It’s been 17 years since Kitchener and Waterloo banned pit bulls within city limits, and a decade since the entire province followed suit.
Even so, the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society still finds itself dealing with the breed on a fairly regular basis.
“Attacks have gone down, which makes sense – but … from time to time, we are dealing with pit bulls still,” says Jamie Laflamme, the organization’s operations manager.
Once a pit bull is taken into the care of the Humane Society, the question becomes what to do with it.
While some dogs have been euthanized over the years, the organization’s preference is to find it a new home outside Ontario.
“Our philosophy is that every animal deserves a chance,” says Heidi Christensen, the organization’s coordinator of marketing and promotions.
That includes the three pit bulls recently sent to Saskatoon, where they were adopted out by the Saskatoon Humane Society.
It also includes Roxanne, an eight-month-old pit bull mix who has been with the Humane Society since May.
Sending the dogs away isn’t cheap.
Christensen estimates that the shipping costs alone can run as high as $1,000.
Eleven days ago, the Humane Society started a crowdfunding campaign to help pay some of the costs.
They easily broke their goal of $2,000, and have since taken in an additional $430.
