Saving Zeus: Family With Wheelchair Bound Daughter Fights To Save Pit Bull From Pit Bull, Rottweiler Ban
The fight over whether or not pit bulls are inherently vicious, dangerous animals or perfectly friendly, family oriented pets that are potentially as loving, if not more so, than any other member of the canine community, has been raging for many years. Now, the debate found a new battle site in a village in Louisiana that has implemented a “vicious dog ban” against pit bulls and rottweilers.
A family in the village of Moreauville, Louisiana, which recently instituted the “vicious dogs” ordinance against pit bulls and rottweilers, is fighting to save and keep their pit bull, Zeus. The ordinance passed in October, much to the chagrin of pit bull and rottweiler owners, and is scheduled to go into effect December 1st, seeking to effectively ban pit bulls and rottweilers from the community, reports CNN.
Zeus’s family is understandably devastated.
According to, and posted on a Facebook page called Saving Zeus, owners of said pit bulls and rottweilers received letters in the mail informing them that pets of these breeds that are discovered residing within Moreauville’s “corporate limits” after December 1st will be “impounded and transported to a veterinary clinic for further disposition.”
Along with the demand that they involuntarily get rid of or destroy their dog, the pit bull and rottweiler owners get a little insult added to injury, when the letter concludes, “You will also be fined for violating the ordinance.”
Mayor and “Alderman” of Moreauville, Penn Lemoine, told KALB that the pit bull and rottweiler ban was a response to disgruntled and angry residents in the small community.
“We had several residents that were complaining about not being able to walk along the neighborhoods because these dogs were basically running along town.”
While not the first community to implement a pit bull ban, vicious dog ordinance or other similar measure, pit bull Zeus and his family have inspired a vocal and spirited following.
Joanna Armand has put up an online petition asking for support of Zeus and to protect the pit bull from the threat of “further disposition.” The petition takes on the vicious dog ban and seeks to overturn Moreauville’s new ban against pit bulls and rottweilers. So far, the petition has garnered almost 40,000 signatures.
According to Armand, Zeus is nothing like a vicious dog and plays a key supportive role in the lives of her children, particularly daughter O’Hara, who requires a wheelchair.
“If anything ever happened to him (Zeus), I would just shut down,” O’Hara told KALB. “The breed is not vicious… It is the way that you raise them.”
The passionate fight for and against pit bulls, rottweilers and other potentially vicious dog breeds is not likely to simmer anytime soon.
For Zeus and his family, the fight means nothing less than being able to stay together, and if the 40,000 supporters of Zeus and his family have anything to say about it, that will be the case.
Images via Facebook
