Misunderstood Pit Bulls Killing Coyote.
Misunderstood Pit Bull Puppy Kills Fox Puppy
Pit Bull Tries To Attack Sea Lions
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c4a_1436038925
Friday, August 21, 2015
Misunderstood
Misunderstood Pit Bull Puppy Kills Fox Puppy
Pit Bull Tries To Attack Sea Lions
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c4a_1436038925
Saturday, May 16, 2015
By the percentages--fatal pitbull attacks thus far in 2015
As of Saturday, 5/15, 136 days into the 2015 year, eight Americans are dead [this averages out to a death every 17 days] as a result of pitbull attacks;
25% are <10yo
25% = toddlers
50% = infants
12.5% are adults
37.5% are senior citizens
100% were found not to have provoked the attacking dog(s) in any way
- Brayden Wilson, 2 months old
- Kenneth Ford, 79
- De'trick Johnson, 36
- Roy Higgenbotham Jr., 62
- TayLynn DeVaughn, 2
- Malaki Mildward, 7
- Declan Moss, 18 months old
- Eugene Smith, 87
Going by the percentages
The Victims;
50% are children, of which;25% are <10yo
25% = toddlers
50% = infants
12.5% are adults
37.5% are senior citizens
100% were found not to have provoked the attacking dog(s) in any way
The Dogs;
25% neutered
75% spay/neuter status undisclosed (it's not uncommon for this piece of information to fall to the back burner in reporting)
50% male
12.5% female
37.5% were mixed sex (multiple dogs per attack) attacks
100% were not chained
87.5% were household/family pets
Non-Fatal But Serious Pitbull Attacks
From January 2nd to April 6th of this year (an 84 day time period), 227 Americans have been seriously injured/maimed. These attacks often result in permanent and disabling injuries, hospitalizations, deglovings, and life flights--a far cry from the mild snap and release bites from other [i.e. companion/non-bloodsport] breeds. This averages out to (rounded) three people being seriously attacked by pitbulls every day.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Pit bulls are a COMMUNITY problem
community problem
A fool sayeth; 'Don't like pit bulls, don't get a pit bull. End of story.'
Evading the pit bull issue is, unfortunately, not as simple as simply avoiding owning one...
Even if you personally choose not to own pit bulls or seek out interaction with them, does not mean you will be free of encounters with these animals. They can--and frequently DO--invade the lives of others without invitation, with frequently bloody results.
Pit bulls are a COMMUNITY problem. Their scope is far beyond the immediate home that chooses them. 'Responsible ownership' is a smoke-screen phrase that is meaningless; people have been talking about 'responsible ownership' going on two decades now and it has done nothing--it IS NOT WORKING. Attacks, disfigurement, dismemberment, fatalities are at a snowballing rate. This disturbing trend is only blunted and even reversed in areas which have enacted BSL, tellingly. Communities as a whole are subject to the presence of pit bulls... the proof is all around us, one need only open your eyes to look at it.
These dogs are so uniquely intrusive they INVADE homes to maul and kill. I'm not kidding. A compilation of such attacks can be found here; http://safetybeforebulldogs.blogspot.com/2014/03/collection-of-home-invasion-pit-bull.html
The 'pit bull attack trigger' page at dogsbite.org, issued as an illustration of the absurdity and extremity to which pit bull apologia will sink, also markedly encompasses the breadth of the issue--the scope of pit bull reach, when communities can no longer engage any of the following without risking pit bull attack;
being an animal control officer
being a mail carrier
being a gas worker
being a landscaper
being a police officer
being a public works employee
being in a wheelchair
being pregnant
borrowing a blender
breaking the ice out of a water bowl
disciplining your dog
driving a vehicle
dropping a glass
falling down
feeding the dog
getting a rabies vaccination
getting neutered
getting off a bus
getting the mail
getting the newspaper
handing someone a phone
hanging decorations
having a dog on your lap
having a seizure
having a smoke
hearing an argument
hearing thunder
holding a clipboard
holding a mailbag
holding a stuffed animal
hopping off a couch
jumping on a trampoline
letting your dog out
mowing your lawn
opening a car door
opening your front door
playing in your backyard
playing in your front yard
playing keep-a-way
playing on a playground
playing on a swing set
playing with a tennis ball
reaching for your purse
reading a bible
remodeling your home
running from bees
saving a family from a fire
seeing a cat run up tree
seeing a dog inside a house
seeing a horse
seeing a squirrel run up tree
seeing a leashed dog
seeing an unleashed dog
sitting on a bed
sitting on your spouse's lap
showing your spouse affection
sitting in a stroller
sitting in a tire swing
sitting in a wagon
sitting on your porch
slipping on ice
smelling "baby formula"
standing in your backyard
standing in your garage
stepping on an ant pile
taking down a Christmas tree
the act of bicycling
the act of driving
the act of gardening
the act of sex
the act of jogging
the act of sleeping
the sound of clapping
the sound of screaming
taking out the trash
walking on a beach
walking down a path
walking down a road
walking down a sidewalk
walking a snack sized dog
undergoing dialysis
unloading bags from a car
watching TV
waiting for a bus
wearing a ponytail
http://blog.dogsbite.org/2008/08/triggers-what-prompts-pit-bull-to.html
Each 'trigger' is clickable and leads to a real world scenario, evidenced with third party sources and citations.
