Dear Editor,

As a Pitt Meadows homeowner, business owners, taxpayer, and citizen I must say I love Pitt Meadows.

The citizens are very supportive of each other, the schools are inclusive, City hall seems to be proactive. We recommend Pitt Meadows to all our friends and family looking to move.

Talk of breed banning has been a dagger to my heart.

I find it horrible that we are teaching our children it's okay to abuse, neglect, and endanger animals, our neighbours, and ourselves, as it will be blamed on the dogs anyway.

We are teaching our next generation that it's okay to be ignorant, uneducated, and disrespectful.

I expect in this day and age our lawmakers and news distributors to be informed and educated.

Tragic incidents involving dogs and children fueled talk of "vicious breeds" and "breed bans" over the past weeks. The media, as usual, locked on to the hype, running gruesome injury photos, interviews with traumatized mothers, and calls to ban the breed.

There's little to no discussion about the dogs in question, their backgrounds, and the circumstances leading up to the bites. While the media calls us, in some cases, to "defend the breed," it's still extremely rare to see animal professionals being consulted for an informed perspective on dog behaviour or ways to prevent these attacks.

Nor do we see numbers on the frequency of pit bull attacks on the local or provincial level.

It's time to move away from knee-jerk reactions and sensationalistic coverage.

We need to have a constructive and rational conversation about breeds, bites, and bans.

And so we are issuing a challenge to all Vancouver-area media outlets and city councillors: HugABull is reserving seats for editors, reporters, journalists, city councillors, or bylaw staff to attend a "Beyond the Myth" screening in Vancouver on Oct. 20 or 28.

They've shown incredible interest in "pit bull maulings" and "breed bans" in the past; by extension there should be interest in an acclaimed documentary on the topic, presented for the first time on the Canadian West Coast.

And since they make time to talk to victims in pit bull attacks, perhaps it's time to hear from the animal control and animal welfare experts on our panel.

Jenn Camillo, Pitt Meadows

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