The chairman of Government's Canine Advisory Committee has quit, following a reported clash with Environment Minister Marc Bean over pit bull legislation.The Ministry yesterday confirmed Leonard (Shinah) Simons' resignation.Sources say some members of the committee have been extremely unhappy with the Minister's intentions over pit bulls.Mr Bean previously told radio listeners he's willing to add pit bulls to the list of dogs which are no longer banned, but has repeatedly refused to comment when asked to clarify his position.Meanwhile SPCA chairman Andrew Madeiros urged Government not to rush into relaxing its ban on pit bulls amid ongoing reports of attacks.Dr Madeiros warned many pitbulls on the Island have shown temperament and health problems as a result of poor breeding, and it may be too soon to take them off the prohibited list.He spoke out as another pet owner asked Mr Bean not to press forward with his plan to relax the ban, after his cat was killed by a pit bull which wandered into his garden.The Devonshire resident was echoing the call of Richard Keane, of Warwick, whose small dog was savaged by a pit bull on his property last month.Dr Madeiros said a large number of pit bulls have been kept by irresponsible owners for the wrong reasons, with interbreeding common.“Some people have them for fighting, for bragging rights or as a status symbol,” he told The Royal Gazette.“There are many that are fabulous with cats, kittens, puppies and kids, but they're a populist dog and invariably the statistics mean there are some problematic ones. The pit bulls here are not like pit bulls anywhere else. There are temperament issues and health issues because of the way they've historically been bred.“My concern is not so much having them come off the list, it's going from being supposedly highly regulated to suddenly saying they are not banned any more. I can see people popping puppies out all over the place, and when the genetic pool is small things can go wrong.”Minister Dennis Lister introduced a dangerous dogs ban in 2003, following increasing complaints of biting, injury and aggressive behaviour, particularly from pit bulls. Last December, Mr Bean announced some pets including rottweilers, Staffordshire bull terriers and German shepherds were being taken off the banned list and put on a restricted list. Dr Madeiros said Government should wait to see how that move goes before changing its rules on pit bulls.“The pit bull went through a lot of suffering and a lot of abuse at the hands of people who should never have owned dogs,” he said. “We need to be careful about how we deal with this. We've moved a number of dogs to the restricted list — see how that goes, give it a bit of time and see if it leads to any problems.”He added that enforcing responsibility on owners has proved very difficult, with court cases notoriously slow.One Royal Gazette reader contacted us to say his 12-year-old black and white tabby cat Mooch was sleeping in a bush in his property in March, when an invading pit bull “shook the life out of it”.He said a 70-year-old neighbour, who spotted the incident, tried to pull the pit bull away but could not save Mooch; the neighbour suffered bruises in the struggle.“We are not dog haters, but we heard that the Minister is thinking about relaxing the law and we are concerned that the pit bull population on the Island is so small the genetic diversity is low, allowing for the potential for their more aggressive traits to become more prevalent,” said the man, who asked not to be named.“Our cat is buried in our back yard now. One of our concerns is that we have a son who was two at the time, and our neighbours have two toddlers and a small child.“We are worried that a small child is going to be the next potential victim.”Mr Bean told a talk show last month: “There's a perception that the pit bull, which is a fighting dog, is fundamentally more harmful to society than any other breed.“I take the position that it's not the dog, it's the person, and so I'm willing to free it up.“And I want my committee to come and give me recommendations on how to free it up and give the freedom and responsibility to the citizen in this Country to deal with the dog that they like to deal with.”He has refused to answer all questions about his intention since then, but it's understood his proposal met with stern resistance from the committee.Yesterday, this newspaper asked Mr Bean if he would like to comment on reports that Mr Simons had resigned following a disagreement over his proposal to relax the ban.A Ministry spokeswoman replied: “The Ministry can confirm Mr Simons' resignation.“The Ministry thanks him for his diligent service and will be looking to fill his position shortly.”