The following are a sampling of attack stories from the last month alone, in which people and pets going about their daily business were attacked and affected by a pit bull infested community... whether they were taking a walk, riding a scooter, going about their jobs, taking out the trash, fishing, hiking, shopping, attending a birthday party, crossing an intersection, horseback riding, playing in their yard, or walking the dog.
Three members of a Darien family remain in the hospital after police said they were all attacked by a pit bull.
Family members said the young boy was taking the trash out when a neighbor’s dog attacked him. Police said it was a very violent situation that left three people severely injured.
“This is a tragedy,” said McIntosh County Sheriff Stephen Jessup. “It happens every now and then.”
McIntosh County investigators said this is one of the worst dog biting cases they’ve ever seen. On Monday, 11-year-old Darius Wingate was attacked in his yard. According to police, the next door neighbors had just let out their three dogs: two pit bulls and an American bulldog.
The victims’ family said the dogs began attacking Wingate. When his mom and sister heard him screaming, they ran to the rescue, but they were also severely bitten.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, especially with Darius,” said Jessup.
http://www.dangerousdognews.com/us_attacks/three-recovering-darien-dog-attack/
A police officer investigating a theft at a home on South 46th Street was attacked by a pit bull on Tuesday, shooting the dog after it bit him in the hand, authorities said.
The dog is expected to make a full recovery.
Banks and West assert that on July 26, 2014 they were attending a birthday party with their child held at a home owned by Thompson located and Castillo. The plaintiffs claim that while at the party a pit bull attacked their child causing serious injuries including permanent scarring and disfigurement.
A DISABLED woman has appealed for witnesses after her terrier was mauled by two “pit bulls”.
The woman’s desperate attempts to flee the dogs on her mobility scooter failed and the attack left her pet, Skye, with blood pouring from her mouth and leg.
The victim, who we have agreed not to name, said the attack happened while she was riding her scooter on the trail between the Hythe and East Street, Colchester.
Skye, her Cairn terrier, was on her lead on the platform of the scooter.
She said: “I had just come under the railway bridge when I saw a man with two pit bull-type dogs running loose.
“I stopped until he got hold of them, then I went as fast as I could to get away from the dogs.
“About halfway along the allotments, I saw in the mirror the dogs coming up fast behind me. The next thing, one of them grabbed my dog by the mouth.
Two pit bulls are being held at the dog pound after attacking and killing another dog on New Year’s Day in Peachland.
The animals were running loose on Ponderosa Drive when they encountered Jeff Clarke as he was out walking his dog, Charley.
In a vicious attack lasting for several minutes, the pit bulls repeatedly bit Charley while Clarke and a neighbour frantically tried to separate the dogs.
“It was a horrible, brutal thing,” Clarke said Sunday. “The pit bulls were relentless. We were hitting and kicking them, but they weren’t letting go of Charley no matter what.”
A DISTRAUGHT animal lover has pleaded for help to catch the owner of a dangerous dog that viciously attacked her pet greyhound in Clacton town centre.
Deryn Ellis’s four-year old greyhound Corky was attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier or pitbull-type dog in front of shocked sales shoppers in Pier Avenue at 11am on Boxing Day.
Corky suffered more than a dozen small wounds, three severe bites and another that could have been fatal without the swift actions of a quick-thinking bystander.
Mrs Ellis, of Jaywick, was also bitten on the hand during the attack, but was not seriously hurt.
The owner of the other dog ran off following the incident.
A man guided his pit bull toward a 6-year-old boy and his father at a busy Kips Bay intersection, standing by and watching as the dog bit the pair and left them bleeding, the NYPD said.
Mister Parrish, 36, was arrested and charged with releasing his 15-month-old pup Boss from a leash and “steering” the dog toward a 41-year-old man and his son at Lexington Avenue and East 28th Street at 10:30 p.m. Dec. 27, police said.
Parrish had been waiting to cross the intersection when he noticed the young boy standing next to him looking frightened of Boss. Parrish told the child, “It’s only a dog,” police said.
