A Maple Ridge veterinarian is staging a unique protest in hopes that he can put a dog breedwith an aggressive reputation in a new light.
Adrian Walton and the rest of the staff at Dewdney Animal Hospital will be wearing bright pink tutus for a week, as a way to generate discussion about a bylaw banning pit bulls from the city.
Animals already there must be registered, muzzled and kept on short leashes in public, but the bylaw voted in last week would prohibit new pit bulls in the city. The ban could also serve as a death sentence for some dogs in Montreal's shelters.
Walton is upset with the bylaw that specifically targets a breed, rather than bad owners.
“The vast majority of pit bulls that I deal with on a daily basis are wonderful, wonderful family pets,” said Walton.
“And look, I have no problems euthanizing aggressive dogs. I do that all the time for the SPCA or for clients whose dogs are aggressive.”
He called the bylaw "short-sighted" and "unethical."
As part of the protest, he's asking owners of pit bull-type dogs to put tutus on them, showing that they can be harmless. He said he wants to use the campaign to get attention and encourage people to donate to the Montreal SPCA's legal battle.
But not everyone agrees -- especially victims of pit bull attacks.
Jeremy Larsen supports Montreal’s pit bull ban and would like to see something similar in British Columbia after an unleashed pit bull in Surrey put him in the hospital last month.
"When the pit bull had in its mind that it was just going to come straight for me, there's nothing the owner could have done at that point,” said Larsen.
He says when the attack was over, the owner left immediately with the dog and didn’t leave any contact information.
Changes to the Montreal bylaw were supposed to come into effect Monday but a judge pushed the date back two days while he considers a request for a court injunction by the Montreal SPCA which opposes the law.
The BC SPCA is also against the Montreal bylaw changes and says it would also oppose any similar moves in this province.
