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Dog breed ban legislation is a pressing issue discussed in this podcast episode. Casper, an animal rights activist, explains that breed ban legislation is when certain dog breeds are restricted or banned by the government. This legislation started in the 1980s due to increased media coverage of dog attacks. Pit bulls were often targeted, leading to their ban in some states. Casper believes these bans are unfair and result in dogs being euthanized or suffering in shelters. He also mentions that these bans affect insurance rates and housing options for dog owners. While there are arguments for these bans, Casper emphasizes the need for better education and responsible ownership as a solution to the issue. He also mentions the racial aspect of these bans, with pit bulls being predominantly owned by marginalized communities. Overall, the podcast highlights the flaws and complexities surrounding dog breed ban legislation and the importance of finding a resolution. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today we'll be learning a little bit about dog breeding legislation, which is a pressing issue to a lot of our viewers. Here to teach us about this issue is a good friend of mine, Casper. He's an advocate for domesticated animals, and we're back this week to talk about dog breeding and legislation. Casper, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Hello, my name is Casper. I am an animal rights activist. I have recently brought my hard work to the Amazon Congo to deal with poaching rights. But now I really want to take my efforts to the West and focus more on domestic issues with animals, more specifically breed ban legislation. Interesting. A lot of our viewers are curious about what this even means. What is dog breed ban legislation? So basically, dog breed legislation is when a government takes out legislation that would ban or put some kind of restriction on certain dog breeds. Interesting. Can you tell the listeners a little bit about the history of dog breed ban legislation? Of course. It started in America, at least. It started in the 1980s when there was a lot more publicization in the TV as well as the radio in general, just in news in general. There was a lot more mentioning of certain dog breeds being more aggressive and more accidents occurring between certain dog breeds attacking individuals. The media most specifically publicized about the pit bull. However, there were other dogs as well, like the American Bully, but just for simplicity I will be mentioning most of the pit bull for the rest of this podcast. But basically, with more mentioning of these attacks, more media awareness, social awareness on these issues, the government had to act and chose to ban specific dog breeds and pass this legislation. In some states, even certain breeds are still banned actually. Interesting. So Casper, why do you care about these legislation bans? So essentially, I care about these legislation bans in a more just animal rights way. People don't realize the effect of this legislation. Foremost, think about all the dogs that now that they are... Imagine a pit bull that's now on the banned list. What are you going to do with that pit bull now? What this ends up causing is that pit bulls or these dogs on these lists typically end up being placed into pound shelters where eventually they are euthanized. Or in some sad cases, which I've actually heard of, is that people have to basically make the decision between if they bring their pit bull to the vet or not. Because in many cases like this, they just genuinely cannot bring them either because their dog is outright banned or bringing them will increase their insurance costs. This is a big problem and what basically this leaves is that dogs are left to either die due to their illnesses or to just suffer in general. It's a really big issue in my opinion to the point that I think something should be done because it's just not right and it's not equal to both animal and humans that own these pets. You mentioned insurance. Can you expand a little bit about that? Of course. To begin with, because of this legislation, there has been something known as breed lists, which insurance companies, homeowners as a whole have been using. Essentially, these breed lists are a list of dog breeds that people like homeowners and insurance companies are able to use to either jack up rates or to just outright reject people from renting certain houses. So Casper, it's clear to us that there's obviously a lot of downsides of this legislation. But are there any actual upsides? That's what the viewers really want to hear. I sadly have to say that there is a polarizing side to this, of course. It can't be denied that pit bulls are technically very dangerous and many of the dogs on these breed lists are, of course, inherently dangerous, such as Rottweilers, American Bulldogs. All dangerous breeds have very well the ability to be lethal. For example, American Pit Bulls used to even be bred for either to be guard dogs or to be dogs for fighting rings. A dog that's basically trained to be a weapon is going to be a weapon at the end of the day. So there is definitely a polarizing side to this that deserves merit. So Casper, what really causes you to care about this issue in the now? Of course. So basically, I don't know if you've been hearing the news, but Prime Minister of England, has recently enlarged his banned dog list, I should say, to now include the American XL Bully. Previously, he only had, England as a whole, I should say, only had the American Pit Bull, an Australian Doggo Argentino, and Japanese Tosa. But with this expansion to a new breed, essentially a whole, it just showcases to me that there is more dogs that are going to end up suffering because of this breed legislation, to the point that something has to be done now before more breeds are inevitably added onto this. Yeah, I actually have heard the news. So Casper, even before we recorded this podcast, we were talking a little about how inherently