As the father and son began crossing the street, Parrish set the dog loose and encouraged it to go after the pair, police said. He then stood by, watching as the pit bull bit the man’s arm and the 6-year-old’s leg, leaving them bleeding, police said.
The pit bull terrier and another dog inflicted horrific wounds on 14-year-old Lakeland terrier cross Paddy as he was being walked in woodlands by his owners.
When the two dogs attacked, Paddy’s owners tried to beat them away from their beloved pet.
Despite their efforts, they could not prevent Paddy being seriously injured. He was later put to sleep.
A Philadelphia police officer was injured Sunday afternoon when a pit bull got loose on a Brewerytown street.
The dog was attacking civilians and officers near 30th Street and Girard Avenue shortly before 1:30 p.m., police said.
Officers discharged their weapons and Tasers at the pit bull. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the dog was killed
The 42-year-old man said he was returning from buying cigarettes when he noticed a pit bull that was loose in the backyard of an alley at 50 S. Hedges St. The man stepped back, but the dog had already spotted him, according to a Dayton police report.
The man said the dog has previously chased him, and that he started to run and was trying to climb over a fence when the dog caught up to him, biting him in the right forearm.
A little boy in Campbell is recovering after being bit by a pit bull. It happened Sunday afternoon in the 800 block of Devitt. Police said a man was taking care of someone else’s dog and did not have it on a leash. The dog then bit an eight-year-old on the leg.
A simple traffic stop involving a bicycle in Lehigh Acres led to a Lee County deputy firing off a shot to protect one of his own. It happened near Gilbert Avenue just west of Gunnery Road.
Deputies tell us they attempted to stop a suspect on a bicycle outside of the Dollar General store on Gunnery Road for riding without a light. That’s when the suspect ran away from deputies.
A helicopter and K9 unit were called in to help search for the suspect. While tracking the suspect in a wooded area, a K9 unit was attacked by an unleashed Pit bull. That’s when a deputy in pursuit shot the Pit bull.
A leash and an empty dog collar sit on the ground after an attack that wounded this Golden Retriever named Nala and this Australian shepherd named Oz. Nala got the worst of it with this bloody gash near her stomach. Their owner Patrick McWilliams was taking his dogs for a walk around his neighborhood yesterday afternoon when he says two dogs–that looked to be pit bulls came out of nowhere and attacked.
“I was basically screaming for a couple of minutes because I’d get one of them off and another one would attack,” says Patrick McWilliams. McWilliams says one of the attacking dogs bit him on the leg. Neighbors like Bob Kidd heard the commotion and tried to help McWilliams.
“And then I ran out to see what I could do and he was biting him really bad so I went to get a two by four and ran out after him,” says Kidd. Nala tracked a trail of blood through the garage when she came home. As bad as her injuries look in these pictures both of Patrick McWillaims’ dogs had surgery and are expected to come home Friday. The family shared their story because they hoped by sharing it, it would prevent something like this from ever happening again.
Animal control officers are trying to determine if a pit bull that viciously attacked a horse in the East County is the same dog that attacked a rider three years ago.
Stacey Russell and a friend were out riding on Quail Canyon Road in unincorporated El Cajon Sunday afternoon when a loose pit bull came charging from a house. Russell said the dog lunged at her horse’s neck.
While Russell was down on the ground, she said the dog chased her horse for more than half a mile. Fellow rider Cheryl Paz took off after the dog. They said the owner was yelling after the dog and then someone came by in a car, grabbed the dog and sped off.
Horseback riding and horse fancying in a community with pit bulls is a dangerous and costly hobby; http://www.dogsbite.org/blog-posts-dog-attacks-horses.php Horses are such a common target of pit bulls that attacks fill several [out-of-date pages] of their own http://www.dogsbite.org/dogsbite-newsroom-2008-dog-attacks-on-livestock-and-horses.php
Livestock are another imperiled venture in pit bull domains. While you may hear pit bull fanatics hastily mention that celebrities like Babe Ruth possessed pit bulls (as if that were an indication of wholesome value; many celebrities also possessed drugs and other vices...), what you won't hear about are instances such as... when The Great Bambino's pit bulls got loose, they killed one neighbor's chickens, and on another occasion decimated a herd--yes a herd--of another neighbor's cattle. http://cravendesires.blogspot.com/2013/02/george-herman-ruth-jr-aka-babe-ruth-aka.html
Two pit bulls and a Rottweiler have run loose around Joliet’s North Reed Street and attacked at least four other dogs, viciously mauling one, residents said.
“Our fear is a child” will fall prey to the pack of dogs, said Doreen Swanson, who said her own two pets were beset by the hounds from Reed Street.
What started off as a friendly hello to a couple of pit bulls turned into painful injuries for Tom Kuppers.
