Andrea Rosebrock 
Rock, the dog that died in the hands of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Cincinnati, has paperwork that lists him as a American Bulldog mix, not a pitbull, not an American Staffordshire terrier, not a Staffordshire bull terrier and not any dog that is a mixture of the breeds, which are the banned breeds in Cincinnati, OH.
It’s often very difficult to identify a “pitbull” by looks which is one of the things that makes BSL an even worse scourge then is already is.
Paulette Evans admits she made a mistake when she left the door open to dry her just cleaned carpets. She thought her 13-month-old dog, Rock, who was gift from her son after her husband died, was asleep in the house when she left for work. Unfortunately he’d snuck out of the house and thought he’d do a little roaming, basically signing his death warrant.
When a neighbor called Paulette to let he know that Rock was out, she rushed home and found him tied to a neighbor’s fence. The neighbor told her that he was calling the SPCA and police about her pitbull. Paulette denied that Rock was a pitbull.
Then a SPCA worker showed up she also told him that Rock was not a pitbull. The worker, who was unsure of the dog’s breed, took a picture with his cellphone and sent it to his boss who said the dog was a pitbull and order the worker to seize the dog.
“To him, it looked like a pit bull. It’s the kind of thing where you know one when you see one,” said Andy Mahlman, the SPCA’s operations manager.
Not only was Paulette’s beloved dog taken, she was also charged with harboring a vicious dog, failure to obtain insurance on a vicious dog and failure to register a vicious dog.
Paulette was denied even the opportunity to see her dog and it wasn’t until she went to court to fight the criminal charges against her that she even found out that Rock had been dead for over a week. No one ever called, no one told her anything. Her dog died in a cage, in unfamiliar surroundings, without even the comfort of a familiar face.
“I died right there. My heart broke,” Paulette said.
The SPCA said Rock’s death was due to parvo although he had been vaccinated by her vet and again by the SPCA when it seized him.
Paulette could not even have the cold comfort of being able to get Rock’s remains. The SPCA got rid of him, along with all other animals killed at the SPCA with a removal service and he was dumped in a mass grave.
“I still had a right to find a home for Rock,” Evans said through tears.
Oh, all the charges against Paulette were dropped, no dog, no charges. Wasn’t that nice?
Paulette is suing is the SPCA and the case will come up before Common Pleas Judge Steve Martin on March 17.
So, is this a case of mistaken identity? Or just another pitbull killed by an unfair discriminatory law? Does it matter? One way or another it should never have happened. Since 2003, Cincinnati laws have banned pit bull terriers, viewing them as vicious and dangerous, unless they are registered with the city and have appropriate insurance.
BSL has caused the death of thousands and thousands of innocent dogs across the country in a stupid and misguided attempt to protect people from a threat they know nothing about except the skewed view the media portrays and isolated incidents at the hands of irresponsible owners. Yes, there have been some terrible and horrific incidents, there’s no denying that but in the hands of the wrong person, horrible things are going to happen.
But because of thugs, idiots, tough guy wanna-bes and other irresponsible owners, pitbulls, once one of the most beloved breeds, once called the “nanny dog,” is now the most maligned, vilified and abused “breed” of dog there is. When are people going to wake up and stop killing innocents? When are people going to start placing the blame where it belongs?
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you should put this story in every newspaper in Cinn!
have a petitioned signed as well in the newspapers…
heart breaking story…AGAIN!
These lawmakers do not have a clue as to the temperment of any of the breeds of terriers listed above. The BSL treatment of dogs has to stop; don’t blame the dog for how it was raised, blame the owners. I would walk up to a Pit before walking up to a chi!
I feel just terrible that Paulette had to go thru the the pain of all this nonsense, and loose her beloved Rock. No one should have to endure what she has gone thru. Rock, rip – your mom will be at Rainbow Bridge one day, and you both can spend eternity together.
Susie, as long as they are idiots in power positions who don’t know any better, this massacre of innocents will continue. People are quick to assign blame, and seldom where it actually belongs either.
Although I doubt it will happen, I hope Paulette wins her case in some form or fashion, if for no other reason than the principal of the issue.
D.
What the SPCA did to Rock was so wrong. They should have done nothing to the dog, no matter what breed they thought he was, until the owner was contacted and the issue thoroughly discussed. Once the owner was contacted she would have explained what breed he was and then she would have paid a fine and brought Rock home.
I am so against discriminatory breed bans that are just so unjust! The laws should be against aggressive dogs and irresponsible owners. Now Rock is dead and Paulette is heartbroken.
Paulette definitely sue the SPCA, don’t back down what was done to your beloved pet does need some justice. SPCA you must reevaluate your quick and deadly policy, don’t let such a tragedy happen again!
By the way SPCA, I thought your motto was to prevent cruelty, not be the cause of cruelty?!!!
Veronica, yet another problem with the ban, grab first and ask questions later. They admit no responsibility for the dog’s death either, not surprisingly.
D.
I AM SO F****** OUTRAGED BY THIS GOD IF THIS HAD BEEN MY DOG I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN JAIL BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE FOUGHT ANYONE WHO TRIED TO TAKE MY DOG. I HOPE SHE SUES THE ARSE OFF THE ASPA AS THEY HAD NO F****** RIGHT TO DO WHAT THEY DID. SORRY DEANNA BUT I’M JUST SOOOOOOO PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW SO I’LL GO COOL DOWN.
