When Carole Baskin and Big Cat Rescue became known for trying to stop the trade in exotic cats as pets, several of the exotics dealers enlisted pet breeders to began slandering her in an attempt to draw the attention off the subject; Dangerous Animals as Pets, which is not a subject anyone can defend, and try to misdirect attention in any way she can.  Carole Baskin had advocated strongly for laws that banned dog fighting in 2006 and 2007.  Carole had been appointed to the Animal Advisory Committee and was elected President with a primary task of reducing the euthanasia rate in Hillsborough County.  Surveys show that 3/4 of all the dogs who end up euthanized in shelters are pit bulls.  The only exceptions are in the areas where mandatory sterilization of pit bulls occurs and in those places pit bulls make up 1/3 of the animals killed in shelters.  People who breed pit bulls say they do it because they love the animal, but just like with exotic pet owners, it typically isn’t the animal they love, it is the ego trip possessing that animal gives them, that they love.

Lisa Walker was often an attendee at the Animal Advisory Board meetings to deter the county from banning pit bulls.  On June 20, 2007 she testified before the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners on the subject of dog bites asking that education be substituted for breed bans.  Since there is no money for such educational programs, it essentially allows them to continue to breed animals that were selectively bred to kill.  Breeders like Lisa Walker and exotic pet dealers worked together to have Carole Baskin removed by Brian Blair from the Animal Advisory Committee.

Lisa Walker lives with her fiancee Reid Hutches and they are pit bull breeders.  The address she used in her false complaint about Big Cat Rescue is registered to Reid Hutches.  Several places on the web refer to Lisa Walker as the main contact for the Mid-Florida APBTC and use the same number as on her complaint: (813) 983-8175.  She is listed as the secretary of the Big Cat Rescue and claims to be a non profit organization and solicits donations online, but as of 10/16/07 the name Mid Florida American Pit Bull Terrier Association cannot be found as listed on the Division of Consumer Services web site.  Soliciting in FL without being registered subjects the violator to $1,000.00 a day in fines.

The Mid Florida American Pit Bull Terriers Association will be hosting a two day ADBSI Sanctioned Conformation and Weight Pull Show

September 17-18, 2005 at the Sumter County Fairgrounds, 7684 SR 471, Bushnell, FL

All ADBSI rules apply.
All Dogs must be crated.
No Human Aggressive Dogs or Dog Aggressive Humans
Secure Collars Only, No Quick Release & No Choke Chains.

For More Information Contact:
Reid Hutches 813.983.8175
9005 Esthel Road
Tampa, FL  33637
email: midfloridapitbulls@earthlink.netThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

There is no shame in our game…we are the next level! www.houseofblueskennel.com

The term “game” in pit bull fighting rings means that the dog will fight no matter how badly he is injured.

These people often use aliases, false addresses and other methods to hide their real identities when they spread their libelous claims because when their background becomes known, it is apparent that there is no truth to their assertions.  It is all a ruse, meant to distract from the real issue which is that exotic animals should not be kept as pets.

According to a 3/15/07 post on the Working Pit Bull of America Club of FL web site, B.O.C.C. Brian Blair notified the pit bull breeders of the likelihood of an impending ban on their breeding.  In this Tampa Tribune article Brian Blair threw the public out of a public meeting and attempted to continue it behind closed doors, so it comes as no surprise that he is being supportive of those who are opposed to letting their neighbors know that they have dangerous animals next door.  The following is posted exactly as it was found, mis spellings and all:

Hillsborough County Commissioner White brought forth item #S-7 at the last meeting. Some of you may have seen the story Tuesday on ABC Action News.
Item #S-7 calls for a “dangerous” breed ban to possibly include all pit bull type dogs, german shepherds, rottweilers, dobermanns, and mixes thereof. Once Hillsborough figures out a way to get this legislation pushed through, I am sure it won’t be long until it spreads to other counties. They are even discussing trying to overturn the FSS that bans BSL in Florida, which would be a real disaster.

Here is the fax that I received from Chris, aide to Commissioner Brian Blair. It is a memorandum from Sheree C. Fish, Managing Attorney, Health Care and Human Services Division of Hillsborough County to Renee Francis Lee, Hillsborough County Attorney and was distributed to all Hillsborough County Commissioners.

Re: Ban and/or have additional restrictions on ownership of specific breeds of dogs

In connection with the discussion to be held on March 7, 2007, by the BOCC, we have researched the issue of breed specific regulations. A brief discussion follows below:

Over the years, newspapers and broadcasts across the United States have reported on injuries inflicted by dogs on humans or other animals. In recent months, many of these attacks have occurred in Hillsborough County. Ohter state and local governments have adopted an approach for eliminating dog attacks known as, Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL). BSL has been embraced by some communities, shunned by others, and strongly opposed by a number of dog owners and canine organizations. BSL, in simple terms, is a statute or regulation that is directed toward one or more specific breed of dogs.

