flee. The canine threat thus dispatched, the mayor -- in his briefs -- and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and interrogated in close proximity to the bloodied corpses of their dogs.

And it turns out — our bad! — that the deputies didn't have a no-knock warrant. The whole mess was, in the words of the Calvo family's attorney, "a lawless act by law enforcement." The WaPo has done a good job covering this one:

Some doubt mayor's ties to drugs

Pr. George's Officers Lacked 'No-Knock' Warrant in Raid

Residents Honor Mayor, Slain Dogs at Rally

And this hopeful news: FBI to Review Raid That Killed Mayor's Dogs.

"We have witnessed a frightening law enforcement culture in which the law is disregarded, the rights of innocent occupants are ignored and the rights of innocent animals mean nothing," Calvo said, surrounded by county elected leaders and friends on the front lawn of his house. "A shadow was cast over our good names. We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us."

June White Dillard, president of the NAACP's local chapter, also called for a thorough investigation and said Calvo experienced police action familiar to many young black men in the county.

In related news:

Officer acquitted in woman's death

Lima, Ohio -- A white police officer was acquitted Monday in the drug-raid shooting death of an unarmed black woman that set off protests about how police treat minorities in a city where one in four residents is black.

The all-white jury found Sgt. Joseph Chavalia not guilty on misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He had faced up to eight months in jail if convicted of both counts.

Chavalia shot 26-year-old Tarika Wilson and her year-old son, whom she was holding, during a SWAT raid on her house on Jan. 4. Wilson was killed and her son was hit in the shoulder and hand. One of his fingers had to be amputated.

Prosecutors said Chavalia recklessly fired three shots into a bedroom where Wilson and her six children were gathered, even though he could not clearly see her or whether she had a weapon.

"He couldn't tell Tarika had a child in her arms," Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh said during closing arguments.

Chavalia, an officer for 32 years, had testified that he thought his life was in danger when he fired the shots. He said he saw a shadow coming from behind the partially open bedroom door and heard gunshots that he thought were aimed at him. The gunfire he heard was coming from downstairs, where officers shot two charging pit bulls.

At the rally in support of his family, Mayor Calvo said, "Injustice in this county, in this country, in this world happens every day. But people who experience it most often don't have the support, don't have the community, don't have the resources that we do." Perhaps the incident in Berwyn Heights will lead to changes elsewhere:

Justice Department Now Reviewing Chavalia Case

From 2006: Government Goons Murder Puppies: The drug war goes to the dogs.

Father of the year

What kind of spin do you put on this when you're eight years old and someone asks about your dad? [They'll say "real dad" to distinguish him from your stepdad, or stepdads, or foster dad.]

Will you say, "My real dad's in prison"? "He's dead"? How about, "Dad saved my life from a vicious dog and the dog's owner got in a fight with my dad and Dad killed him in self defense but the dead guy's friends told a bunch of lies in court and Dad got locked up"? [That fantasy may fly when you're eight, but by the time you're twelve...? Forget it. Have fun in middle school!]

Sucks hugely to dwell on the knowledge that your dad is 1) the worst kind of loser and 2) not around to actually, you know, be a dad. Screws a kid up something awful. Screws a kid up so badly that I would like to hit the world's crappiest parents over the head with a board. Run home for an actual frikkin' shotgun...? Brilliant move, Pop! I'm sure your kid will appreciate the gesture as he grows up without you, you stupid, stupid, stupid idiot.

P.S. I've seen the pup. Seemed nice and friendly.

Two brothers pleaded not guilty Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of a transient after an argument over his dog in a Redlands park.

Peter Soto, who turns 21 today, and Paul Soto, 18, were arraigned in San Bernardino County Superior Court on one count of murder each.

The older brother is charged with firing a shotgun to kill Ricky Dean Davis, 48, on Saturday at Jennie Davis Park. Paul Soto is charged with assaulting him with a knife.

Davis was slain at 1:30 p.m. in the playground area of the park, where homeless men often hang out. It was Redlands' first homicide since August 2006.

Redlands police said the Soto brothers argued with Davis after his dog approached the infant son of one of the men. The brothers walked to their apartment, dropped off the boy and returned with a shotgun, police said.

The brothers thought the dog, a 10-month-old male shepherd mix, got too close to the child, who was in a stroller, police said.

"They had more than enough time to walk away," Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann said. "And, in fact, they did."

The brothers are documented Rialto gang members who recently had moved into an apartment near the park at New York Street and Redlands Boulevard, police spokesman Carl Baker said.

Witnesses saw the brothers sprint the short distance to the apartment, Baker said. They were arrested there three hours later.

Davis' dog was unharmed and taken to the city's animal shelter. On Tuesday, officials said it likely would be picked up by one of Davis' siblings.