Good morning, Benton County Supervisors (Gary Bierschenk, Rick Primmer, and Tracy Seeman) and Keystone City Council members (Cindy Behrens, Kathy Janss, Michael Kaiser, Tim Kruse, Richard Loy Jr., and mayor Eric Janss)

My name is Preston Moore and I am the Iowa State Director for the Humane Society of the United States. It is my privilege to work alongside Iowa's lawmakers and law enforcement as they work on legislation and work to enforce our state's animal laws, as well as highlight and recognize our state's officers when they effectively enforce our state's animal cruelty code, chapter 717B. I have also worked directly with state agencies, like the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Department of Inspections & Appeals on administrative rules related to animals.

Most recently, I worked alongside state lawmakers in 2022 to pass Senator Dan Dawson's (R - Council Bluffs) "Beagle Freedom Bill," which requires all taxpayer funded animal research labs to establish animal adoption programs, instead of needlessly euthanizing animals when research projects are complete. I am a lifelong Iowan and I care deeply about helping Iowa's leaders enact meaningful and impactful animal laws.

I am reaching out today because I have been contacted by ten (10) families in Keystone, IA who have all apparently been given ten days' notice to remove their dog because they "resemble" dogs that could potentially be described as a "pit bull" in appearance. I have worked with communities all over the state - from Maquoketa to Sioux City and Laurel to Muscatine big cities and small towns of just a few hundred people - to pass strong dangerous animal codes that accomplish two goals: 1) Give local municipalities and counties authority to protect citizens from potentially dangerous animals and to intervene when there is a legitimate and documented risk to public safety; 2) Protect the private property rights of each community's citizens, allowing families to live in peace without fear that someone, someday, might seize their dog solely because they think it "looks" a certain way.

I am hopeful that I can add Keystone and Benton County to the ever-growing list of communities which have changed course and have adopted breed-neutral animal laws.

CC'd on this communication are several state lawmakers

- Representative Thomas Gerhold and Senator-elect Charlie McClintock from your areaalong with state-level lawmakers who have introduced legislation in recent years to require communities to adopt breed-neutral dangerous animal codes instead of implementing ineffective breed restrictions - Senator Chris Cournoyer, House Minority Leader Representative Jennifer Konfrst, Representative Molly Donahue, Representative Tracy Ehlert, and Representative Brian Meyer.

In addition to asking the city of Keystone and Benton County to revise their laws, I am hopeful that this bipartisan group of legislators can work together to prevent this sort of situation from happening.

I have worked with families all over the state to help them keep their dogs in their homes. But this situation is different. One community attempting to impound to otherwise remove ten families' beloved pets is unprecedented in Iowa. These families deserve to live without fear that their dogs - their property, their family members, their companions - will be forcibly removed from town and potentially euthanized without any cause or documented history of unwanted behavior. I cannot overstate how much trauma an event of this magnitude will cause your community, both for those directly impacted and not.

These bans have serious community morale and economic consequences - for your reference, I am attaching an economic impact study from Overland Park, Kansas. Though the community is larger than yours, you can see the detrimental impacts the community's breed restrictions had. For this reason, I am also CCing the Benton Development Group Executive Director, Kate Robertson.Also, CC'd on this email are two representatives from the Cedar Valley Humane Society - Executive Director Lonnie Viner and Director of Operations Amanda Knefley. The Cedar Valley Humane Society is the current animal control provider for Benton County. The Cedar Valley Humane Society also opposed breed-specific legislation and supports breed-neutral dangerous animal codes, as do animal shelters and rescues which service virtually the entire state.

Today, I am asking for two things:

  1. Please suspend the enforcement of this code to allow for more discussion between us, the impacted citizens, and your communities' leaders and citizens - more opportunities to learn about effective public policy when it comes to local animal law.
  2. Let's schedule a meeting where we can hopefully all discuss the issues at hand - I would be happy to set up an in-person meeting in Benton County so that all us, as well as other Benton County residents, can learn from each other about the issues your policies aim to resolve. I believe we can work together to draft and enact strong local codes that will allow your communities to retain or even strengthen your authority to protect your residents while also respecting and protecting the rights of your citizens to own the dog of their choosing.

Given the urgent timing of this situation, I can make myself available at any time this week or this coming weekend to discuss this with you. I am based out of a home office in Cedar Rapids, IA and would be happy to meet at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your time.Respectfully,

Preston Moore

Iowa State Director for the Humane Society of the United States


(Mr. Moore can be reached at pmoore@humanesociety.org)

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AO July 26, 2022, 12:53 pm Finally! Someone who cares and has some sense. I have a pit bull who makes friends with everyone she meets. In fact, she probably prefers cuddles from people to other dogs and treats. We preach to not judge people by their appearance. Why should our beloved pets not get the same consideration?
DL July 26, 2022, 1:37 pm I don't have any direct knowledge of what this article is about. I am a dog lover, and understand how a pet becomes a friend and family member. The only thing that I can possibly add is the fact that every dog that has attacked a person, has had a "First Time" that they did so. So, previous to that "first time" they were, most likely, considered by their owners as non-violent. I do know a person that was attacked by two pit bulls. She survived with only minor scars. But, she has never been the same person since.
LD July 26, 2022, 3:16 pm Although I do not live in Keystone or Benton County, I concur with everything said here. I worked at an animal shelter in another state for 6 years and the only time we had an aggressive pit bull was when they were used in dog fighting. I did sustain 2 bites... both were from small dogs.
EW July 26, 2022, 5:45 pm My grandson and his wife is one of the 10 family. His wife is expecting and it is very stressful for her, she doesn't want to lose her pet. Please help all the families.
CB July 27, 2022, 9:41 am Please fact check you have contacted the wrong council members and mayor.
JW July 27, 2022, 9:48 am I have been working in people's homes for almost 18 years, as a heating and Air Conditioning installer and plumber. In my experience I have only had a few problems with aggressive dogs and none of them were Pit Bulls. It's not the breed that's the problem, it's the way you raise them. That goes for all animals, big or small.
JN July 27, 2022, 4:11 pm My pets and I have been attacked by pitbulls on two separate occasions. I do agree with the saying, any dog can bite. I will politely disagree with the opinion that pitbulls are misunderstood or discriminated against. They deserve every label that has been put on them. If more people were educated about the history of their breeding, smart, capable owners would want to train and contain them from causing all the destruction they are responsible for. Unfortunately, we in the community have to suffer for all the bad pitbull owners that can’t or won’t contain a breed of dog that is capable of killing a human. It’s just like that age old saying that a small portion always has to ruin it for the rest of us! If you don’t believe that they are dangerous, just do a google search of bully breed attacks, on not only humans….but pets as well. It’s an appalling statistic.
MM July 28, 2022, 1:03 pm Dear Preston Moore, Iowa State Director for the Humane Society of the United States:

Thanks to people like you, dogfighting has increased across the country, and, consequently, more cats, kittens, dogs, rabbits and other animals have been killed because people who post them on Craigslist, Facebook, Next Door and other apps assume all dogfighters look like Michael Vick.

Also thanks to you, shelters across the country are full of pitbulls and pit mixes that no one wants. They're frequently RT on Twitter with warnings like "must be the only pet in home" or "not good with cats or dogs and children must be 13+."

Everyone reading this needs to read Pitbull Insanity page at thisisadvocacy dot org and the related blog posts. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
DB July 28, 2022, 4:49 pm This Policy is totally discriminatory against a Breed and if it were a human rights issue, the left would be burning buildings and rioting in the streets. Ask any veterinarian Poor dog groomer what breeds have they been bit by the most it’s small dogs Like Chihuahuas. And to inform the uninformed Staffordshire terriers were bred in England around the 1900s as a loyal, highly affectionate, and playful companion, not for fighting other dogs. They were coined the term ‘nanny’ dogs because they were so good with children. I own a staffy and he crawls when in the presence of smaller dogs because he doesn’t want to look intimidating. My dog plays with all the neighborhood kids and allows them to take the tennis ball right out of his mouth. I’m the event a ‘pit bull’ confronted by another breed or felt threatened yes they will kill. Dogs are naturally followers they all want to be lead: only one leader in the pack and that usually is their human, if their human is trained. Does react to there owners energy: so it’s not the dog that’s at fault it is humans that need to be trained. This is my first bully breed and I’ve never had a more loving, intelligent, goofy, and playful dog. He’s the favorite everywhere I take him, dog parks uncluded. This policy is disgusting and should be vanquished immediately. I would not live in such a place if this law stays. Public council and policy makers need to inform yourselves don’t just look at statistics you find on google… dogs were put on this earth to serve us, all they want is our acceptance and love: regardless of our actions and how many pit bulls you euthanize…these dogs with still love you unconditionally
CA July 29, 2022, 9:17 am A 70 year old long Island woman was just brutally attacked on Wednesday July 27th by her 7 year old pitt bull. The dog was dragging her body around the back yard and eating on her when police arrived. Very gruesome scene! Thats what could happen with pitbulls. They are genetically built for bitting similar to a heyena. They can be very friendly dogs also but there is the chance they can use there genetic ability to be a biting machine.
SC July 29, 2022, 5:23 pm It has been shown for years that Breed Neutral Laws dealing with bad owners and a dogs behavior are much more efficent that BS Law. I urge the city to reconsider its stance on BS useage: and I urge the voters to remove all its supportors from office in the next election.
JC August 9, 2022, 8:08 am A common theme among comments from BSL opponents is that of defending pit bulls against the bad rap they reportedly receive. It's very important to note that for a couple reasons. The first is the fact that, despite Mr Moore's issue with associating 'the way a dog looks' with the way it behaves, his supporters all do exactly that - they're able to identify pit bulls (on they way they look) and they associate positive behaviors with them. The messaging coming from the anti BSL lobby is half hazard, reactive, & often contradictory, and generally comes from pit bull owners who will do anything to keep their dogs.

Editor's Note: Preston Moore is the Iowa State Director, State Affairs, of the Humane Society of the United States, so a neutral person who works for on all kinds of animal cases, not just pit bull cases.