As of July, 2000, thirty-eith states had enacted BSL on a statewide level or in certain municipalities, or were considering BSL on one of the levels. In 1980, Hollywood, Florida’s City Commission passed an ordinance that required persons who owned pit bull dogs to “complete special registration forms and prove the possession of $25,000 of public liability insurance. In 1984, a New Mexico town completely banned pit bulls and allowed couty officers to confiscate and euthanize the dogs. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a legislative committee is considering a bill that would allow Broward Counth locales to ban specific breeds of dogs from public areas. Denver, Colorado has prohibited” any person to own, possess, keep, exercise control over, maintain, harbor, transport, or sell within the city any bit bull”. Michigan has prohibited any prospective “possession, maintenance, and harboring” of any “pit bull terriers,”, and justifies the prohibition by stating that ” the township has further concluded that it is in the interest of public health, sagety and welfare that the presence of pit bull terriers be limited in this community to only those existing licesed pit bull terrier dogs in order that the threat of this breed will eventually be removed from this community. Des Moines, Iowa and North Little Rock, Arkansas have also imposed stringent confinement, licensure, and control requirements (including provisions for animal sezure and disposal) upon any animals deemed “vicious” and ownership of Rottweilers, Pit Bulls, or Bull Terriers or mixes requires a breed-specific licensure fee of $500.00.

That was followed by a lot of similar postings to this anonymous one below by the breeders and dealers:

If any of you have been following my other post…They are proposing a pitbull ban in my county. I had some great help from other forum members on writing a letter. Well I sent it out about 9:00 this morning and wow…I got replies from 3 of the commissioners within 2 hours. I am very pleased with the information I received, because there will be NO BAN!!!! Wooo-hooo!!!! It is against the state constitution to ban any specific breed of dog! This is what I received…short and brief but I also received a transcript from the last meeting on the dangerous breed ban!

Statistics on Pit Bull Attacks in America:

According to the Centers for Disease Control, dogs bite 4 million to 5 million Americans every year. Few attacks are fatal (25 in 1996), but serious injuries—everything from a gash in the arm requiring a few stitches to severed hands and fractured skulls—continue to rise and now stand at more than 750,000 annually, up nearly 40 percent from 1986. Dog bites are one of the top causes of non-fatal injuries in the nation.

Children are the most frequent victims, accounting for 60 percent of the dog bites and 20 of the 25 dog-bite fatalities in 1996. Dog attacks are now the No. 1 reason that children wind up in hospital emergency rooms. Incredibly, nearly half of all American kids have been bitten by the age of 12. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that more than $100 million gets spent yearly treating dog bites in the nation’s emergency rooms, and U.S. insurance companies paid out $250 million in dog-bite liability claims in 1996.

Pit bulls and pit-bull crosses (not always easy to distinguish) have caused more than a third of the nation’s dog-bite fatalities since 1979 and a comparable proportion of serious injuries. The rising number of attacks, and the unease pit bulls and other dangerous dogs cause in public spaces, have spurred many municipalities to crack down with legislation ranging from muzzle laws to bans on pit bulls and certain other breeds.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_2_scared_of_pit.html

Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, has conducted an unusually detailed study of dog bites from 1982 to the present. (Clifton, Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to November 13, 2006; click here to read it.) The Clifton study show the number of serious canine-inflicted injuries by breed. The author’s observations about the breeds and generally how to deal with the dangerous dog problem are enlightening.

According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question. Clifton states:

If almost any other dog has a bad moment, someone may get bitten, but will not be maimed for life or killed, and the actuarial risk is accordingly reasonable. If a pit bull terrier or a Rottweiler has a bad moment, often someone is maimed or killed–and that has now created off-the-chart actuarial risk, for which the dogs as well as their victims are paying the price.

Clifton’s opinions are as interesting as his statistics. For example, he says, “Pit bulls and Rottweilers are accordingly dogs who not only must be handled with special precautions, but also must be regulated with special requirements appropriate to the risk they may pose to the public and other animals, if they are to be kept at all.”

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

The letter that Carole Baskin wrote advising neighbors of exotic animal owners about a public workshop to address the proposal that neighbors be notified in the event of an escape is posted below:

Dear Exotic Animal Neighbor,                                                        October 2, 2007

Did you even know that there are people living right next to you who own dangerous Class I and Class II wild animals?  It could be anything from a bobcat to a tiger.  While they may be caged  now, what happens in a hurricane?  The cobras and black mamba sort of neighbors are even more prone to escape.  We post a list of the big cat escapes, killings & maulings on our website.

Keeping wild animals in private collections is cruel to the animals and dangerous for you.

At a recent meeting of the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission they voted down a recommendation that neighbors be notified BEFORE someone moves in next to them with dangerous wild animals because the breeders, dealers and exotic pet owners were there but their neighbors weren’t.  They decided to offer two more meetings for neighbors to respond before voting on whether you should be notified when a dangerous wild animal escapes near you.

Of course, just like all of their other meetings, you won’t be notified by them of when and where.

We think you have a right to know.

DATE AND TIME: October 8, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
PLACE: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry Auditorium, 1911 SW 34th Street, Gainesville, Florida 32614.

DATE AND TIME: October 9, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
PLACE: The Ft. Lauderdale City Commission Chambers, 100 N. Andrews Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33301-1016.

For more information on the meetings contact Captain Linda E. Harrison, FWC Division of Law Enforcement Linda.harrison@MyFWC.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

To find out who in your neighborhood has these animals will cost you $50.00 (and a lot of frustration, because the FWC doesn’t want you to know) but you can try to get the list  from FL Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Attn. Debbie Manderfield 2590 Executive Center Circle, Suite #200 Tallahassee, Fl 32301.  We purchased the list and found your address to be adjacent to one of the owners of Class I or Class II wildlife.  We thought you ought to know.

For the cats,

Carole Baskin, Founder