Rules against pit bulls scrapped in Montreal

This March 11, 2014 photo shows Mickey, a pit bull, at West Valley Animal Care Center in Phoenix, Ariz. Mickey attacked four-year-old Kevin Vicente on Feb. 20, 2014. Mickey is now the object of a Facebook page that has garnered more than 39,000 likes on Facebook. The fate of Mickey, a pit bull, will ultimately be decided in a court hearing March 25 in Phoenix. Guadalupe Villa, who was at the scene of the attack, has filed a vicious-animal petition to have the dog put down. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Michael Schennum) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES

The new administration in Montreal, Canada, recently kept a campaign promise by announcing plans to scrap the city’s regulations against pit bull ownership.

"What we want is to make sure Montrealers are safe (and) we want to prevent dog bites,'' Mayor Valerie Plante said last week, according to the Canadian Press.

"We don't want to target one breed in particular. What we've seen in recent months is the complexity in identifying pit bull-type dogs.''

The administration of the previous mayor, Denis Coderre, enacted a crackdown on the breed in 2016 after a 55-year-old Montreal woman was mauled to death by a neighbor's pet.

The crackdown called for expensive fees and mandatory muzzling when the pets were in public, the New York Times reported.

But Craig Sauve, the new Projet Montreal administration’s executive committee member in charge of animal services, said the 2016 rules will be suspended.

“The pit bull-style dog will no longer be considered a dangerous breed in Montreal,” Sauve said. “We'll have a global approach that includes all dogs and I believe it's the right approach for Montreal.''

A new bylaw will be introduced in early 2018, officials said.

Sauve said the city will seek advice from animal-behavior experts and an array of citizens – dog owners or not – in crafting the new rules, the Canadian Press reported.