The Nation's Pulse: Fido Goes to Court
Gahr, Evan
achusetts home. No sooner were the predators appre- hended, however, than the cultural elite offered its familiar litany of excuses and rationalizations for the crime. The per-...
...At "doggie death row trials," they not only make a community safer regardbring out "character witnesses" and ani- ing the pets we share them with, but to mal behaviorists to testify on the dog's make our pets better companions and behalf...
...What next: universal Soon enough it's the pet owners' rights health care for the animal kingdom...
...only a "good dog hav- Racism: In an argument redolent of ing a bad day," as Steven Wise described feminist insistence that differences a "client" that mauled a Lincoln, Mass- between men and women are merely achusetts resident...
...the "pet owner rights" movement, the Steven Wise & Co...
...Disease Control now opposes breed-specific legislation to curb dangerous dogs...
...In a 1995 this were a mere property rights case, New York University law review article, the dog's ostensible interest would be Debra Squires-Lee boasted that courts immaterial, no matter how much dohave "either refused to recognize animals gooders yelped on his behalf...
...Some two years later, the case continues...
...Now he wants Wise, an adjunct professor at Harvard Law are reportedly the "pet" of choice among School, says his goal is to "break down" supposed drug dealers...
...But not long 57...
...In 1998 , New York Mayor Rudy Giu- In California this December, an liani pushed for legislation that would Orange County court is expected to tack- abuse of domestic animals a felony...
...Since antiquity common law has regarded pets as virtually indistinguishable from other forms of property...
...The "nuisance value" of a lawsuit--or the amount insurers pay to settle without a lawsuit--jumped from $zoo to $z5o in the 197o's to more than $4,000, Animal Legal Defense Fund head Joyce Tischler happily notes...
...But until every dog has his day in court, she and other lawyers will speak for them...
...Perhaps not for much longer...
...Rage": In New Jersey, authorities are required to consider whether a dog was T he day before Thanksgiving 1998 , an elderly man was brutally attacked near his Sudbury, MassBetter Yale than Jail: "Pet incidents ]ohnnie Cochran to the rescue?Actuthe rights revolution, this one has a cultural context...
...Their high-profile lawyer is Debra Slater-Wise, who works in a two person firm with her husband Steven Wise, legal architect of the burgeoning movement for "pet owner rights...
...They're probably ers of the ostracized species went ballisafflicted with "interspecies dyslexia"-i.e., an inability to differentiate between genuine threats and humans...
...That's why veterinarians could only be sued for the moneta O va]ue of their "patients" and nmnicipalities had wide latitude to seize and euthanize "vicious" dogs that maul or maim...
...Association contends...
...It is commonly from exercising their long-established understood that socialization and underright to "put down" certifiably vicious standing of behavior is the best way to dogs...
...as property or have used subterfuge"-by Animal Legal Defense Fund head employing such dubious concepts as Joyce Tischler recently proclaimed that "intrinsic value" to award damages high above the pet's actual market value...
...Most pets certainly are lovable and virtual "canine family meinbers," to use PC parlance...
...These legal beagles public be better protected [through] now win unprecedented damage awards education, not legislation," argues Adrifrom veterinarians...
...We would Onward and upward...
...We're pushing the envelope until we can press a ease in which the animal is the plaintiff...
...The perpetrators--who it turned out had terrorized neighborhood joggers and other residents-were merely wayward souls "socialized" to act Iike vicious animals...
...At issue are two teeth...
...Some folks may be hitting the jackpot in wing advocacy groups, aided and abetted by plaintiffs' lawyers, use the plight of the "disadvantaged" to increase their own power...
...This entire issue isn't a problem of dog breeds as much as it is a social problem," 56 December 2ooo/]arzuary 2oo1 9 The American Spectotor by Evarz Gahr provoked before it attacked...
...The city can't even bar pit bulls from mals...
...Today reports that last April, a Costa Mesa, This is a classic bait and switch: LeftCalifornia woman whose rottweiler cried continually after botched dental work won a $2o,ooo judgment against the vet...
...are determined to man- ents," Brooks Brann and Patti Dalby, aren't bill remains bottled up in the city coun- getting along...
...They file seeming]y anne Lefkowitz of the American Dog endless appeals to keep municipalities Owners Association...
...If ifestation of judicial activism...
...Sounds absurd...
...social constructs," the pet owner rights movement says it's impossible to make meaningful distinctions between species, or even tell them apart...
...have skyrocketed to five figures...
...movement, others salivating over a huge That's right, "canine rage" is an acceptpotential clientele (61 million pet-owning able legal defense...
...tic...
...In his new book Rattling the Cage, Montana from the Newport, California public housing residences, where they home he shared with Dalby...
