Study Says Breed Bans Don’t Pay Off
Breed discriminatory legislation is extremely costly and tends to exhaust the already-limited resources of animal control programs, says a new economic study.
The study by John Dunham and Associates (Brooklyn, N.Y.), commissioned by animal welfare organization The Best Friends Animal Society (Kanab, Utah), estimates it would cost $450 million to enforce a nationwide ban on pit bulls. That estimated price tag would cover the cost of kenneling and veterinary care, euthanizing and disposal, litigation and DNA testing.
About 5 million of the 72.1 million dogs in the United States can be described as pit bulls or pit bull mixes based on appearance, according to the study.
Findings in the study serve as the core information for Best Friends’ “Fiscal Impact Calculator,” which the group says will help state and local governmental entities calculate the true cost of implementing and enforcing breed-discriminatory laws. The application, designed to estimate costs at the state, county or town level, is available at www.guerrillaeconomics.biz/bestfriends/.
“It’s a model that is based on specific factors within communities,” said John Dunham, who led the study. “We realize that most communities don’t have this type of law in place, but our methodology is based on what would be needed within that community if such a law did exist. Our analysis shows that many communities that try to enforce this type of law really don’t have the infrastructure or resources to make it work.” [August 2009 PET AGE]
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