The Lucas County Pit Crew has been working for months to help get pit bulls out of the Fulton County dog pound. It happened for the first time on Friday. Until recently Fulton County did not allow any pit or pit bull type dogs to leave the shelter without the owner claiming them. County leaders now allow the dogs to be transferred to a Humane Society but does the Pit Crew fall in those parameters? After the Pit Crew's efforts to get the dog out of the Fulton County pound failed another local Humane Society picked him up and then transferred him to the Pit Crew. They say it all happened just hours before he was scheduled to be euthanized. They've named him Takota and his new life seems to be off to a good start. Jean Keating is the Executive Director of the Lucas County Pit Crew,"I think we've made a huge step forward, Takota is alive. The vet was supposedly at the pound today at noon to euthanize some dogs and he was on the list." According to Keating the new Fulton County policy states that pit and pit bull mixes can be transferred specifically to Humane Societies with the approval of the Dog Warden and the Assistant Dog Warden, "i don't understand why they could not transfer the dog directly from the pound to us. There's nothing different about an organization that has Humane Society in its name than us. We have a proven track record with fostering and finding new homes for pit and pit mixes. We are a 501c3, non-profit" Keating says Takota is a good example of why dogs should not be judged on their breed rather on their actions. She agrees that some dogs are not safe and need to be put down but says that shouldn't happen just because of their appearance, "He is an adorable dog,he is clearly happy to be out and about. I am hopeful we've created a dialogue and people start to think about this and question why we were doing that. Let's not get stuck, let's move forward." She's hoping Takota's story is just the beginning of the effort to find homes for any breed of dog in Fulton county and she wants to accomplish that alongside the dog warden, "We don't want to be on opposite teams we want to be on his team and we want him to be on our team . It is not an us versus them . We want to figure out how we can make it better for all dogs picked up in Fulton County." Takota will go into a foster home for the next week or so and then he will eventually be up for adoption.We spoke with the Fulton County Dog Warden Brian Banister Friday afternoon and he deferred all questions to county leaders. We left a message but as of now have not yet heard back.

• published: 19 Jun 2015
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