Pit bulls go underground Covert network helps to take banned dogs to safe haven in Divide By Jeff Kass Rocky Mountain News
Zena the buff, brindle-colored pit bull had been living the outlaw life, her fate haunted for nearly a month by the possibility of a death sentence.She had been confined to her southwest Denver home, sleeping in her master's bed, playing in the backyard and gnawing on her chew toys.
They were all punishable acts as of May 9, when the city of Denver started enforcing its pit bull ban after a year's court-enforced hiatus.
Finally, her owners called the Pit Bull Underground Railroad - a network dedicated to secretly ferrying the dogs out of Denver before animal control officers confiscate them.
By Sunday, Zena was safely romping with a posse of other dogs at Mariah's Promise, a 43-acre animal sanctuary in Divide. It's one of the few remaining Colorado shelters willing to take in, and not euthanize, the dogs.
The sanctuary holds dogs indefinitely or puts them up for adoption for $100. Many owners have placed their pets there in hopes the Denver ban will be overturned.
Mariah's has taken in 27 Denver pit bulls since the ban started up again. At least 16 were referred by network volunteers.
"I consider this like a crisis," says Toni Phillips, who is constantly surrounded by dogs as she runs Mariah's Promise. "You do what you have to do to save lives."
Breaking new ground
Stephanie Shain, spokeswoman for The Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C., says she has never heard of a similar group coming to the rescue of a banned dog.
Denver Animal Control Director Doug Kelley isn't sure he wants to know much about it. The group is breaking the law transporting the dogs, but at the same time it's helping the city get rid of pit bulls, "which is what we want anyway," he said.
The railroad is an outgrowth of a group opposing Denver's pit bull ban.
That still unnamed group coalesced about a week before the ban took effect, according to member Sonya Dias.
From a handful of members who met, in part, after calling the Seattle-based American Canine Foundation, the e-mail list has grown to more than 200, says Dias, a 30-something mortgage banker who lives in Denver.
Dias figures about half are pit bull owners, including Dias herself.
Five core organizers have divided the duties. There is a petition-gathering front, which Dias says has so far resulted in more than 2,000 signatures asking city officials to change the law.
Rita Anderson, Dias' aunt and a Boulder-based animal-rights activist, was asked by her niece to head the railroad efforts.
The railroad gives advice on what to do should animal control show up at the door to take away your pit bull.
"Do not let them in without a warrant," Dias says. "I want to make it (the process) as expensive and ridiculous and stupid as this law is."
Instead, she recommends calling the railroad.
Fear of being found out
Dias and Anderson arrived to pick up Zena last weekend at Toby Quintana's modest red brick home.
It is the second pit bull rescue undertaken by volunteer railroad drivers.
Quintana lives with his sister, Shirley Montoya, who is not home today, but who owns Zena.
Still, Quintana dotes on Zena. He says the neighbors like her, but he worries that a passer-by will report her during one of her backyard romps. She has not been on a walk since the ban kicked in.
"We don't want her to be put down, because she's not a vicious dog," he says, as Animal Planet plays on the television in the background. "She's just like a big baby."
Zena is about 1 1/2 years old and maybe 70 pounds.
Dias and Anderson give Quintana petitions to circulate that oppose the Denver ban, and the three then walk Zena out to Dias' light green Toyota RAV4. If animal control or a police officer were to drive by now, Zena would be in full view.
Zena bounds into the back seat of Dias' car, which is already covered in dog hair.
Driving through Denver, Dias and Anderson discuss what would happen if an officer were to spot the dog now.
It is legal to transport a pit bull through the city, but only "from a starting point outside of Denver," according to the city's Web site, and the dog cannot leave the car.
Zena and her new human handlers make it out of the city limits without incident.
As Dias pulls up to the gate at Mariah's Promise, five dogs come streaming up a hill toward the car. Zena, long quiet, now lets out a steady stream of barks.
Dias considers whether to let Zena dive into the sea of dogs. It seems there could be trouble. But Phillips, who runs the sanctuary, does not hesitate. She brings Zena right down from the back seat.
Once on solid ground with the other dogs, Zena seems scared. Her biggest problem, though, seems to be some gyrating sexual attention from a white pit bull puppy one-tenth her size. It is Ozzie, who is famous in Denver pit bull lore for recently puking on the Peter Boyles television show.
Zena is soon running with the ever-changing pack of dogs through the open space at Mariah's.
After three hours at Mariah's Promise, Dias and Anderson are ready to leave. They have rescued Zena, although Dias is near tears. Her own dog, Gryffindor, has been at the refuge for nearly a month, and it's emotional to say goodbye again.
The melancholy strains of Coldplay come through the car stereo. The mix of joy and sadness have the same source.
"It's been a pit bull weekend again," Dias said.
Organizations
• Mariah's Promise: Contact director Toni Phillips, 719-687-4568; log on to mariahspromise@msn.com; or write to P.O. Box 1017, Divide, CO 80814.
• Pit Bull Underground Railroad: Contact Rita Anderson, 303-618-3227; or log on to guardianship@aol.com.
I live in Colorado, right near colorado springs and you should just see the listings for petfinder.com! It is insane how many more pits there are not than there were a few months ago, it makes me so sad. They made a bad decision to put this ban on. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR Stupid people make me sick.