“The bigger of the two jumped up and grabbed hold of my arm. And it was the right forearm. Of course, I’m yelling at it. I think what I must have done was yanked it out of its mouth… it kept coming at me so I threw my bag at them.”
Kuppers says he was in shock, but spoke to the owner of the dogs who was apologetic but left without leaving contact information.
“He just kinda slowly walked out of the store. I didn’t see him leave.”
Simply shopping in pet friendly stores in pit bull communities could prove dangerous to your children and dangerous/fatal to your pets; a list of Petsmart and Petsco pitbull attacks: http://safetybeforebulldogs.blogspot.com/2014/09/list-of-pit-bull-attacks-inside.html
Yesterday while my family and I were fishing at Southgates there was a few people there with a big brown Pit Bull looking dog which KILLED our little Maltese Shitzu.
The owner took off in a hurry without leaving any details whatsoever.
My fiancee and young children are devastated.
Three people required medical treatment after they were attacked and bitten by a pair of roaming pit bulls on Rails to Trails Monday evening.
The victims, two brothers, aged 12 and 6, and a 37-year old man unrelated to the pair, were on the walking path near Second Street when the dogs attacked them. All three victims suffered bite wounds to their legs.
It was the second vicious dog incident of the afternoon for Taft Police. Earlier, they responded to the 600 block of Lucard where a dog ran into a woman’s house after apparently killing a dog across the street.
The third dog accused of being involved in attack that injured a couple and killed their dog was captured Tuesday morning.
Macon-Bibb Animal Control says a neighbor caught the dog. After nearly a day of searching , the neighbor put the dog in a crate in his backyard after it apparently killed their cat.
A New Castle County police dog is recovering after being attacked by a pit bull in a local park.
“Monty” a 6-year-old German Shepard with the New Castle County Police Department suffered minor injuries when he was attacked by a gray pit bull while officers were responding to a call in Sellers Park on Monday.
A Massena village justice has ordered a pit bull to be euthanized after it bit a neighbor on the leg earlier this month.
Village police had charged William P. Rochefort, 20, of 107 Stoughton Ave., Massena, with allowing his dog to run at large, harboring a dangerous dog and having an unlicensed dog Dec. 8 following an investigation into an incident that allegedly occurred earlier in the day.
On Saturday, December 27, 10-year-old Bernard Molnar was viciously attacked by two Pit Bulls while riding a scooter he had received for Christmas in front of a home in Enid, Oklahoma.
The dogs escaped from a fenced yard at a nearby residence and attacked the child at approximately 3:30 p.m. in the 1700 block of East Walnut, according to the police report.
Christina Dettling, Bernard’s mother, told KOCO News that her son was drenched in blood and “looked like a Zombie with his face peeled back” after the attack.
Christina Dettling said it took four people to free the boy from the Pit Bulls, but not before her son was seriously injured. She said a neighbor, Patrick Prall, was the first to discover her son being mauled and he beat the dogs off with Bernard’s scooter as she called 911. She credits Patrick with saving her son’s life.
Although Bernie is feeling better, Dettling said, “His right arm is broken, where the dog bit down, crushed both bones and shook him. He’s got a horseshoe-shaped mark on the back of his head — it’s got 10 staples in it and it went all the way down to the skull.”
She added that, as well as cuts that needed stitches and bruises all over his body, her son has “…a 3-inch gash on his upper right butt cheek that’s got three staples. They had to sew a portion of his right ear back on. He’s got a fractured nose. “His face and his ear and his arm (are) the absolute worst; and the back of his head.”
5-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy were hospitalized Tuesday after they were attacked by two pit bulls in West Palm Beach, an Animal Care and Control spokesperson said.
The incident took place at about 5 p.m. near the intersection with Australian Avenue.
An officer was attacked by a pit bull as San Diego Police pulled over a driver in the Mission Valley area Wednesday night, officials say.
The incident happened just after 8 p.m. on Friars Road at State Route 163.
According to the SDPD, the dog bite sent the officer to the hospital, but police did not shoot the pit bull.
The St. Albans Police Department is investigating a dog attack on Lake Street in the area of Food City. The attack happened between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Police say after the pit bull attacked a 52-year-old man fled the scene into a wooded.
The dog and owner have not been identified. Police say victim received puncture wounds to one hand and he was transported to Northwest Medical Center.
The dog is described as a medium size brown and white pit bull with a green nylon collar
Two people were hospitalized Monday night after they were attacked by four pit bulls that were accidentally released from their pen, police said.
Fall River police and animal control officers caught the dogs after they had been running through a wooded area. The dogs are being held in quarantine for 10 days, said Fall River police Lt. Ronald Furtado.