these bans are just unjust. Can you expand a little bit upon that? Of course. Inherently, in my opinion, there's a lot of flaws that come to this. For example, the CDC doesn't even report on dog biting statistics anymore. The reason it doesn't do it anymore is because it was a very flawed process when they actually collected data on this. To be exact, imagine that you are in Chile, you're hanging out at your friend's house, right? Let's say you're hanging out and their pit bull bites you. More often than not, this bite will be obviously deeper and potentially even more lethal. If a pit bull outright attacks you in their house, there's a good chance you might die. Now imagine that difference if it was a chihuahua in the house. You would just point and laugh at the little dog, maybe even kick it if you really wanted to. The thing is, this caused an issue with the statistics taken by the CDC, that people were not reporting these many, essentially, scratches by these little dogs, but instantly going to report a pit bull. Even in your own life, I do have to ask, when you see a pit bull, you tend to be afraid, of course, right? Yeah, personally, if I ever approach a pit bull, I'm very cautious and I tend to be very aware of where I am in relation to the pit bull and I'm just, you know, it's a scary dog so I'm afraid of it. Exactly, and many other people are just like you. Imagine now this, if that pit bull actually attacks you, you're not going to just sit back and laugh, you're going to report the actual accident. This obviously will eventually skew data and make it show statistics that these more, I guess, apparently dangerous dog breeds, I have air quotes here when I say that, these dangerous dog breeds, they inherently tend to be reported more and it's just a flaw in the data. That's to the point that CDC doesn't even report this anymore. They haven't even reported dog data on this since 1995. Another flaw with these bans also is just the whole case of hauling out certain breeds as dangerous. What people don't realize is 50% of dog breeds are mixed, so what this essentially means is some dogs are 10% pit bull, 5%, some are even 90 and 80%, there are not many great purebred pit bulls. It's just a big flaw and overall, to me, the biggest flaw with these breed legislation bans is just the sole fact that not every dog is the same. Imagine it. It's really a matter of nature versus nurture. Although these pit bulls might have been genetically trained to be guard dogs, to be very aggressive and fight, a lot of these dogs, as a result, if treated properly, they are not aggressive at all. I feel like even if you're in your own life, you've seen videos, let's say on Instagram or TikTok, of literal pit bulls and chihuahuas being tucked to bed at night, right? Yeah, absolutely. Love those videos, by the way. But that really just shows the precedent that not every dog is the same and you can't just pinpoint that like, yes, these specific dogs are the problem. Casper, I have to ask, I heard a rumor that these bans, these legislation bans of dog breeds actually started as an act of racism. Is there any truth to that? As crazy as it might sound, yes. Predominantly pit bulls and these aggressive dogs were owned by either people in more impoverished locations or by predominantly the African-American community. So almost in a racist act, some people would tend to report these dogs more solely because the owners are by a group that they might have not liked. As sad as it might sound, there were people historically that would do acts like this to want to have people lose their pets and even create fabricated stories. So Casper, from this conversation, it's clear to us that there's a problem here. The thing is, is there any solution to this issue or is there just a problem that is unsolved? So obviously there is an issue. There is two polarizing sides that have different opinions and it's going to be hard to come to a resolution. If we haven't gotten to one now in the last, what, 40 years, it's definitely going to be a difficult struggle essentially. But I believe the best way to at least start by tackling it is by addressing the importance of education. And this basically starts from the owner itself. People need to acknowledge that these dogs, such as Pitbull, are very high maintenance. They have aggressive tendencies and it's very important to start by at least training them well. And it's not even just about training, too. You generally have to also give it energy, you have to take it outside, get its energy out, so there's even less of a chance that it might just energetically attack someone. And in many cases, it's shown that, especially the XL Bully, actually, that's why in Great Britain that added to the breed ban list, is that some of these dogs, when they get really, not anxious exactly, but excited, they tend to accidentally almost cause a trigger switch or kill switch in their head that causes them to sometimes attack even their loved ones. So it's really just about starting with education, teaching these owners how to properly maintain these dogs. As I said, you need to give it walks, but it's also about genuinely loving them. If you love a dog, give it a lot of food so it doesn't get hungry or anything like that, treat it well, make it live like a king, it's not going to have any aggressive tendencies at all. And it really just starts with that. Yeah, it really is just a matter of nature versus nature. Well, I really want to thank you for this conversation, Casper. It was a pleasure having you. I want to say to our viewers that you guys got to stay tuned for next week. We're going to be talking about the domestication of exotic birds. So you better stick with us for that. So yeah, thank you, Casper, for having this conversation, something that the viewers are very passionate about. So we'll see you next time. Thank you so much for even bringing me, man. I'm happy I got to vocalize my, I guess, opinions on the case. You know, maybe something might come out of it in the end. You never know. Thank you.