Cassandra Ballard | Sentinel Staff Writer

In early results, Aurora voters appeared set to overturn a years-long ban on pit bull dogs.

Measure 3A, which would repeal the 20-year ban, was leading by about 44,341 votes to 40,184 as of about 7:30 p.m.

Aurora’s pit bull ban was initially enacted in 2005 with some leniency for people who had previously been issued a license by the city. In 2014, voters approved a referendum to maintain the ban. In 2021, however, the Aurora City Council approved removing dog breed restrictions from the city ordinance, without going to voters for permission.

Later in 2021, Aurora resident Matthew Snider sued the Aurora City Council over the vote because it did not include voter support. He argued that the council violated the language of the city charter and that Aurora voters decided on the issue and must decide on any changes. By 2023, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Snider.

So Aurora lawmakers asked voters whether the city should repeal its ban on restricted breeds and allow residents to own American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

The veterinarian’s position on the lifted ban on pit bulls in Aurora

“We had a huge moment of panic when we saw that the repeal had been repealed because we see a big difference when we have breed-specific legislation on the books,” said Dumb Friends League Senior Director of Advocacy and Education Ali Mickelson. , “but they are not enforcing that ban at this time. So we haven’t felt it yet, but we’re preparing for it.”

He said when there is a ban on a specific breed, there is an influx of banned breeds that are brought to the shelter and it is very difficult to find new homes for them.

Many shelters are usually already at capacity, so having a breed-specific ban overwhelms shelters when it comes to finding them a place. Mickelson said many shelters are moving away from destroying unwanted dogs and Colorado shelters have a strong network for relocating animals.

When there was a pit bull ban in Denver and Aurora was fully implementing its breed-specific ban, the shelter had to label kennels, warning people that they might live somewhere with a ban on that breed.

“We have families that come in and are very excited to learn more about a dog, and then they find out they can’t adopt it because of restrictions in their community,” Mickelson said. “The result is that we have dogs that stay longer.”

Denver Dumb Friends League is located on the border of Aurora and Denver. When there was a ban in both cities, Mickelson said they had a hard time finding homes for those breeds.

“When those two communities had those bans, that really limited our doctors a lot for those breeds,” he said.