Fatal pitbull attack prompts Quebec to consider a breed ban

[Christiane Vadnais, left, died on June 8 after she was attacked by a neighbour’s dog in the Montreal borough of Pointe-aux-Trembles. FACEBOOK]

Quebec is considering a ban on pitbulls and similar breeds following the fatal mauling of a Montreal-area woman earlier this month, prompting anew a long-running debate over nature-versus-nurture for the breed that so often makes headlines.

If the provincial government proceeds, it will be just the second provincewide ban in Canada, though several cities have moved to bar ownership of so-called fighting breeds.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard says he was “horrified” by the death of Christiane Vadnais, who was killed in her own backyard by a neighbour’s dog.

“We will look very, very carefully to what Ontario has done,” Couillard told reporters.

“I think we are ready to have a provincial standard in Quebec, which could include, theoretically, possibly, a ban on this breed.”

There have been other incidents since Vadnais’ death including a report of a man who ordered a pitbull attack on his wife.

Ontario banned pitbulls in 2005, following a number of attacks, including several on children.

Winnipeg was the first jurisdiction to put a ban in place, though, in 1990. Cities including Edmonton, Richmond, B.C., Sherbrooke, Que., and Burnaby, B.C., have since followed suit. Quebec City recently announced a ban that will come into effect next year.

In the United States, more than 700 cities have implemented breed-specific legislation banning pitbulls, as well as some other breeds deemed dangerous.

Colleen Lynn, whose own experience with being attacked by a pitbull led her to start the website dogsbite.org, hopes Quebec proceeds with a ban and not just on pitbulls.

Breeds traditionally bred for fighting include dogo argentinos, presa canarios, cane corsos, tosa inus, fila brasileiros and presa mallorquins, she says.

Pitbulls are the most notorious because they are much more prevalent but all such dogs are dangerous, she says.

“We know that herding dogs herd and pointing dogs point. I know that my retrieving dog is going to retrieve,” Lynn says.

“That’s not trained or taught to them; they know it at birth. And it’s the same for fighting dogs. No one has to teach them to bite and hold.”

It is not that pitbulls bite more frequently but, rather, the damage they inflict when they do bite that makes them so dangerous, Lynn says.

“A normal dog bites and releases,” she says. “That’s not what happens in the case of pitbulls.

“These dogs have a unique biting style — the hold-and-shake. These dogs, when they start an attack, they keep on attacking even when severe violence is inflicted on them.”

Pitbull owners are just as passionate that the animals are a product of their environment and it is dangerous dog owners that need to be targeted.

Twenty-six years after implementing its ban, the City of Winnipeg is still under pressure from some to lift the bylaw.

“We know that banning these breeds has not stopped breeders from breeding them, nor has it stopped the number of dog bites in the city,” says one recent online petition.

“As we know any breed of dog can bite, so can cats and we don’t put a ban on them.

“Start punishing the deed, not the breed.”

The petition received more than 5,000 signatures but fell short of its goal.

A 2012 study by researchers at the University of Manitoba looked at whether breed-specific legislation had an effect on the number of hospitalizations from dog bites.

It did.

“Despite the study limitations… trends in population-level outcomes studied collectively suggest that [breed-specific legislation] in Manitoba may have decreased [hospitalizations from dog bite injury] in people, especially in those younger than 20 years,” concludes the study published in the British Medical Journal Injury Prevention.

“Our study adds to the limited body of evaluation literature that shows a decline in DBIH [dog bite injury hospitalizations] as a result of government regulation.”

Quebec’s public safety minister has said he expects recommendations on legislation by the fall.

Montreal pitbull owners plan a rally in July to protest any breed-specific legislation.