Pit bulls seem extra-sensitive to endorphins and may generate higher levels of the chemical than other dogs. Endorphins are also addictive: "The dogs may be junkies, seeking pain so they can get the endorphin buzz they crave," The Economist suggests. Finally, most dogs warn you before they attack, growling or barking to tell you how angry they are—"so they don't have to fight," ASPCA advisor and animal geneticist Stephen Zawistowski stresses.
Not the pit bull, which attacks without warning. Most dogs, too, will bow to signal that they want to frolic. Again, not the pit bull, which may follow an apparently playful bow with a lethal assault.
In short, contrary to the writings of Vicki Hearne, a well-known essayist on animals who—in a bizarre but emotionally charged confusion—equates breed-specific laws against pit bulls as a kind of "racist propaganda," the pit bull is a breed apart. Pit-bull expert Semencic makes a more sophisticated argument as to why pit bulls shouldn't be singled out for regulation. Pit bulls, he says, were bred not to be aggressive to people. But Semencic's argument assumes that the culling of man-aggressive dogs is still going on—which it isn't.
As Robin Kovary, a New York-based dog breeder and pit-bull fancier, acknowledges, "Once the word got out, 20 years ago or so, to youths who wanted a tough dog to show off with, the breed passed into less than responsible hands—kids who wanted the dogs to be as aggressive as they could be.
Y et Kovary is at least partially right when she says, "It's the two-legged beast, not the four-legged one, we have to worry about. Raised responsibly, the pit bull's good side can come to the fore.
But pit bulls have become enmeshed in the brutality of underclass culture, magnifying the breed's predisposition to aggression. Pit bulls are its biggest problem. More than 60, animals, half of them dogs, entered the shelter last year.
According to CACC official Kyle Burkhart, "more than 50 percent of the dogs are pit bulls or pit-bull mixes—a huge percentage. Waiting in the CACC's lobby, I got a firsthand look at the pit bull as a standard-issue accessory to underclass life: toughs in baggy pants and stocking caps paraded in and out continuously, negotiating to get their impounded dogs back or to adopt new ones.
Three distinct classes of irresponsible—or, more accurately, abusive—owners are the source of the CACC's flood of pit bulls. First are the drug dealers, who use pit bulls, or pit-bull crosses, as particularly vicious sentinels.
New York City cops had to shoot 83 dogs to death in , most of them pit bulls guarding drug stashes. Burkhart showed me a few such sentinels in the center's dangerous-dog ward. Lunging against their metal cages, these pit bulls were the most ferocious animals I'd ever seen: pure animal fury. Intimidated, I kept as far from the cages as I could.
Dog-fighting rings also fill the CACC with abused animals. The rings, moving clandestinely throughout the state, stage battles between pit bulls, sometimes to the death, as cheering spectators wager on the outcome. The dogs the CACC receives from the raids will often be missing ears or will bear deep scars from their battles. Manhattan Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe isn't surprised at the savagery: "We regularly find dead pit bulls in the parks; on one occasion, we found eight pit-bull carcasses dumped in Riverside Park.
They'd been killed fighting other dogs. It's an unsavory crowd that participates, whether as trainer or spectator, in the blood sport, says ASPCA humane-law-enforcement officer George Watford. Finally, the CACC gets pit bulls owned by teenagers and gang members—"young punks," Watford calls them—who raise the dogs to intimidate.
The teens, sporting military fatigues and shaved heads, ignored her and went on with their barbarous fun. Typically, these teens lose interest in their brutalized—and usually unneutered—dogs and let them loose, swamping the city with stray pit bulls.
W hat should New York City do about its dangerous dogs? One possibility: ban the pit bull, as England has done. Unfortunately, thanks to the state law nixing breed- specific legislation, such a ban would entail a difficult battle for state permission. And if the city bans the pit bull, what's to stop thugs from shifting to other breeds that can be made into weapons, such as the Canary dog or the Dogo Argentino?
Outlawing them all would be an extremely divisive policy. In , 26 American females were killed by dogs, and 16 of the 26 were killed by pit bulls. Yet they are responsible for more than half of the fatal attacks on women and girls. As of , pit bulls have killed American children in recent memory. In , dogs killed 15 children out of the 39 total human fatalities.
