Miami Dade County bans pit bulls or any dogs that are at least 49% pit bull. This means at least 800 households each year are forced to give up their dogs or move outside the county.

According to Miami Dade County Animal control department, they receive "approximately 800 pit bull or pit bull mixes a year". 85% of these are killed (or put to sleep) and the rest are placed in shelters outside the county.

Miami Dade county has been banning pit bulls in the last 20 years since the law 89-22,v Section 5-17.6(b) been adopted in 1989. If we estimate based on these numbers, some 16,000 dogs have been either put to sleep or purged out of their homes since then.

Sara Pizano, who has been the director of Miami Dade County Animal Control since 2005, said the following in her email response to me "Please understand that we receive an average of 100 dogs and cats every day and though we try desperately to reunite them with their owners or find them new homes or rescue groups, many healthy beautiful animals, of all breeds, are euthanized each day.  We work very hard to try to prevent that from happening but the challenge is great and last year over 34,000 pets were abandoned at our shelter."

In Miami Dade county residents are encouraged to report pit bulls by calling the Animal Control number. The county has a procedure in which an inspector evaluates the dog (in person only) and determines whether the dog is at least 49% pit bull. If he is, the county collects a $500 fine from the owner and issues a court order to "remove" the dog from the county within 48 hours. By "remove" it often means most of these dogs are killed aka “euthanized”.

There are organizations who fight for animal rights and against breed specific legislation. One such organization Animal Law Coalition and MCABSL recently scored a victory in one such case brought up in court. But it is just an individual case and does not make it okay to have a pit bull in this county.

Of course for most others, it means discrimination.

For me and Fila, who is, I'm sure at least 49% pit bull, Miami Dade county is not a place where we could possibly move to. Because there is no way I would give up my dog, the law banning pit bulls does not allow me to move to this county.

There are at least 800 people like me there each year.

When will the discrimination end?