After his massive defeat at Monday’s City Council meeting anti-Pit Bull demagogue Steve Madison is out on his Facebook page this morning promoting an alleged “Pit Bull attack” that happened at 5am in Pasadena.

Leading up to Monday’s meeting I had been attending Pasadena City Council and Commission meetings on a weekly basis and giving public comments. The one thing that was universally present in each of my comments is that any time there is a dog-related human fatality, or other serious dog attack for that matter, there is almost always existing elements of recklessness to blame. These 3 circumstances are roaming and loose dogs, chained/resident yard dogs and unsupervised children, or a combination thereof.

This incident in Pasadena was no different. Yet Madison, grandstanding on the mantle of public safety, failed to point out that this morning’s offending dogs were out roaming loose, and thus, able to do whatever they wanted to do to whomever they wanted to do it to.

Further, Ricky Whitman of the Pasadena Humane Society stated that the dog that was killed by the police “looked like it was in heat.” And even further, if any dog were at first acting in an aggressive manner you can directly correlate the increase of such behavior by the others to a pack-mentality type of response. This also has nothing to do with breed. Many individual dogs with varying personalities could certainly opt not to join, but others most certainly would. This, aligned with the “in heat” element, creates a scenario totally ignored by Mr. Madison.

I find this Councilman shameless to the core, and as disingenuous as they come.

In his Facebook ramblings, and at Monday’s Council meeting, Madison also mentions the 5 dog-related fatalities we had in the state of California in 2013. He quickly attributed them all to Pit Bulls, and then moved on, achieving his hyperbole but ignoring all of the circumstances behind the incidents.

Here’s some very pertinent background regarding each of these situations:

Elsie Grace, a 91-year-old from Hemet, was found dead in a hotel room with her son’s 2 dogs identified by someone as “Pit Bulls.” There was an autopsy done at the time of her death, with unknown results, and it was stated by the impounding officer that her death could have been due to natural causes. Claudia Gallardo, a 38-year-old from Stockton, was killed by a resident yard dog after she jumped into its chained area at night “looking for work.” Pamela Devitt, a 63-year-old from Littlerock, was killed when 4 loose dogs (identified by someone in a car as “Pit Bulls”) ran up on her while she was walking in the desert. The owner of these dogs was arrested and it has since been uncovered that animal control had been called out to his residence numerous times, covering a multitude of dog-related complaints. It should also be noted that her husband went out of his way to say that he doesn’t blame the dogs, or “Pit Bulls,” but the irresponsibility of this specific dog owner. Nephi Selu, a 6-year-old from Union City, was bitten 1x in the head by his uncle’s “Pit Bull” while over at his grandparents’ house. This dog was a resident yard dog who was “never allowed in the house.” Nephi had a past with the dog and was left fairly unsupervised while out in the yard. According to the police Nephi was “riding the dog like a horse.” Nephi was “coherent, conscious and talking for hours” after being bitten. His uncle, the owner of the dog, actually went to work after ending the scuffle, which he thought might have required a “couple of stitches.” Nephi died hours later. And finally, Samuel Zamudio, a 2-year-old from Colton, was killed by anywhere from 7-10 resident yard dogs (some chained) after he climbed out of a screenless window and ended up in the backyard unsupervised. His dead body was found almost an hour after he had died. No one witnessed the attack. 6 of the dogs were referenced as “Pit Bulls,” while interviewed neighbors said that they actually owned 1 Pit Bull and many Lab-mixes.

So for those that are counting: 1 incident involved an unknown outcome, 3 incidents involved chained/resident yard dogs, 1 incident involved a roaming pack of loose dogs, and 2 incidents involved unsupervised children. Only 1 of the 5 involved no known reckless circumstances, and that’s the one with the lady from Hemet who quite possibly died of natural causes.

Another element of the “attack” from this morning that’s certainly interesting to me is how it’s being reported vs. certain details that are in the report. For example, the 911 caller stated that the dogs were “dragging” the man down the street, yet the victim of the attack actually “declined medical treatment.”

This is from the police’s own press release:

Mr. Ross tried to position his bicycle between him and the three attacking dogs attempting to bite his legs. At least one dog did make contact with Mr. Ross’s left leg, resulting in minor puncture wounds. Ultimately, Mr. Ross dropped his bicycle and jumped onto the hood of a vehicle parked on Fair Oaks Avenue.

^I see nothing about “dragging,” do you? Also, as far as I know there are no images of the offending dogs available as of yet. The Pasadena Humane Society has declined to identify the dogs as “Pit Bulls.” Regardless of whether they were or not is not the point, as it takes away from any element of genuine public safety and shouldn’t be used to scapegoat any and every dog that looks like a Pit Bull.

Worth keeping in mind is that the Pasadena Humane Society, at a prior meeting, have explained to the Council about the many difficulties in identifying such dogs. The Animal Control Association offers no courses in “breed identification.” 2010 court case Cardelle vs. Miami-Dade County found that animal control officers were “not qualified” to visually identify Pit Bulls. They also found that there is “no scientific basis” for admitting such an opinion, since there is no way to test whether it is accurate. Dr. Victoria Voith, in her 2013 study on visual identification, found that over 900 shelter workers across the country were wrong over 73% of the time when their breed designation was compared with actual DNA evidence of the same impounded dog.

All of this clearly lends to the fact that police officers have no more of an ability to identify a dog than anyone else does. Madison needs to hold his horses and not be so opportunistic in his approach.

In closing: The dogs, whatever breed or type they end up being, were out and running loose. This is the reckless circumstance that deals with public safety. Focusing on the breed, based on a mere mention and no further evidence, just shows that Madison is nothing more than an polical hatchet man.