...all).', the animals in question are fourlegged--a Rhodesian ridgeback and a pit bull...
...Back in 1991 , Steven around $2oo...
...A high-priced defense attorney from an acclaimed law firm that has saved more than zoo vicious predators from death row was hired to defend the accused...
...date state and city ordinances that would Dysfunctional family: "The breed of bar or restrict ownership of pit bulls and other manifestly dangerous dogs...
...Last year, Brann moved to ut:acture new rights for "non-human anicil...
...Moral Relativism: There is no such lawyer Karen Copeland...
...Psychobabble: Nicholas Dodman, author of Dogs Behaving Badly, explains that dogs that bite small children aren't necessarily vicious...
...And by what standard...
...Pit bulls, German Shepherds, and rottweilers get a bad rap because they tend to attract abusive owners, argues thing as a bad dog...
...But sorry, Fido, under the law you are nothing but an armchair...
...breed of lawyers-some of them ideo- American Dog Owners Association...
...Everywhere from Florida to Minneapolis, courts have struck down breed-specific bans...
...soulmates are barking up the wrong tree is litigation-happy bar--and judges who The case is a telling reminder why in for some rude surprises...
...As the cost of increased pre- Wise made headlines with a lawsuit that miums is passed along to pet owners, they ultimately kept the New England Aquarmay find they can no longer afford to take ium from turning over a dolphin to the Fido to the vet, the American Veterinarian U.S...
...In the last five years, 2o states have made the the legal "wall of separation" between animal and man...
...Vets worry the litigation explosion is likely embolden left-wing advocates to infringe to force a dramatic increase in their insur- on individual property holders and govance rates, which today is dirt cheap at ernment alike...
...CDC pediatrician and medical epidemiologist Julie Gilchrist recently proclaimed...
...Dam- like the court to realize that there's a age awards, just $300 in the early 199o's , third party that has an interest here...
...lawyer Marshall Tanick contends that EVAN GaHR is a senior fellow at the Hud- laws against pit bulls could exacerbate son Institute...
...Veterinarians now have more reason Guinness to join him, in addition to $a5,ooo in punitive damages and compensation for loss of the dog's companionship...
...We are starting to file [friend of the court] briefs...
...New York logical soul mates of the animal rights City has a similar measure on the books...
...Fido Goes to Court Understanding the Criminal and his Trial lawyers explore new horizons in civil rights law...
...give the city's dangerous dog law more Is it still okay to have Fido fetch your le just these questions...
...down on crime only breeds more crime...
...Navy for research purposes...
...Dalby counters that Guinness to worry when a patient bares his teeth...
...Once virtually immune continue, anyone who thinks Wise and his lest anyone worry that an unplanned pregto malpractice lawsuits, vets now face a nancy would further complicate the issue...
...that are being curtailed...
...The Animal Legal The American Spectator . December 2ooo/January 2ooi make it a crime to leave a pet alone in the ear while the owner is out of sight...
...the dog is not the problem," the ASPCA contends, "the behavior of the owner Like so many other permutations of is...
...When love- ing legislation in Pennsylvania that would E ven well-behaved pets can end up in court, as some nasty cusbirds split, just who gets the cat or dog...
...If present trends for improper care...
...ago, so did federal protection for discrimiThey could be held financially liable for should remain with his "sister" Roxie in nation against "fat people," and prohibibotched dental work or otherwise sued their present home...
...Raise your right paw and repeat after me...
...No sooner were the predators apprehended, however, than the cultural elite offered its familiar litany of excuses and rationalizations for the crime...
...Faced with rabid opposition from dogs, Guinness and Roxie, whose "par- slippers...
...households, according to USA Today) -have convinced courts to accord animals can only be reduced and the general quasi-human status...
...Leniency for Criminals: Cracking Over the last decade, however, a irew Blame Society First: The Centers for the pooch's "anti-social" tendencies...
...USA Just who precisely is the third party...
...Pet owner rights advocates "pet owner rights" is despite its name make no bones about this particular man- ultimately inimical to property rights...
...When the American Kennel Club in 1998 listed certain dogs as "not good" for children, defend- Defense Fund, which boasts a network of some 6oo lawyers nationwide, is supporttody battles attest...
...He used a similar argument to defend a German Shepherd that bit at least five people...
...The new rights supposedly accorded to our furry friends further fuel the litigation explosion--and further the litigation lottery, but the upshot could be much misery for pets and their owners...
...To say that all these dogs are 'this' and these dogs are 'that,' that's racism, canine racism," yelped Carl Holder of the Dachshund Club of America...
...happily oblige...
...Both dogs are "fixed;' tions against "lookism...
...convince courts to invali- less likely to wind up in the shelter...
Vol. 33 • December 2000 • No. 10
