My wife and I are pet owners. We have two dogs, Pepper - an AMSTAFF we found
as a puppy abandoned on our block starving and freezing and Sullivan - a Pit
Bull/Labrador mix we adopted from the Jersey Animal Coalition, a non-profit
organization that pays for the care of abandoned and stray animals. We lost
our Pit Bull, Daisy, to lymphosarcoma last October. We adopted her at age 3
after she had been abused for years. Daisy was the sweetest animal you could
ever meet.

My wife and I opposed NJ A-2906. We contacted our Assemblymen and e-mailed
the entire New Jersey Assembly as well as alerting everyone we know about
A-2906, "The Responsible Pit Bull Ownership Licensing Act." We provided the
link to your excellent web site for everyone we know to read and contact
their Assembly Representative.

We received correspondence from NJ Assemblywoman Greenstein last week
informing us A-2906 is being withdrawn by its sponsor, Assemblyman
Burzichelli. This was good news.

There is more to the story however. NJ State Senator Sharpe James has an
identical bill, S-2381, "The Responsible Pit Bull Ownership Licensing Act"
moving through the NJ Senate as we speak. S-2381 was introduced on 3/10/2003
and referred to the Senate Economic Growth, Agriculture and Tourism
Committee. Passage of S-2381 would be the same as passage of A-2906.

We feel the NJ Assembly has been disingenuous declaring A-2906 dead. The
Assembly is well aware of the identical Senate bill and the fact that if
passed the Senate version will then move to the Assembly for a vote and
passage making it state law.

Please help make everyone aware of this trick the NJ Legislature is
attempting to put over on NJ pet owners and that the fight to stop breed
specific in the Garden State is not over. We won one battle but we will lose
the war if Senator Sharpe James S-2381 is not stopped.

I have provided the link to Senator James' bill below.

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp