When advocating hurts...

When will we stand as a people and hold those we elect responsible and demand change? There comes a time in our lives when a cause that’s close to our hearts forces us to get involved socially. That’s what happened to us a little over a year ago.  With the fire burning inside of us to seek change and justice for ALL pit bulls or dogs that “resemble” a pit bull we took to social media outlets, participated in rallies, sat in committee meetings, wrote legislators, wrote proposed legislation, joined alliances with other advocates/groups, shared posts,answered e-mails from concerned pit bull guardians, and the list goes on however, change cannot come from the bottom, it must come from the top.

Pit Bull guardians have been under attack for many years and the attacks are relentless.  The writing is on the wall this bully breed is not wanted and will not be tolerated.  Time after time after time this sediment is evident. From the senseless killing of Lennox, who wasn’t a pit bull, justlooked like one to the overcrowding at shelters.  Shelters and rescue organizations are overworked and underpaid, what keeps them going is the pure love for this animal.  People are forced to make a decision for some is easy to make and for others the thought is debilitating, the decision to prematurely euthanize a beloved family pet/member or up root their family and find another place to live due to ignorance, fear and discrimination.  Those that have the power to listen and make wise and correct decision refuse to listen to those that put them in power.  Marylanders have been fighting this fight for a while, long before Maryland Court of Appeals handed down their ruling naming pit bulls “inherently dangerous.”  They have been fighting the stereotyping of pit bulls in Prince George’s County since 1996 when pit bulls were outlawed.  Mayor Joe of Laurel, Maryland has been fighting this fight and asked the now jailbird Jack Johnson to review and repeal the ban to no avail.  The now County Executive Rushern Baker mentioned in his campaign he would change the environment at Animal Control however, when contacted by Mayor Moe and us aletter patronizing us is all we received. It was a letter hiding behindMaryland Court of Appeals ruling. 

Maryland legislators had an opportunity to get it right for many renters, landlords and families to set the bar for the nation when it comes to pit bulls.  Instead of looking at the all the facts and making a logical decision it was politics as usual.Yes, we understand the law would affect many people and they want to make sure they get it right but the legislators did not do that, instead they let the bill fail which means the court ruling stands. Many families will be impacted because of the lack of empathy and frankly lack of concern.  To further solidify our position of those not caring, a follower of a known advocacy group had the pleasure of meeting Governor Martin O’Mally prior to the special session asked the Governor if there was a chance the pit bull ruling will be on agenda (at this time it was still unclear if the ruling was going to be on the agenda) per the gentleman who had the encounter with Governor O’Malley said the Governor said “he hopes not.”  It is this kind of callus thinking many families will have to make that agonizing decision to uproot the family and find another place to live or take their family member to the shelter knowing her/his fate ultimately is death.