The dogs’ owner, identified as Sherry King, 43, of 550 Kilburn St., will be summonsed to court on two counts of failure to license a dog, Furtado said.
The police investigation alleges that the dogs were released from their pen after a child who fed the dogs accidentally left the pen door open, Furtado said.
Around 4 p.m. Monday, Fall River police Officers Peter Daluz and Derek Pereira responded to a dog bite call at Howe and Crawford streets. A 70-year-old woman was bitten on her forearm. She told the officers that she was walking in the area when two dogs approached and bit her pocketbook. When she tried to retrieve her purse, the dogs attacked her. The force of the dogs attacking her forearm caused the woman to fall to the ground, police said.
Two nearby bystanders intervened and stopped the attack. The 70-year-old woman was treated at the scene by medical rescue personnel and transported to Saint Anne’s Hospital for further treatment, police said.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
What is BSL?
What is BSL?
BSL stands for breed-specific legislation. It need not apply to banning dangerous dogs but is also a useful tool applied in managing humane breeding standards in physiologically problematic breeds, the care and management of sporting breeds, etc..
As is most relevant here, breed specific legislation is legislation and ordinances passed to regulate or 'ban' dangerous dog breeds, such as pit bulls and other blood-sport dogs from the mollossar group.
Some common misconceptions or even outright deceptions propagated by the anti-BSL camp are;
Myth: dogs are identified arbitrarily by sight, and by 'random' professionals that could have little or even no experience with identifying dog breeds./Only a DNA test can verify breed.
While it is true that more sophisticated methods--such as DNA tests--cannot distinguish 'pit bull' as an individual breed... (in fact, many fanciers laugh about the fact that their purebreds/prize winner DNA tests come back with absurdly wrong results, KNOWING their dogs are full well not just pit bull, but take pride in them being the epitome thereof), pit bulls are as readily identifiable as any long-standing, distinguishable breed by the cluster of lists identifying specific traits and body ratios according to UKC standards (or in the AKC under the guise 'American Staffordshire Terrier').
In reality, in areas with pit bull bans, a dog in question must be identified by a cluster of attributes by animal experts like veterinarians, animal control, and shelter workers. For example; in Miami Dade County, there is a 47 point identification for establishing a dog as 'pit bull'.
Myth; BSL punishes 'good owners'. Many people don't realize this, but BSL doesn't equate an outright ban. In many BSL areas, breed-specific ordinances may be a combination of any of the following;
- (dogs must be) licensed
- spayed/neutered
- micro-chipped
- muzzled in public
- housed according to specific containment standards
- insured with a certain minimum of liability insurance
All of these are reasonable parameters for responsible dangerous dog ownership. Truly responsible owners would be following such measures already and only those deviant and seeking to avoid responsibility for the management of their dogs would feel 'punished'. Many owners of other breeds, including toy breeds, already take such precautions because they understand that, much like driving a car, you must assume responsibility for ALL aspects of a privilege to maintain such privilege. "Insurance/licensing/etc. punishes good drivers" is not an excuse or logical reason to throw automotive regulations out the window.
Dangerous dog ownership is a privilege, not a right. Car ownership is a privilege, not a right. A car must be inspected, insured, and up to safety protocols; and these are inanimate objects with no free will of movement. That free will of movement is what makes it all the more important to appropriately maintain a high-risk animal.
There is also the animal itself to consider; the benefits of neutering and spaying are myriad, and a dog that gets loose is subject itself to dangers; toxic substances in the environment it may consume, harsh elements, abduction, being hit by cars, etc.. Ergo, proper containment and micro-chipping are preventative and crucial tools in safe-guarding a pet, respectively.
Myth; BSL hurts/kills innocent dogs. Hysterical anti-BSL lobbyists rail and compare BSL to the holocaust, invoking images of dogs being rounded up and euthanized en masse. The reality is; in the history of BSL, there has never been a mass round-up and euthanasia of banned breeds. When a ban is enacting, existing dogs are grandfathered into the area, and can be kept till the end of their natural lives according to the city's protocol--meaning adhering to micro-chipping, insurance, etc within a reasonable period. Owners that refuse to comply with such measures are issued a generous grace period in which to re-home their pet elsewhere. That same grace period is generally given to those who relocate into the area with banned breeds, as well.
In reality, BSL can save innocent dogs; "[from] ANIMALS 24-7 does not believe that animal rights, animal welfare, or even just being kind to animals is advanced by protecting backyard breeders of fighting dogs from the passage of effective breed-specific legislation to prevent the births of a million pit bulls per year who will repeatedly flunk out of homes and be killed at the average age of 18 months." In areas with BSL, the rate of euthanized dogs and shelter overcrowding drops dramatically, easing the burden on taxpayer shelters and Animal Control. For example, in Aurora, Colorado;
"...the dogs placed a tremendous burden on city staff. According to city documents, before the ordinance was enacted in 2005, up to 70 percent of kennels in the Aurora Animal Shelter were occupied by pit bulls with pending court disposition dates or with no known owner. That number is now only 10 to 20 percent of kennels."
Myth; BSL doesn't work. Mountains of evidence in areas with long-standing BSL beg to differ; here's a list of cities with successful BSL and the relevant data accompanying each. A few snippets;
Police records show Sioux City police officers responded to 37 percent fewer dog bites in 2013 than they did in 2007, the year before the breed ban was passed. During that time, the number of reported bites declined each year but one.
In 2004, the last full year before the ban, there were 984 licensed pit bulls in the city and 168 reported bites. Last year there were 501 pit bulls registered in Toronto, and just 13 bites. That’s right — the number of reported bites went from 168 to 13.
The ordinance the city adopted prohibits pit bulls and mixes of the breed, as well as any other vicious or dangerous animals, from being in the city. In the almost 20 years since it was adopted, Antigo has had no attacks, no maulings, and no dogs killed by pit bulls or other dogs.the city of Greenwood both have similar bans on pit bulls and dangerous animals... the city has had no attacks and issued no citations.
According to statistics taken from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, as reported in the News-Leader March 12, for the three-year period beginning in 2004, there were 42 "vicious" animal attacks recorded in the jurisdiction covered. After passing the local ordinance banning or strictly controlling the ownership of pit bull or pit bull types, the number of attacks has dropped dramatically. For the five-year period from 2007-2011, there was a total of 14.
in March, Aurora released statistical data showing a significant reduction in the volume of pit bull attacks and pit bulls euthanized after adopting a pit bull ban in 2005.
For the four years leading up to the ban, from 2000 to 2003, officers responded to 71 incidents of biting or scratching involving pit bulls in Pawtucket, a majority of those, 51, involving attacks on people.
In the 10 years since the ban was put in place, police responded to 23 total attacks involving pit bulls, with only 13 of those involving attacks on people.
[Since the city adopted mandatory spay/neuter BSL for pit bulls] San Francisco has impounded 14 percent fewer pit bulls and euthanized 29 percent fewer - which is a "significant decrease," said Rebecca Katz, director of the city's Animal Care and Control department.
In January 2013, the Nebraska Humane Society reported that pit bull bites dropped to 31 in 2012, down from 121 in 2008 (a 74% reduction), the year that Omaha enacted a progressive pit bull ordinance.
The number of dog bites reported in Toronto has fallen since a ban on pit bulls took effect in 2005, public health statistics show.A total of 486 bites were recorded in 2005. That number fell generally in the six years following, to 379 in 2010.Provincial laws that banned 'pit bulls,' defined as pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers and dogs resembling them took effect in August 2005. Existing dogs were required to be sterilized, and leashed and muzzled in public.Bites in Toronto blamed on the four affected breeds fell sharply, from 71 in 2005 to only six in 2010. This accounts for most of the reduction in total bites.
The county saw a 9.6 percent decrease in dog bites in the year since the spay/neuter program was instituted. (San Bernardino, CA)
And on and on it goes...
Myth; BSL is too costly to enforce. Again, the existing data disproves this. Pit bull lobbyist Karen Delise's 'BSL cost calculator' is skewed against BSL by exaggerating enforcement costs and failing to account for the broader scope of the issue. BSL has existed for decades in many jurisdictions with no catastrophic fiscal ramifications. Additionally, dramatic reductions in euthanasia rates and shelter overcrowding reduce the strain on city coffers.
The community is more productive in the absence of debilitating, brutal pit bull attacks. Unlike most other breeds, a pit bull attack often entails life-long disfigurement and disability, both physically and mentally. This creates people dependent upon the system for life, which would otherwise have become or continued to be productive citizens contributing to their communities.
The cost in quality of life, perhaps one of the most important factors, is incalculable. Communities are irrefutably better off when the citizens aren't held hostage in their own homes by dangerous dogs that frequently defy containment, with citizens intact, possessing all their limbs and body parts and faculties to enjoy and shape the environment around them.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Taken Where They Slept
"It’s unknown how the dog got so close to the baby in the middle of the night."
It well may be found that the dog simply approached the baby wherever she was sleeping and inserted itself into the infant's space to maul her. If you read about infant maulings and fatalities, you will find multiple instances of pit bulls attacking a baby while he/she slept in their crib, on a bed, in a bassinet, in a baby swing, in a car seat, or even sleeping next to his/her parents. http://www.dogsbite.org/dogsbite-search-results.php…
These are only a handful of such tragedies;
- 11 day old Mya Maeda was mauled to death in her crib by the family's pitbull mix
- 9 day old Daniel Smith was mauled to death in his crib by the family's 9yo pitbull
- 15 day old Darius Tilman was mauled to death his crib
- 2 week Brian Lillis was sleeping in his car seat when the family pitbull mauled him to death
- A 5 day old girl was mauled to death in her bassinet by the family pit bull
- A 13 day old baby was killed in his baby swing by the family pitbull
- Newborn Thomas Carter Jr. was killed by the family pitbulls while sleeping next to his father
- 8 week old Iopeka Liptak was mauled to death by the 5yo family pitbull while sleeping on his mother's bed
- 3 month old Rayden Bruce was mauled to death by his father's pitbull while sleeping on his father's bed
If you read about pit bull attacks in general, you will notice a disturbing pattern of just how stealthy silent these dogs can be. These dogs can be so quiet that a person need not be impaired or intoxicated in any way to miss the sounds of attack; and in the case of no doubt sleep-disturbed parents of a newborn, it can only be more so.http://www.dogsbite.org/dogsbite-search-results.php…
It's possible there is some wrong doing on the part of the parents in this case (we just don't have enough information), but please, please, remember... the overwhelming common factor in pit bull attacks are not environment or stimuli, but the dogs themselves. Nutters love to say 'get educated'. I did, and the truth the led me here.
Please do venture forth and form your opinion on this; but read ALL sides, and pay attention to the victims, not just the dogs. That is where you will be able to discern for yourself just what makes this breed dangerous; look for common factors, if any, compare and contrast the information from pro pit bull, victim/awareness advocacy, and verifiably neutral sites (the NCRC and ASPCA are not neutral) and think critically.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
The problem with ad hominem
As so eloquently illustrated in Jeff Borchardt's editorial 'Hounded', and as is the experience of virtually every outspoken dangerous dog victim and awareness advocate (including meself!), nutters love to cyber-stalk a person and pick apart their lives in a ceaseless smear campaign. They attack anything and everything they can; the way a person dresses, talks, where they work, where they live, what pets they have, how many children they have, their weight, their diet, their skin/hair, their religious views, their hobbies, political views, past experiences and mistakes, etc..
They deserve no further recognition, but nutters run various hate pages on Facebook and blogs, updated daily (so I hear, I avoid them for the plague and garbage they are, and though I know you mean well, folks who contact me about this crap, I follow the golden rule when it comes to bullies--ignore them, do not feed them, they want your energy and attention, they desperately need validation of any kind).
They do these things in a puerile attempt to raze a person, in the vain hopes that besmirching a person's character is the key to destroying their credibility and shutting them up. This kind of personal attack in response to a well-stated argument is, unfortunately, a common evidence of the failure of our educational system, because anyone with a basic education should be well aware of what this is--ad hominem.
A flawed character is not grounds for dismissing the validity of a person's extra-personal observations and assertions. Insisting that nothing a person says is valid in any area because they have been less than stellar people in another area is not only fallacious but utterly unrealistic... because no human being is perfect in all aspects of life--mistakes and flaws are a promise of human existence itself. If only perfect, infallible people are to be believed, we must discard the observations and achievements of virtually everything we know and everything that makes us intelligible, civilized creatures. This is the problem with ad hominem (personal attacks, impugning ones character in a fallacious attempt to discredit the person issuing the argument, rather than discrediting the argument itself).
The only time, say, calling someone a liar is going to effectively work in discrediting their argument is if you
1.) can verifiable prove the person is a liar
2.) with evidence that is relevant to the argument.
#2 is the biggie! #2 is non-negotiable. Saying Joe Blow cheated on his taxes is not relevant to arguing, say, what the most efficient smelting method is at the foundry. If you were arguing money matters, perhaps, but for something wholly unrelated it just isn't pertinent. A real life example;
Albert Einstein's personal life was considerably less honorable than his academic achievements; he fathered an illegitimate child with his first wife before they were married, and the baby disappeared from documented existence. He set strange rules for his wife, detailing that "she had to serve three meals day, to stop talking if he asked her to, and to expect no intimacy from him." However, he had enough intimacy to spare to court many mistresses (though in his writings he claimed their affection was unwanted too; however, not unwanted enough to avoid extramarital affairs with them); among them his first cousin paternally (and second cousin maternally), whom he left his first wife for, to marry. Mental illness was a specter in his family; his second son, Eduard, was deeply afflicted with schizophrenia at age 20 and spent his life in and out of (at the end, perpetually in) asylums.
