She had me until the end
This article entitled Dangers of owning pit bulls demand strong regulation made many points that I and other politically incorrect dog enthusiasts have made:
“Burglars who are into meth will have pit bulls around to act as a guard for the house,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.
These people have set their dogs on deputies coming to make arrests. They have let them loose on neighbors and their pets. They fight them against each other.
“We’ve had a dog-fighting problem in the South Puget Sound for quite a while,” Sayre said.
Troyer agreed. Deputies have heard of the fights, and have found dogs that appear to have been injured in them.
“Unfortunately, people buy that breed and train them to do that,” he said.
Meanwhile, the number of pit bulls who end up confiscated or abandoned is rising.
In 2002, the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County took in 910 American pit bull terriers, Staffordshire terriers and predominantly pit bull mixes. Last year, the number was up to 1,142, of which 887 came in as strays. The vast majority were put to death.
The population explosion also shows up in Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue’s statistics. The pit bull heads the animal welfare group’s “Top Most Unwanted Breeds” list. In 1999, the group had 168 pit bull referrals. The numbers climbed to 413 in 2000, 1,023 in 2001 and 1,096 in 2002, the most recent year on the chart. Those dogs were not killed, but they consumed a huge share of the society’s resources.
It’s a dangerous and untenable situation.
However, she concludes with this:
We need a countywide campaign, including animal protection and law enforcement officers, to bring pit bull owners into compliance, educate the public on how to effectively report dangerous dogs, and seize those dogs.
Without it, hundreds of pit bulls will kill other animals and attack people. Without it, thousands of pit bulls will be put to death.
Without it, we’ll have a good case for breed-specific legislation.
BSL is not the answer because dog-fighters and criminals will switch to another breed and train the animals to be aggressive. There is no way to scientifically determine what breed a particular dog is. Owners are responsible for their pets, dogs are just being dogs and are doing what they’re taught to do. It makes criminals out of ordinary pet owners and could lead to the killing of long-time, well-trained family pets.
