Denver Fighting To Keep Pit-Bull Ban

DENVER -- The city council declared it wouldn't "roll over and play dead" in the face of a new state law that has voided its ban on pit bulls.

The council voted unanimously Monday night to authorize the city attorney to sue the state or take other legal action to protect its right to keep the dogs out of the city.

"Make no bones about it," said Councilman Charlie Brown, "We're not going to roll over and play dead."

The new law, signed by Gov. Bill Owens last week, prohibits local governments from banning specific breeds of dogs. It also allows dog-bite victims to file civil lawsuits to recover damages, even if it is the animal's first offense.

Although other cities have pit-bull bans, Denver's ordinance was singled out. A Staffordshire bull terrier and a pit bull on "doggy death row" were released from the Denver animal pound after Owens signed the new law.

City officials said employees are no longer impounding dogs based on their breed but they say the dog fight is not about pit bulls but about home rule authority -- not letting the state tell them what to do.

"The Legislature has to decide if it's good for the state and we have to decide if it's good for Denver," said Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez with District 3.

Denver banned pit bulls in 1989 after a 54-year-old local minister was attacked and mauled by one of the dogs. A 5-year-old was killed by a pit bull the year before.

City figures show that about 410 pit bulls were impounded and euthanized in 2003, and 240 were returned to their owners. Some people have moved out of Denver to keep their dogs.

A law firm has been hired by the American Canine Foundation and two pit bull owners who were forced to leave Denver or lose their dogs. They say once the city moves forward with legal action, they will follow with some sort of lawsuit against the city of Denver.

The city council believes the Colorado Supreme Court will rule in its favor.

In 1991, in an opinion by Justice Mary Mullarkey, she wrote, "There is no question that the regulation and/or prohibition of pit bulls in the city by the city is a matter of purely local concern."

And local is the word the city council wants to capitalize on.

"We have the police powers to regulate what kind of animals we want to keep in the city and county of Denver," Brown said. "We can make changes if we choose to do that, but we will do that as a city council, not as a state Legislature."