Miami Pit Bull Ban Forces Mark Buehrle's Family to Settle Elsewhere

Chicago White Sox fans were upset when star pitcher Mark Buehrle was traded to the Miami Marlins. But even before his 2012 debut in a Marlins uniform, Buehrle is proving himself a supportive superstar in the pit bull community.
Buehrle and his wife are advocates for animal rights and were active when they lived in Chicago in promoting shelter adoptions. But Buehrle is also the owner of Slater, an American Staffordshire terrier, which Miami-Dade County has banned along with all other dogs classified as pit bull since 1989. Rather than giving up Slater, an all-too-common result when breed bans hit close to home, Buehrle worked tirelessly to find housing where he could keep his dog and his contract, even if it means traveling a little further to get to work. Even more significant, in an article with the Miami-Dade Herald, Buehrle noted that he would not have signed with the Marlins if he wouldn’t have been able to find housing that allowed him to keep Slater. A state representative is currently advocating to overturn the county’s breed ban. Hopefully Buehrle’s fame and public stance against such bans will help to push the cause. To read the Yahoo/Sports article about Buehrle and Slater, go to http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/big-league-stew/miami-pitbull-ban-forces-mark-buehrle-family-settle-182451604.html