I Don’t see how any one can NOT know their breeds of canines even a CHILD CAN those who av an interest in dogs know pedigree mongrels half breeds they had NO EXCUSE, SPCA are BUTCHERS they make me Sick Sue the ass of them all SPIT in your neighbours face for me say it’s from Elaine in the UK
Elaine, there’s a link to a “find the pitbull” test in the story, if you haven’t checked it out before, it’s tough. That is one of the many problems with pitbull bans, so many different breeds of dog can be mistaken for pitbulls.
D.
Elaine, I am not trying to be sarcastic, but there are hundreds of people who work at the SPCA, HSUS, local animal control, police and fire persons that do not know the difference between animal breeds. They do not care; they are there to get a paycheck. They don’t give a hoot. If they think it is a Pit, to them it is a pit. What we all need to do is educate everyone on BSL.
I have been on many transports, and there have been Dogos, Rottis, Pits, bulldogs, every breed imaginable. On some of these transports, when I went to the previous drivers vehicle, they mad specific comments that they would not walk certain dogs (because they were a pit or a dogo); and I asked them why they voluteered to drive when they know what breeds would be on board. Their answer was that they wanted to help. On one particular transport, I had a dogo. A dogo is a South American Pit Bull. I went to this big baby’s crate and said hello, and gave him a treat; telling him I would be right back. The previous transporter yelled at me “you better watch him”, but I paid no attention, getting my lead to go back to the dogo. I opened the crate and put a lead on this big baby; with the other transporter yelling at me that he is going to bite – he was a pit. When I was ready to open the crate 100%, this big baby gave me the sloppiest biggest face wash that I had had in years from a transport animal. After dropping off the two rottis I had in my van, I put the dogo in the front seat with me. He laid his big ol head in my lap and fell asleep the balance of the trip. What a mean dog (right)
All these idiot people have learned from the media that Pits are mean. They assume it is a pit, but do not look into further detail of the dog. I am so tired of all the innocent animals being put down because BSL.
There is one word that needs to be spread around. EDUCATION
how stupid can one person be ,one of my surgons raises American Bull Dogs and I have sean my shair of them they are bigger then pitts and are a heavier dog biger boned even from a photo I can tell the differents the owners word and a DNA test could have provented this misscarage of justice
DAMN! I am sick of reading about the crulity to Pits! This is getting out of control. I would have ended up in prison if they had tried to take my dog…I’d kill them! Paulette, my heart goes out to you….this is horrible! I despise these stupid, ignorant, idiots! I don’t believe in the “lawsuit” thing, but this is one occasion, I would sue to the ultimate, even though that would not bring my precious baby back. It might make them think twice the next time they do this. And to boot…..she couldn’t even have her precious Rocky’s remains????? That would kill me!!!
If we really want some honesty regarding the lawmakers (read: tyrants), bureaucrats (read: gaueleiters), and law-enforcement and “humane” officers (read: pigs) whose diktats cost loving, friendly pets like Cincinnati’s Rock their lives and Denver’s Forrest and Kane their homes, we need to make them wear armbands with swastikas. Hitler and the Nazis would love to have such “people,” apparently so willing to suspend logic and fairness in favor of such unjust, fear- and ignorance-motivated laws as these “breed-specific” ones, in their ranks.
The “responsible” individuals at Cincinnati’s so-called Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as the SPCA as an organization, must be held fully and publicly accountable for this.
If that means loss of jobs, jail, and steep financial penalties for them all, especially the brainless bozos who misidentified Rock’s breed and those who ordered and/or brought about his death, so be it. We need to publish their names!
If that means that the SCPA itself must be put out of business and reconstituted under more rational, decent leadership and personnel, so be it.
The arbitrary and often incorrect classifications of dogs as “pitbulls,” any such dog so classified mindlessly assumed to be dangerous, when many, such as Rock, clearly are not reminds one of the absurd (and factually incorrect) gyrations through which authorities in Nazi Germany, not to mention apartheid South Africa, went in their efforts to classify people based on racism.
As it is, has anyone ever contested the constitutionality of breed-specific anti-dog legislation, especially given how many of the dogs that have been taken from their guardians, banished to other jurisdictions, or even killed ultimately turned out not even to be covered by the legislation’s own definitions? The sheer arbitrariness and capriciousness in how these laws are often administered alone should be sufficient to overturn them, if only on the ground that the taking of a dog that ultimately proves not to be a “pit bull” violates the guardian’s rights against unjust taking of “property.”
Any official that promulgates or enforces such legislation must not only be summarily removed from office by any lawful means available but, if negligence and/or malice can be proven, held fully liable, both civilly and criminally. In addition to imprisonment for theft and cruelty to animals, the “responsible” officials must be forced to pay steep punitive damages out of their own pockets to the wronged pet guardians and publicly degraded and humiliated on a daily basis during their times behind bars. Only when we make the cost of such irresponsible legislation to those behind it steeper and more painful than any perceived benefit they might see from it will we see the change we need.
It is long past time that we in our supposedly “free” America, founded to end the medieval notion of the “divine right of kings,” get rid once and for all of the related legal concept of “sovereign immunity”–the idea that government, like kings of old, “can do no wrong” and should therefore be immune from lawsuits. As what we see happening under breed-specific legislation shows, our modern “kings” indeed can and do do wrong. They must be made every bit as accountable and subject to the law as any of the rest of us.
In the third paragraph of my previous posting, the words “ordered and/or brought about” should be, and hereby are, amended to read “might have been otherwise ultimately ‘responsible’ for”.