Madison Alderman John Strasser has proposed Breed Discriminatory Legislation in Madison.  You can read the text of the proposal here. 

Wisconsin Voters for Companion Animals opposes breed-discriminatory legislation (also called breed-specific legislation, BSL) which arbitrarily targets particular breeds. These laws unfairly discriminate against responsible dog owners based solely on their choice of breed. Breed-discriminatory laws are not only ineffective at improving community safety but also expensive, difficult to enforce and deplete needed resources from animal control. 

Breed discrimination can take many forms including outright bans, or imposing certain requirements such as fencing, insurance, or spay/neuter requirements on owners of the targeted breed.  Singling out one breed of dog for any reason is discrimination and will ultimately cause the surrender and death of more dogs in shelters. 

Breed targeted mandatory spay/neuter laws do not work.  History shows that the majority of the time, it increases shelter population. Two of the primary driving factors in not altering a dog are economics and education. Mandatory spay/neuter addresses neither. You can read more about this here. 

Nearly every major animal welfare organization in America opposes any type of mandatory spay neuter legislation including the ASPCA, the HSUS, Best Friends Animal Society, the No Kill Advocacy Center and the AVMA.  You can read more about this here. 

If you are a Madison resident, please take a few minutes to contact your alderman. You can find out who your alderman is and contact him or her by clicking here. 

If you are not a Madison resident, please send an educational, respectful email to the members of the Board of Health since they are having a committee meeting on this issue on Tuesday. Their email addresses are:  [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Thank you. Together we can end breed discrimination and improve the outcome for pit bull terriers in Wisconsin.