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February 9, 2005

Pit-Bull Bill Dies in Committee


   
   
The Associated Press
       SANTA FE   —   Legislation calling for a ban on breeding pit bulls in New Mexico has died in a Senate committee.
    The Senate Public Affairs Committee on Tuesday tabled the measure proposed by Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park.
    She gave committee members petitions signed by people supporting her proposal.
    Beffort said she also had been contacted by emergency room physicians supporting her bill, noting that children mauled by pit bulls often require surgery for years.
    Roy Miller of Santa Fe County supported Beffort's bill, saying he had to install an electric fence to keep two neighboring pit bulls from menacing his young granddaughters.
    "I'm not saying anything about this breed," Miller said. "I've just had two pit bulls terrorizing my family."
    But pit bull breeders and others told the committee breed-specific bans would not survive court challenges.
    Robert Cortese, a pit bull breeder from Tajique, said Beffort's bill would burden the state with impounding thousands of innocent dogs "while doing nothing to protect the public."