WESTCOAST NEWS
Pit bull attacks woman
Councillor wants bylaw banning breed

Chad Skelton
Vancouver Sun

Monday, September 13, 2004

VANCOUVER - Vancouver city Coun. Tim Stevenson says he will push for a city bylaw banning pit bulls after a vicious attack on a female jogger along False Creek by a suspected pit-bull cross Saturday morning.

"I'm going to ask for a report on Tuesday from staff on the feasibility and advisability of having a ban in the city of Vancouver on pit bulls," Stevenson said in an interview on Sunday. "It seems inappropriate to me that we have pit bulls in urban centres."

On Saturday, around 8:30 a.m., a woman was jogging along False Creek seawall near Spyglass Place when she was attacked by what police believe was a pit-bull cross.

"It just got me on my bum and pulled me down and I was screaming and the man was desperately trying to pull the dog off me," the victim, Jane Roberts, told BCTV News on Global. "He was shouting at the dog. I was shouting. It was all chaos .... Finally he got the dog off my butt and the dog went right for my arm."

With the help of some bystanders, the dog's owner finally pulled the dog off Roberts. But he didn't stick around for long.

"As the bystanders indicated they were going to be phoning the police, the dog owner put a muzzle on the dog and quickly left the area," Vancouver police Insp. Ted Schinbein said in a recorded media release.

Roberts was taken to hospital with puncture wounds to her arm and buttocks and was released after four hours in the emergency ward.

She said she hopes the dog's owner turns his dog into police.

"I think he has to have the dog put down," said Roberts. "The dog wasn't listening to him. It wasn't under his control. What if it was a kid? What if it had gotten me on the face? It could have been far worse. I feel I got off lucky."

The dog involved in Saturday's attack is described as weighing 35 to 40 kilograms, with a dark brown or black coat with tan-coloured flecks in it.

The dog's owner is described as 35 to 40 years old, about 180 centimetres tall, with a slim build and sandy blond hair. He was wearing a blue nylon cycling jacket and spoke with an English accent.

Anyone with information on the dog or its owner is asked to call police.

Saturday's incident is not the only recent attack involving pit bulls in B.C.

On Aug. 5, a 54-year-old man was severely injured in North Vancouver after being bitten several times by two pit bulls. And on April 30, a seven-year-old girl in Prince George was sent to hospital after a friend's pit bull bit her on the face.

Winnipeg has had a ban on pit bulls since 1990. According to city officials, the city had about 30 attacks a year before the bylaw was passed and has had no attacks involving the breed since.

Ontario is currently considering a province-wide ban on the breed after an attack last month in which two of the animals left a 25-year-old Toronto man with serious leg, back and arm injuries.

"There's no doubt that there's got to be some level of restriction," Ontario Attorney-General Michael Bryant said on Thursday after a meeting on the issue with victims, dog-owners and municipal officials.