Who Attacks Who?

In my previous post I spoke out against a website for promoting a fear campaign against Pit Bulls.  If you found the website I spoke of (and there were many clues in my post if you cared to try and hunt it down), you’d find that they posted graphic photos of the damage that pit bulls inflict, in an effort to make you sympathetic and fearful. 

And really, who isn’t sympathetic to a child who will live with scars her entire life because of a dog bite to the face?  Who doesn’t cry with the mother who’s child was injured or killed by a beloved family pet? 

However, the person who advocates eradicating a breed as a solution, is part of the problem, not the cure.  You see, it’s been proven time and time again that Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) does not work.  The reason is because, as I’ve said repeatedly, any dog is capable of biting someone.  Smaller breeds can scar a child’s tender skin, large breeds can maim and even kill when they bite.  Communities who implement BSL often find no reduction in dog bites or fatalities over time.  The best way to manage and prevent dog bite incidents is to encourage training of all dogs, to teach children the dangers of approaching strange dogs, and to implement dog laws that target animals who commit dangerous acts, instead of breeds of dogs perceived to be dangerous.

When all is said and done though, it’s not the dogs who are truly dangerous, it’s the people holding the leash.  As I said in my previous post, .001% of Pit Bulls are responsible for attacks on humans, and yet they are the most abused breed of dog in America today.

Part of it is because the dangerous reputation encouraged by the media and the internet.  That bad reputation appeals to the lowest of the low, the people who shouldn’t be allowed to roam the streets unleashed, let alone care for dogs.  They want mean dogs, aggressive fighters, guard dogs, but Pit Bulls don’t live up to their reputations, which angers their owners, and guess who bears the brunt of that anger?

The sweet dogs with the bad rap.

So she posted pictures of what a big, strong dog can do to the human body.  For every one of her pictures I’m sure I could find two of what a measly human can do to a big, strong Pit Bull.  In fact, I see these pictures, handfuls of them, come through my Pit Bull rescue feeds on a daily basis.

So here’s my first challenge.  Last year an estimated twelve people were killed by Pit Bulls, how many pits were killed by humans?

“It is estimated that 5,000,000 dogs per year are killed in shelters. Since in many places pit bulls make up 30-50% of the shelter population, and are less likely to be considered for placement than any other breed, guessing that 25% of those dogs killed is a reasonable estimate. Therefore, it can be assumed that perhaps 1.25 million pit bulls are killed per year.
Therefore - it is at least a HALF MILLION TIMES MORE LIKELY that a pit bull will be killed by a HUMAN than the other way around.”

Not enough? Here are twelve specific cases from 2009.

Man Killed Puppy over Steelers Game

At least 3 dogs starved to death at Memphis shelter

Decomposing Pit Bull Found At Home

Shooter Targeting Dogs Leashed in KC Yards

2 pit bull terriers euthanized after being set on fire in Dallas

Six Months Jail for Man Who Burned Dog Alive

Dog Owners Arrested For Starving Pit Bulls

Dogs found dead, chained to trees

Dog found starving, another found dead

Dog Found Fatally Shot In Colchester

Chained dog dies in heat

Dead and dying dogs found at gas station

There’s twelve, and they were easy to find.  I only went through two pages of search results to get them, and I didn’t even include the cases where the dog survived against the odds, or the dog fighting busts.  In total there are seven pages of such cases from 2009 on Pet-Abuse.com.  They estimate that over 20% of dog abuse cases are perpetrated against pits, and that as a breed they are the most abused pet in America today.

So it’s pretty clear that when it comes to murder, Humans have the edge over Pit Bulls, hands down.  Yet I don’t see any websites calling for the eradication of our species.

And what of the dogs that survive the human attacks?  Many are euthanized by shelters that are over crowded with pits already, or believe that they cannot be rehabilitated.  Many recover, pulled by no-kill shelters, rescue groups, and fosters who nurse them back to health and help them heal the horrors they’ve endured.

Many, many, go on to lead happy lives in a new and loving home, where they die of old age; having never bared their teeth at the people who so rightfully deserved it.

So now my next challenge.  I found twenty-two photos and videos on that site showing the results of Pit Bull attacks.  Do you believe I can find double that showing the results of human attacks on pits?  Watch me.

I’ll take an additional step that you weren’t granted at the other site and allow you the choice of viewing these graphic photos if you wish to do so, by linking instead of posting them.

1. One  Two Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine  Ten  Eleven  Twelve  Thirteen  Fourteen  Fifteen  Sixteen  Seventeen  Eighteen  Nineteen  Twenty  Twenty-one  Twenty-two  Twenty-three  Twenty-four  Twenty-five  Twenty-six  Twenty-seven  Twenty-eight  Twenty-nine  Thirty  Thirty-one  Thirty-two  Thirty-three  Thirty-four  Thirty-five  Thirty-six  Thirty-seven  Thirty-eight  Thirty-nine  Forty  Forty-one  Forty-two  Forty-three  Forty-four

Do you want to vomit yet?  I do.

Again, not hard to find, I could have found many more, and the stories to accompany the pictures are beyond belief.  Pit Bulls starved, burned, thrown from moving vehicles, forced to fight, ears cropped with scissors and no anesthesia.

Makes me so proud to be a human being (sarcasm again).

As a Pit owner, that website labels me, and not too flatteringly I might add.  Yet I’ve gone through the majority of my life not wanting a dog.  When I finally considered getting one, Pit Bulls weren’t even on my radar.  I was looking at a cute, but hyper, Beagle.  Jack kind of fell into our laps, and we decided to give a sweet dog a home to match.

Yet before we committed to bringing him home, I did some research because I’d only heard bad things about Pit Bulls, and it was that information, coupled with the time spent loving and training my dog, that has turned me into an advocate of the breed.

If I’m crazy for that, then so be it.  If you can honestly look at those pictures, read those articles, and not believe that these dogs deserve better than what they get…  Well, I just don’t know…