She hates pit bulls: Miss Universe Canada joins call for pit bull ban in British Columbia

Sahar Biniaz celebrates as she wins the Miss Universe Canada competition in Toronto, May 19, 2012. She has added her name to the fight for a pit bull ban in B.C., and plans to make the effort a major part of her reign. Photograph by: Mark Blinch , REUTERS

Miss Universe Canada has joined the fight for a pit bull ban in B.C., and plans to make the effort a major part of her reign.

Sahar Biniaz, 26, was crowned Miss Universe Canada on May 19, and thinks the provincial government should adopt either a pit bull ban or at least require that pit bulls must be leashed and muzzled at all times.

The Richmond resident was a victim of a pit bull attack herself at the age of 14, a year after her family adopted a five-month-old pit bull from a breeder.

The pit bull "came from a really nice environment," she said, but "then I ended up getting 16 stitches." Biniaz still bears the scars on her chest to this day.

"I was just sitting down and it just kept staring at me, and I don't know what aggravated it," she said. "It just all of sudden ... went off."

Biniaz said her parents ended up getting rid of the pit bull as opposed to putting it down, but every time she hears of a pit bull attack she remembers that day.

"This is something you hear all the time, over and over again," she said, noting that with her Miss Universe Canada title she now has "a voice ... to bring more awareness to this [issue]."

Biniaz said recent pit bull attacks — like the one on Emma-Leigh Cranford, 4, on Aug. 23 in White Rock — spurred her to act.

Cranford survived with 40 stitches across her jaw, but not before a two-hour surgery at B.C. Children's Hospital.

Biniaz said she has already spoken with White Rock Coun. Alan Campbell, who said he would bring up the possibility of a ban when council reconvenes Sept. 17.

SOURCE: The Vancouver Sun, 9/2/2012

Related article: