Allie Beth Stuckey on Twitter - "“Pit bulls make up only 6% of the dog population, but they’re responsible for 68% of dog attacks and 52% of dog-related deaths since 1982.” No, it’s not an owner issue. Lots of dogs are mistreated. Not every kind of dog ends up mauling toddlers.
“Pitbulls are responsible for the vast majority of fatalities associated with dogs. From 2010 to June 2021, there were 430 fatal dog bites, with 185 of those coming from pit bulls, and another 41 that were pit bull mixes.”...
This woman raised her pit bulls from the time they were puppies, and they mauled her to death while on a walk. Owner issue?"
Pit bull lovers get around this by claiming identification isn't perfect so the numbers can't be trusted. As if even after correcting for misidentification pit bulls still aren't overrepresented
Meme - "8 types of dogs and behaviors: Genetics
Pitbulls: "It's all in how you raise them""
2013 Fatal Dog Attack Breed Identification Photographs - "Due to the endless onslaught of pro-pit bull and animal welfare groups who proclaim that a pit bull cannot be identified by it's owner, family members, animal control officers, police officers, the media and more, we located as many photographs of fatally attacking dogs in 2013 as we could. Of the 32 total recorded deaths last year, 19 fatalities had identification photographs of the attacking dogs. 17 of these fatalities, 89%, involved pit bulls and their mixes... News reports pertaining to fatal dog attacks -- without identification photographs -- are nearly always multi-sourced. This means that multiple parties have identified the dogs including, but not limited to: animal control officers, police officers, other first responders, the dog's owner or family members, and even veterinarians. Pro-pit bull and animal welfare groups would have the public and lawmakers believe that each of these cited sources is invalid when a pit bull is involved... The "breed misidentification" propaganda machine that roars beneath fatal pit bull attacks is limited only to pit bulls and their mixes. The "loyal" dog breed that kills more Americans than all other dog breeds combined... the ASPCA released study findings showing that visual breed identification by intake staff at Richmond SPCA agreed with DNA results 96% of the time when identifying pit bulls and their mixes. The study was "supposed" to show that if a DNA test result card was placed on the cage of the dog, instead of a card labeled "pit mix," the dog would be more adoptable. This was based on the faulty assumption that intake staff would often incorrectly identify pit bulls."
It's amazing how pit bull activists are so deluded. That suggests that their activism gives them identity and their life meaning
2020 Fatal Dog Attack Breed Identification Photographs - "Of the 46 dog bite fatalities recorded in 2020, 61% (28) had some form of an identification photograph. Our nonprofit was responsible for capturing 79% of them. Pit bulls and their mixes represent 71% of images collected in 2020... The most controversial case in 2020 involved the surly American bully breeding community. Lisa Urso, 52, was killed by her two Shorty bulls, but headlines claimed they were French bulldogs. A Shorty bull is a short, squat, gargoyle variation of the American bully and is only recognized by the American Bully Kennel Club. The Shorty bull "designer bull breed" was created by mixing 5 different types of bull breeds, including the French bulldog and American pit bull terrier. The French bulldog community was so outraged that the President of the French Bull Dog Club of America left a comment on our website, appreciative of our identification of the dog. "As the President of the French Bull Dog Club of America we are glad to see the dogs identified correctly," Becky Smith wrote. "As a 500 member club our members including myself are outraged that French Bulldogs were named in this awful occurrence ... this was not done by French bulldogs.""
Pit bull lovers claim that chihuahuas are super aggressive, ignoring the fact that chihuahuas kill almost no one
Pit Bull Described as 'Mild-Mannered' Brutally Kills Female Owner During a Walk in the Province of Nova Scotia - "Megan Milner purchased her two pit bulls -- less than four years later, one brutally kills her while she was taking it for a walk... Milner was killed by one of her pit bulls, while taking the dog for a walk. Milner was a conscientious owner who would only walk her dogs one at a time outside of the village, and while armed with a sturdy muzzle... Like the attractive female pit bull advocates before Milner, who were killed by their own pit bulls (Darla Napora, Bethany Stephens and more), gross speculation and conspiracy theories fueled by pit bull advocates has followed. Claims like, Milner must have been "struck by a car" or "she was killed by a bear." There is a reason why jurisdictions in 53 countries regulate this dog breed. The routine horrific injuries pit bulls inflict, including deglovings, have no place in a civilized society... Very often, the extreme violence inflicted by pit bulls is unpredictable; there is no known stimuli beforehand. What is always true is that when stimuli is known before the attack, it is either minor (movement while sleeping, taking away a treat or a baby in a bouncy chair) or at worst, moderate (the clap of thunder or a domestic family dispute). Thus, the act of killing by pit bulls is always a disproportionate response. There is no appropriate context for these behaviors in normal life."
2017 Dog Bite Fatality: 22-Year Old Woman Dies in 'Grisly Mauling' by Her Own Pit Bulls in Virginia - "Shortly after Sheriff Agnew gave the press conference, some of the victim's friends -- who are pit bull advocates -- began publicly stating that Sheriff Agnew and the medical examiner's office are lying about her death. This type of bullheaded denial and rumor-mongering is characteristic after a pit bull advocate like Bethany Stephens is killed in an "absolutely grisly mauling" by her own pit bulls. Notably, homicide was ruled out right away; toxicology remains the only unknown factor."
Special Report: Level 1 Trauma Center Dog Bite Studies in All U.S. Geographical Regions Report Pit Bulls Highest Prevalence - "There are at least 10 peer-reviewed dog bite studies published in medical science journals since 2009 that show a higher frequency of pit bull injuries than all other breeds of dogs in retrospective reviews of level I trauma centers. As of 2016, all major geographical regions in the U.S. are reporting these same findings as well: northwest, west, southwest, south, southeast, midwest and northeast. Since 2011 these medical studies have more closely scrutinized pit bull injuries as well."
Dog bites in urban children - "Most (54%) animals were contained (ie, leashed, fenced, in-house) at the time of injury. Fewer (46%) were provoked prior to biting. Significantly more pit bull injuries (94% vs 43%, P less than .001) were the consequence of unprovoked attacks and involved freely roaming animals (67% vs 41%, P less than .01). Children aged 5 or younger were more likely to provoke animals prior to injury than were older children (69% vs 36%, P less than .001). It is recommended that families with young children be the target of pet safety education and that measures be sought that would lead to early identification of a potentially dangerous dog and restrict ownership."
Pit bull advocate Jacqueline “Jae” Nicole Robinson-Downs killed in South Carolina - "Laurens County, South Carolina sheriff’s deputies on October 2, 2020 arrested Jeffrey Kenneth Sullivan, 35, for involuntary manslaughter and three counts of possession of a dangerous animal in connection with the September 28, 2020 pit bull mauling death of Gray Court neighbor Jacqueline “Jae” Nicole Robinson-Downs, 32... Medical doctors Cinnamon A. Dixon and Rakesh D. Mistry, of Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Colorado, in a June 25, 2020 article posted by the Journal of Pediatrics speculated that dog attacks might be soaring––tripling at their own workplace––because of increased family stress and exposure to dogs resulting from stay-at-home orders imposed in response to the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus panic. But the fatal and disfiguring dog attack numbers logged by ANIMALS 24-7 since 1982 suggest that the only dogs who are severely injuring and killing people more often in 2020 than in past years are pit bulls. The reported surge in dog attacks in Aurora, Colorado, moreover, coincided with a drive to rescind the 2005 Aurora bylaw prohibiting keeping pit bulls, affirmed by nearly two-thirds of the electorate in 2014... “Justice for Cledith,” however, continues to reject the reality that pit bulls, less than 6% of the U.S. dog population, are consistently responsible for about 60% of all fatal attacks on humans, 75% of disfiguring attacks on humans, and upward of 90% of fatal attacks on other domestic animals."
Woman Mauled by Pit Bulls, Her Son's Voice Drowned Out by Pit Bull Advocates - "The owner of two pit bulls that viciously mauled a petite 71-year-old woman pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday. Travis D. Cunningham, 36, has been charged with a felony count of possessing a dangerous dog. He could serve up to 13 years in prison if convicted as charged. Cunningham is an ex-convict whom prosecutors say was negligent in allowing the dogs to escape and run free repeatedly, even though he knew they did not like people. The article about the attack is filled with details and very much worth reading. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Eric John Makus, the son of the victim of Cunningham's dogs, was drowned out by pit bull lovers as he tried to state his position before at a Monroe City Council meeting"
Alexandra Semyonova: Heritability of Behavior in the Abnormally Aggressive Dog - "DogsBite.org was recently introduced to a variety of works by internationally acclaimed animal behaviorist Alexandra Semyonova -- born in the U.S. and educated at John Hopkins University and University College London. Semyonova writes with breathtaking honesty about issues that matter the most: the reality of selecting for aggression and the repeated denial by humane organizations and dog breeders that such selection bears no hereditary significance... through selection for "aggressive performance," breeders have in fact been selecting for specific abnormalities in the brain. In essence, instead of excluding abnormally aggressive dogs from their breeding stock, Semyonova points out that, "breeders focused on making lineages in which all the dogs would carry these genes (i.e., dogs which would reliably exhibit the desired impulsive aggressive behavior). They succeeded." The concluding section discusses "form follows function." For example, it is by no mistake that dogs selected for "killing" (the pit bull, dogo Argentino and others) are characterized by exaggerated jaw muscles and the willingness to attack in the absence of species-specific signs. Additionally, the environments for which these behaviors were selected (the fighting pit and escaping slave) are so extreme that there is no appropriate context for them in normal life."
Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan's dog accused of killing Queen Latifah's dog and biting a gymnast
Pit bull activists claim that it's never the dog's fault but it's always the owner's, and the owners are either incompetent or evil. But apparently even professional dog trainers are incapable of training pitbulls properly
And even if that were the case, at the very least there should be strict licencing requirements for such a "delicate" breed
Mortality, mauling, and maiming by vicious dogs - "Our Trauma and Emergency Surgery Services treated 228 patients with dog bite injuries; for 82 of those patients, the breed of dog involved was recorded (29 were injured by pit bulls). Compared with attacks by other breeds of dogs, attacks by pit bulls were associated with a higher median Injury Severity Scale score (4 vs. 1; P = 0.002), a higher risk of an admission Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or lower (17.2% vs. 0%; P = 0.006), higher median hospital charges ($10,500 vs. $7200; P = 0.003), and a higher risk of death (10.3% vs. 0%; P = 0.041)."
Dog bites dog: The use of news media articles to investigate dog-on-dog aggression
In the UK, the top 4 breeds, accounting for 43.1% of dog-on-dog attacks, are pitbulls