Pit bulls kllled 8 of the 15 youths. In , dogs again killed 15 children, and pit bulls killed at least 9 of those 15 "at least" because the authorities have concealed the breed of one of the dogs that killed a child.
In , dogs killed 16 children, and pit bulls killed 10 of the Yet they are responsible for killing most of the children who get killed by a dog. In , pit bulls killed 13, dogs, 5, cats and 20, horses and other farm animals. Approximately once per month during , and , a pit bull has entered the home of a person not its owner for the purpose of killing or injuring people or pets. In addition to homes, the invaded premises have included apartments, schools and even a police station.
There were 16 such incidents in , 17 in , and 11 in , with the first recorded one in The authorities either unwittingly or purposely are engaging in a cover-up pertaining to pit bull violence.
In the three decades from t0 , only 45 canine homicides or disfigurements were by dogs of an unidentified breed, but in there were 36 and in there were This means half or nearly half of the nation's pit bulls are seeking homes. Breeding pit bulls potentially adds to that number. All such varieties are referred to as "pit bulls" or "pit bulls and their mixes.
All rights reserved. Click here for further legal notices. Pit Bulls: Facts and Figures. By Attorney Kenneth M. Phillips, author of Dog Bite Law dogbitelaw. To understand the experience of owning a negatively perceived dog, Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy conducted a study on pit bull owners. Researchers found that owners of out-law dog breeds directly feel the stigma targeted at their breed and resort to various tactics to lessen it.
One of the tactics included attempts to counterbalance the pit bull's menacing appearance and physical power with overwhelming "affectionate" behavior, such as: "My dog might lick you to death. One owner described the introduction between her pit bull and a wary friend who was concerned about the dog because she had young children:.
She came over here and sat down Due to selective breeding for the purposes of dogfighting, pit bulls are highly dog-aggressive. This aggression is not limited to dogs; pit bulls frequently kill other companion pets and domesticated animals. Leading pit bull education websites warn pit bull owners to, "Never trust your pit bull not to fight. Pit bull dog aggression is unacceptable for two reasons. In many instances it leads to human aggression.
A common scenario is the following: A loose pit bull attacks a leashed dog being walked by its owner. The owner gets seriously injured trying to stop the attack. Every year, one or more Americans suffers death due to pit bull dog aggression, including owners like Mitchelle Segerdahl and Alicia Malagon who died while attempting to break up a fight involving their pit bull.
Secondly, far too many beloved companion pets and domesticated animals suffer a violent death by the powerful jaws of pit bull terriers each year. In some instances, these attacks involve pit bulls tearing through screen doors of private homes -- in a home invasion attack -- to kill the pet living inside.
The best thing we can do for communities and pit bulls is to regulate pit bull ownership and pit bull breeding. Lowering the pit bull population will reduce the number of serious maulings and the euthanasia of pit bulls. In late , Animals , a group that tracks shelter killings, estimated that of the 1. Over U. Army, U. Marine Corps and U. Air Force -- and many public housing authorities have breed-specific restrictions. Such measures often include: mandatory sterilization, liability insurance and strict containment rules.
The most progressive law, a pit bull ban, prohibits new pit bulls and new pit bull breeding. In just a few years, these communities see a significant drop in pit bull bites and euthanasia of pit bulls. Maul Talk Manual: A guide to understanding the language, excuses and false arguments of pit bull owners and advocates.
Through our work, we hope to protect both people and pets from future attacks. Make a donation today ». Subscribe to our email list.
Page last modified: February 02, Sitemap. Dogs bite. Some dogs don't let go. A myth sprang up that the dogs were rehabilitated and safely live with people, but in fact only 10 were placed in homes by one organization, 12 live in solitary confinement because they cannot interact with anything living, one was euthanized because of severe aggression, and 25 others were sent to "rescue" groups around the USA that have not revealed the dogs' present whereabouts.
Since the inception of dogbitelaw. However, this advice was not taken. At present, therefore, many experts now advocate breed specific laws designed to reduce the pit bull population, at the very least. All rights reserved. Click here for further legal notices.
0コメント