nontheist
Well-Known Member
Pit Bulls: Deadly Breed Most Responsible for Death and Maimings of Humans and Other Animals
On average about 27 people will be killed by a dog each year in the US, 19 of the homicide victims will be children under the age of 15. The dog that causes 3 out of 4 attacks on kids will be the "loving" family dog, such as the "friendly companion" pit bull with the wonderful disposition. Children attacked by these breeds are literally torn apart with horrifying injuries that are almost beyond words. Those that survive are often maimed for life.
http://www.dog-bite-law-center.com/pit_bull_attacks.html
But do pit bulls deserve their reputation as vicious "attack" dogs? An overwhelming amount of evidence suggests they do.
A five-year review of dog-bite injuries from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, published in 2009 in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, found that almost 51 percent of the attacks were from pit bulls, almost 9 percent were from Rottweilers and 6 percent were from mixes of those two breeds.
In other words, a whopping two-thirds of the hospital's dog-attack injuries involved just two breeds, pit bulls and Rottweilers.
http://www.livescience.com/27145-are-pit-bulls-dangerous.html
[h=2]Myth #1: It's the owner not the breed[/h]The outdated debate, "It's the owner, not the breed," has caused the pit bull problem to grow into a 30-year old problem.1 Designed to protect pit bull breeders and owners, the slogan ignores the genetic history of the breed and blames these horrific maulings -- inflicted by the pit bull's genetic "hold and shake" bite style -- on environmental factors. While environment plays a role in a pit bull's behavior, it is genetics that leaves pit bull victims with permanent anddisfiguring injuries.
The pit bull's genetic traits are not in dispute. Many appellate courts agree that pit bulls pose a significant danger to society and can be regulated accordingly. Some of the genetic traits courts have identified include: unpredictability of aggression, tenacity ("gameness" the refusal to give up a fight), high pain tolerance and the pit bull's "hold and shake" bite style.2 According to forensic medical studies, similar injuries have only been found elsewhere on victims of shark attacks.3
Perpetuators of this myth also cannot account for the many instances in which pit bull owners and family members are victimized by their pet dogs. From 2005 to 2012, pit bulls killed 151 Americans, about one citizen every 19 days. Of these deaths, 52% involved a family member and a household pit bull.4 Notably, in the first 8 months of 2011, nearly half of those killed by a pit bull was its owner. One victim was an "avid supporter" of Bad Rap, a recipient of Michael Vick's dogs.
[h=2]Myth #4: Fatal attack statistics about pit bulls are false[/h]Pro-pit bull groups argue that the 20-year fatal dog attack study (from 1979 to 199
issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September 2000 is inaccurate because the study relied "in part" on newspaper articles. Pit bull advocates say that pit bull fatalities are more extensively reported by the media, therefore the authors of the study (most holding PhD credentials) must have "miscounted" or "double counted" the number of pit bull fatalities.10
As stated in the CDC report, the authors collected data from media accounts as well as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) registry of fatal attacks. Also, all five authors, Jeffrey Sacks, Leslie Sinclair, Julie Gilchrist, Gail Golab and Randall Lockwood, openly oppose breed-specific laws. This bias is clearly reflected in the CDC report as well.11 If discrepancies were made in the report, it seems more likely that fatal pit bull attacks were underreported not over reported.5
http://www.dogsbite.org/dangerous-dogs-pit-bull-myths.php
On average about 27 people will be killed by a dog each year in the US, 19 of the homicide victims will be children under the age of 15. The dog that causes 3 out of 4 attacks on kids will be the "loving" family dog, such as the "friendly companion" pit bull with the wonderful disposition. Children attacked by these breeds are literally torn apart with horrifying injuries that are almost beyond words. Those that survive are often maimed for life.
http://www.dog-bite-law-center.com/pit_bull_attacks.html
But do pit bulls deserve their reputation as vicious "attack" dogs? An overwhelming amount of evidence suggests they do.
A five-year review of dog-bite injuries from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, published in 2009 in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, found that almost 51 percent of the attacks were from pit bulls, almost 9 percent were from Rottweilers and 6 percent were from mixes of those two breeds.
In other words, a whopping two-thirds of the hospital's dog-attack injuries involved just two breeds, pit bulls and Rottweilers.
http://www.livescience.com/27145-are-pit-bulls-dangerous.html
[h=2]Myth #1: It's the owner not the breed[/h]The outdated debate, "It's the owner, not the breed," has caused the pit bull problem to grow into a 30-year old problem.1 Designed to protect pit bull breeders and owners, the slogan ignores the genetic history of the breed and blames these horrific maulings -- inflicted by the pit bull's genetic "hold and shake" bite style -- on environmental factors. While environment plays a role in a pit bull's behavior, it is genetics that leaves pit bull victims with permanent anddisfiguring injuries.
