Group plans to sue Miami-Dade over pitbull ban

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Attorneys are saying an ordinance that keeps mixed breed pitbulls out of Miami-Dade County caused a family to lose their dog, but now a judge has ruled the County should not have taken the dog away, opening the door to litigation.

The dog's name is Apollo, and he's been the subject of quite a bit of trouble. Apollo is a mixed breed, part pitbull. The photo is of Apollo with his new family after Miami-Dade County Officials in June fined Leao Mahecha from having Apollo under an ordinance that bans pits from Miami-Dade County. "I had to give the dog to someone else, and they lived in Hialeah. They fell in love with the dog, so they moved all the way to West Palm Beach just so that they could keep that dog," Mahecha said.

Apollo is just fine, but a group, which is lobbying to get the Miami-Dade ordinance banning pit bulls struck from the records is upset because, they say, mixed breed dogs are in error identified as pitbulls. "It's been used since 1989. It's way overdue to be removed," said Dahlia Canes. "Thousands of innocent dogs are being killed."

Canes works with dogs of all kinds, and she says pitbulls, especially mixed breed dogs, are needlessly euthanized as a result of this ordinance. "What they are doing here is a canine holocaust-- a bona fide witch hunt."

The hearing this past Wednesday was not about getting Apollo back to his owner. Rather, it was about getting a judge to put, on the record, that Apollo shouldn't have been taken away in the first place. The judge agreed. Now the door is open for more litigation, and both sides are gearing up.

Assistant County Attorney Dennis Kerbel said he is sure the ban won't survive renewed scrutiny in the court of law. "Someone has challenged it here before. I wasn't here at the time. If they raised the same grounds, I'm confident that we will prevail again for the same reasons," he said.

"This statute has to be taken down," countered Rima Bardwail, an attorney for the group hoping to get rid of the ban once and for all. "It has to be struck down, and we're going to move toward that as our next step. We're going to sue, and we're going to challenge the Miami-Dade ordinance."

There is no word yet when the lawsuit will come, only that it definitely will come.

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