----- Original Message -----
From: Animal Advocates Society of B.C.
To: VANCOUVER CITY - Mayor Campbell mayorcampbell@city.vancouver.bc.ca
Cc: VANCOUVER CITY - Jacquie Forbes-Roberts
Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 12:24 PM
Subject: Young woman savagely attacked by two dogs

December 23, 2002

The Mayor and Council,
the City of Vancouver

Dear Mayor Campbell and Councillors,

We sent the letter (below) to all the media this morning. On December 18th we sent the SPCA a report on one of the dogs we describe and have not had a reply. The other dog in our media release, the one that has already bitten, was reported to the Vancouver SPCA and to the City Pound as long as four months ago. Here is an excerpt from the report we received:

"There are 15 people we have talked to who are upset by the neglect. It is a real issue as we all hear her during the day and night, barking and frustrated, left alone for hours. We have all talked about it a lot over the past two months
specifically. Now I am scared of her. She bit someone who came to the house yesterday, and we heard the woman screaming. We're a little worried what will happen as she gets bigger and older with no training."

AAS has given the City and the SPCA at least 40 reports of dogs kept in desocializing isolation and we have many more.

In our report to you of June 2001, "IT'S TIME", we supplied you with conclusive research that proves that this type of desocialized dog is the most likely to attack savagely. We also supplied you with compelling research into the inhumane social and physical neglect that these dogs suffer.

We have repeatedly warned the City of its possible legal liability by the abrogation of its duty to protect citizens, firstly, by claiming the City Charter does not permit it to adopt bylaws to prevent this, and secondly, by saying that the SPCA is "taking care of this issue".

In our interview this morning on CKNW we said that these two dogs must be euthanized, but we pointed out that the taxpayers of Vancouver do not realize that they are paying for its pound to kill dangerous dogs after they have injured, instead of paying its pound to prevent the attacks in the first place.

Animal Advocates would like to work with the City by forwarding to it all the reports we receive about isolated dogs in the hope that we can assist in the rehabilitation and rehoming of those that have not yet attacked. We do not want to be responsible for setting into motion actions that result in the dogs we have reported to the City just 'disappearing' and of never knowing their fates or dispositions.

We look forward to your earliest response.

Judy Stone
President, Animal Advocates Society of BC

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To all Vancouver media re savage dog attack in Vancouver:

Animal Advocates Society of BC has been trying for several years to get the City of Vancouver to adopt bylaws to prevent this very thing from happening, laws that would prohibit the keeping and desocializing of yard dogs.

Our primary motive is the dogs themselves, because of the misery that such social creatures suffer from isolation... but we're also concerned about the huge risk that these large-breed yard dogs pose to public safety.

This attack is so horrifying that the media is publicizing it, but people are bitten by desocialized dogs all the time. Just a few days ago Animal Advocates received two more reports from caring - but frightened - people, about young German shepherds chained and isolated. One is kept 24/7 on a six foot tether, and one is kept 24/7 in a yard, when it isn't boarded under a porch. That one has already bitten, and it's only 10 months old, In another few months it will be driven so mad by isolation that it will rip someone to shreds if it gets the chance, and it will get the chance, they all get loose sooner or later. The City knows of this dog - neighbours have phoned the pound, but they were told that "...the dog is too young to be trained and is fine to be left in the yard alone all day and night." Both these statements are absolutely false and show astonishing ignorance coming from so-called animal experts. And it begs the question, did the pound know of the dogs that attacked the young woman? It has been our experience that every dog has already been reported to the SPCA or to the Pound before people are driven by inaction to contact us.

In June 2001 Animal Advocates presented the City with a comprehensive report, with many photos and stories of chained dogs in Vancouver, and with reams of research and statistics into how yard dogs suffer, and how they become deranged menaces, and we warned the City that one day a victim may very well sue it for knowing that desocialized dogs are a public danger, and of having done nothing.

The City claims that its charter does not permit it to adopt such bylaws, but that is pure eyewash. The City has dozens of animal control bylaws and this would be just be one more. The City simply does not want to have to pay more Animal Control Officers to enforce a bylaw. The taxpayers of Vancouver may not realize it, but they are paying to have their pound euthanize yard dogs and chained dogs, and grow-op dogs. But that's certainly cheaper than paying an Animal Control Officer to enforce a bylaw to stop this from happening in the first place.

We hope this young woman gets legal counsel and that the City is sued, and then the City will have to do something to protect Vancouver's dogs from the cruelty of isolation, and to protect Vancouver citizens from the danger of desocialized yard dogs.

Our report is so comprehensive that it was called "Magnificent" by the president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but it did not move the previous city council to do anything. We will be presenting it again to the new council with even more stories of suffering dogs and we are hopeful that this council will see its duty to both dogs and citizens, and prohibit the desocializing and suffering of Vancouver's yard dogs.

Our report and petition is online at animaladvocates.com. "IT'S TIME!".

It is indeed time to stop any more innocent people from suffering the terror and pain that this young woman suffered.

Judy Stone
President, Animal Advocates Society of BC