The pit bull's genetic traits are not in dispute. Many appellate courts agree that pit bulls pose a significant danger to society and can be regulated accordingly. Some of the genetic traits courts have identified include: unpredictability of aggression, tenacity ("gameness" the refusal to give up a fight), high pain tolerance and the pit bull's "hold and shake" bite style.2 According to forensic medical studies, similar injuries have only been found elsewhere on victims of shark attacks.3
Perpetuators of this myth also cannot account for the many instances in which pit bull owners and family members are victimized by their pet dogs. From 2005 to 2012, pit bulls killed 151 Americans, about one citizen every 19 days. Of these deaths, 52% involved a family member and a household pit bull.4 Notably, in the first 8 months of 2011, nearly half of those killed by a pit bull was its owner. One victim was an "avid supporter" of Bad Rap, a recipient of Michael Vick's dogs.
[h=2]Myth #4: Fatal attack statistics about pit bulls are false[/h]Pro-pit bull groups argue that the 20-year fatal dog attack study (from 1979 to 199
issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September 2000 is inaccurate because the study relied "in part" on newspaper articles. Pit bull advocates say that pit bull fatalities are more extensively reported by the media, therefore the authors of the study (most holding PhD credentials) must have "miscounted" or "double counted" the number of pit bull fatalities.10As stated in the CDC report, the authors collected data from media accounts as well as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) registry of fatal attacks. Also, all five authors, Jeffrey Sacks, Leslie Sinclair, Julie Gilchrist, Gail Golab and Randall Lockwood, openly oppose breed-specific laws. This bias is clearly reflected in the CDC report as well.11 If discrepancies were made in the report, it seems more likely that fatal pit bull attacks were underreported not over reported.5
http://www.dogsbite.org/dangerous-dogs-pit-bull-myths.php
| Year | Total | # Most fatal attacks by | # Second-most fatal attacks by | # Third-most fatal attacks by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 1 | German Shepherd (1) (100%) | NA | NA |
| 1981 | 3 | Doberman pinscher (1) (33%) Mongrel (1) (33%) Pit Bull (1) (33%) | NA | NA |
| 1984 | 2 | Siberian husky (1) (50%) German shepherd (1) (50%) | NA | NA |
| 1985 | 1 | English sheepdog (1) (100%) | NA | NA |
| 1986 | 1 | Unknown dogs (1) (100%) | NA | NA |
| 1988 | 3 | Labrador Retriever (1) (33%) Rottweiler (1) (33%) Wolfdog (1) (33%) | NA | NA |
| 1989 | 2 | German Shepherd (1) (50%) Rottweiler (1) (50%) | NA | NA |
| 1990 | 1 | German shepherd (1) (100%) | NA | NA |
| 1995 | 7 | Rottweiler (4) (57%) | Mixed breed dog (2) (29%) | Chow Chow (1) (14%) |
| 1996 | 6 | Rottweiler (6) (100%) | German Shepherd (1) (17%) | NA |
| 1999 | 4 | Mixed breed dog (2) (50%) | Airedale Terrier (1) (25%) Unknown dog (1) (25%) | NA |
| 2000 | 5 | Mixed breed dog (2) (40%) | Rottweiler (1) (20%) Pit bull (1) (20%) Pomeranian (1) (20%) | NA |
| 2001 | 13 | Rottweiler (6) (46%) | Mixed breed dog (1) (8%) Perro de Presa Canario (1) (8%) Unknown strays (1) (8%) Pit bull (1) (8%) Chow (1) (8%) Husky (1) (8%) | NA |
| 2002 | 6 | Rottweiler (4) (67%) | Mixed breed dog (2) (33%) | German Shepherd (1) (17%) |
| 2003 | 14 | Rottweiler (5) (36%) | Pit Bull (4) (29%) | Mixed breed dog (3) (21%) |
| 2004 | 15 | Mixed breed dog (10) (67%) | Pit Bull (3) (20%) | Rottweiler (2) (13%) |
| 2005 | 29 | Mixed breed dog (11) (38%) | Pit bull (10) (34%) | Rottweiler (4) (14%) |
| 2006 | 30 | Pit bull (14) (47%) | Rottweiler (9) (30%) | Mixed breed dog (4) (13%) |
| 2007 | 34 | Pit bull (14) (41%) | Mixed breed dog (7) (21%) | Rottweiler (4) (12%) |
| 2008 | 23 | Pit bull (12) (52%) | Mixed breed dog (7) (30%) | Husky (2) (9%) |
| 2009 | 31 | Pit bull (11) (35%) Mixed breed dog (11) (35%) | Rottweiler (2) (6%) Husky (2) (6%) | Mastiff (1) (3%) Boxer (1) (3%) Alaskan Malamute (1) (3%) Weimaraner (1) (3%) |
| 2010 | 36 | Pit bull (15) (42%) | Mixed breed dog (9) (25%) | Rottweiler (4) (11%) |
| 2011 | 33 | Pit bull (14) (42%) | Mixed breed dog ( (24%) | Rottweiler (4) (12%) |
| 2012 | 34 | Pit bull (13) (38%) | Mixed breed dog (9) (26%) | Rottweiler (3) (9%) |
