Organization Condemns PA State Legislators who Failed to Enact Chaining Law, says "Girl's Blood is On Your Hands"

Organization condemns Pennsylvania State Legislators who Failed to Enact chaining law, says "Girl's Blood is On Your Hands"

Calls for Immediate Ban on Dog Chaining in Pennsylvania
after Death of Child in Chained-Dog Attack

Tipton, PA -- January 26, 2009 -- Tamira Ci Thayne, Founder of Dogs Deserve Better, an organization working to end the chaining of dogs and bring them into the home and family, issued harsh words today for those legislators who blocked a proposed law on dog chaining in the past two sessions: "Her blood is on your hands."

"Her blood" refers to the death of Brianna Shanor, an 8-year-old girl killed in Beaver County by a chained mixed breed dog on December 19th.

"If state legislators had acted to pass our all-too-reasonable law limiting chaining of dogs for life, there's a good chance that this attack would never have happened. A law which, adequately enforced, would have cut back on chaining, causing most people to either socialize dogs by bringing them into the home and family or at a minimum erect a fencing barrier between the dog and small children, would have and could have saved the life of this child.

Now she is dead, and her mother is forced to mourn her for the rest of her life. There is no easy way to say this: I place the blame for her death at the hands of those in the Pennsylvania House who blocked HB1065 last session. I am calling for an immediate and total ban on dog chaining in the state of Pennsylvania. How many lives must end—both dogs and children—before legislators take the action that is both needed and demanded by our citizens?"

According to an article in the Beaver County Times, Brianna " went near one of several dogs at the property, a more than 100-pound, mixed-breed dog, which was chained outside an old camping trailer that the dog used for shelter. The dog was on a chain 15 to 20 feet long."

A child of Brianna's size and age has no defense against a dog that large—an unsocialized, unneutered, male­—bent on attacking and killing.

Dogs Deserve Better has been one of the organizations at the forefront of the push for a state law, and in the last two sessions house bills were put forward to limit chaining. Animal advocacy groups banded together to lobby for the legislation, which last year made it out of the House and to the floor before being blocked and left to die.

Connecticut, California, and Texas have all enacted some legislation limiting chaining, and over 150 cities and counties have followed suit.

For more information on Dogs Deserve Better, visit their website at dogsdeservebetter.org.