Pit Bull

Irene and Anthony Solesky are shining examples of what parents should be - caring, loving and concerned. Yet I am sure their young son Dominic, who was brutally mauled by a pit bull five years ago, continues to deal with the traumatic stress of that attack ("Pit bull bill sought for special session," May 8). Now that the Maryland courts have weighed in against these "dangerous by design" animals, the animal "kooks" have come out of the woodwork, of course. What the court's ruling failed to do, however, was to include other breeds such as Rottweilers, Dobermans and the like in the same category as pit bulls.

A General Assembly work group looking into how the legislature should respond to a court decision ruling pit bulls inherently dangerous wants to rewrite the state's liability laws to treat all breeds equally and to do away with the doctrine that essentially gives each dog one free bite, a co-chairman of the panel said. Del. Curt Anderson, the House chairman of Task Force to Study Court Decision Regarding Pit Bulls, said the consensus of the panel was that the Court of Appeals was off the mark when it singled out a particular breed in a ruling this spring.

A teacup poodle was euthanized after she was attacked in Owings Mills by a dog identified as a pit bull, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman said. The poodle, named Chloe, was on a leash, walking with her owner, in the 8000 block of Greenspring Valley Road when she was bitten by another dog named Max, said police spokeswoman Cathy Batton. The poodle's owner was bitten when she tried to break the two dogs apart, Batton said. She said the poodle's owner described the dog that attacked them as black lab pit bull mix. After the attack, the poodle's owner told police her dog had to be euthanized at an animal hospital due to injuries from that attack, Batton said.

The public rumble over pit bulls, provoked by the Maryland Court of Appeals' ruling in April that the breed is "inherently dangerous," could spill into the legislature should the General Assembly decide to take up the matter in a special session this summer. In the meantime, the state's highest court has been asked to reconsider its decision, or to at least delay it until the legislature gets a chance to act. In a motion filed last week, attorneys from the high-powered Venable law firm claim the court's decision against their client - a Towson landlord whose tenant owned a pit bull that mauled a 10-year-old boy in 2007 - was based on "unsound science" and "misperceptions" about the breed.

Maryland's legislative leaders today appointed a bipartisan panel to study the impact of recent court ruling that labeled pit bulls as 'inherently dangerous' for liability purposes and to make recommendations about possible legislative fixes. Five members from each chamber have been named, including three of the five delegates who introduced legislation aimed at overturning the court's ruling during the May special session in Annapolis. The 4-3 decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals came in April after the General Assembly's regular session expired, and drew outrage from dog owners who fear that thousands of pit bulls will be put down.

A pit bull attacked a 9-year-old child Wednesday night in Pasadena as the boy played on his bike, police said. The child was with his mother who was visiting a neighbor in the 200 block of Armstrong Lane around 8:18 p.m. when the dog bit the boy on his lower leg. The child was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police said the dog's owner was able to get the animal away from the child. Animal Control officers took the dog into custody. An investigation continues.

In response to William Ramsey's letter regarding pit bulls, I couldn't agree more ("Why not hold all dog owners accountable?" May 16). Pet owners should be liable for the risk presented to the rest of us when they select a breed to own. If pit bulls have been maligned in media reports of them attacking people, why worry about the liability? Do pit bull owners expect me to believe that the news media don't report dog attacks when they don't involve pit bulls? I tolerate my neighbors' dogs barking at all hours, and I understand that they can't clean up half of what their dogs do on my lawn.

Pit bull owners and other animal advocates won't get a chance to overturn a recent Court of Appeals decision labeling the breed as dangerous during the special General Assembly session now under way, but they might get their chance if the legislature reconvenes this summer to consider gambling issues. Senate PresidentThomas V. Mike Millerindicated that he's amenable to putting the issue on the agenda and encouraged people who want action before next January to make their views known to Gov.Martin O'Malley.

Given the lack of interest in the Maryland General Assembly regarding pit bulls being labeled as "inherently dangerous," I must speak out in their defense ("Pit bull bill sought for special session," May 8). Perhaps owners of pit bulls should be labeled as inherently dangerous! My apologies to pit bull owners who love, train, and incorporate their dogs into their families; however, in Baltimore City and County, it is relatively easy to find bad owners creating bad dogs. I think the legislature needs to correct a mistake.