However strange and deplorable his personal romantic exploits, one cannot use them to fault and argue on the validity of his other work; the theories of relativity, gravitational fields, particles, motion of molecules, light photons (photoelectric effect), the principles of equivalence and adiabatic invariance, the injustice of racism (he was a member of NAACP), his academic teachings on theoretical physics, thermodynamics, and analytical mechanics, and research on uranium and chain reaction (nuclear fission, the Manhattan project).
No, to discredit Einstein's scientific bodies of work would take something in kind--other bodies of scientific work, evidence, etc.. Where Einstein chose to sling his trouser snake has nothing to do with the math of quantum mechanics. Were Einstein's work the research, study, and teaching of dangerous dogs, no doubt every little aspect of his personal life would be open game to the critics (nutters), even his unfortunate schizophrenic son. I know SABSL* advocates with autistic or mildly disabled children and the vocal ones have had those innocents attacked and smeared in the vicious, frothing frenzy that is angry dog fanatics.
The scope and intensity of their virulence is precisely why the term 'nutter' exists... and as an aside, for those new to the issue, 'nutter' does not encompass ALL dangerous dog owners; just those who are deceptive, aggressive bullies and/or stalkers. A pit bull owner with an open mind that truly listens and does not worry a debunked claim like their dog with a bone, but instead absorbs and seeks to learn anything they can to be as cautious and careful as they can--truly understanding all the facets of their dangerous dog breed... is not a nutter. Little known fact is there ARE dangerous dog owners in SABSL groups who get along just fine, and do work together toward creating safer communities.
These are the people who understand that their dogs aren't fit for public consumption and were perhaps acquired with the best of misguided intentions. However, now having all the evidence before them, they stop with perpetuating dangerous myths and stop with excusing (any/every attack) and abusing (victims, victim blaming, wild speculation, etc.).
Sadly, these people are far too rare.
I digress.
What is SABSL? An umbrella acronym for safety/awareness/breed-specific legislation advocates.
What is SABSL? An umbrella acronym for safety/awareness/breed-specific legislation advocates.
Other Bad Boys in History
Oscar Wilde
Pablo Picasso
Julius Caesar
Errol Flynn
Elvis Presley
Alexander the Great
King Charles II
Percy Shelley
John F. Kennedy
Benjamin Franklin
Lord Byron
Howard Hughes
Sir Walter Raleigh
Rational Wiki has an excellent article describing the ins and outs of this logical fallacy known as ad hominem. From this Wiki:
Defining ad hominem
The phrase ad hominem argument (often called an ad hominem attack) comes from the Latin "to the person." It also sometimes applies to any argument that centers on emotive (specifically irrelevant emotions) rather than rational or logical appeal.
As most people use the phrase in recent times, an ad hominem argument occurs when one attacks the person making an argument rather than the argument itself. It is therefore a special case of the broader category of formal logical fallacies, the non sequitur, in which the conclusion urged, e.g. that the disputant is incorrect, does not follow from the premise asserted, e.g. that the disputant is a dick.[1] Even if the ad hominem attack is true, e.g. the disputant really is a dick, that fact has no bearing on whether the disputant's argument is logically sound.
How ad hominem works
Ad hominem arguments work via the halo effect, a cognitive bias in which the perception of one trait is influenced by the perception of an unrelated trait, e.g.treating an attractive person as more intelligent or more honest. People tend to see others as tending to all good or tending to all bad. Thus, if you can attribute a bad trait to your opponent, others will tend to doubt the quality of your opponent's arguments.
Subtle uses
Often, ad hominem attacks are used subtly in order to influence the views of spectators. There are many forms of this, such as pointing out bad things they (the opponent) have done in the past in arguments about morality (they are not attacking the person's points about morality, they are attacking the person), or using exclamations (for example, "Jeez!") to imply that the person is incredibly slow at understanding your point.
Blatant uses
Ad hominem attacks are hardly ever used plainly, and people who do are generally trolls who want to provoke people to fight. These are often partnered with not even responding to the person's post, using arguments that make no sense, and thus have never been heard of, then mocking their opponent when they fail to find a rebuttal, and many other such techniques.
False positives
Ad hominem attacks are strictly fallacious when the attack has little or no bearing on the argument at hand, for example, dismissing a female scientist's opinion on a subject because she is a woman would be a fallacious ad hominem argument - dismissing it on grounds of insufficient qualification or experience would not be, although it may fall into other fallacious categories and may constitute a Courtier's Reply. Similarly, pointing out someone's known track record on a subject would also not count. For instance, YouTube creationist VenomFangX has a past history of filing false DMCA claims, and it would not be an ad hominem attack to bring this up should he file another. It would be an ad hominem however, if it was brought up to refute one of his YEC claims.
Calling someone an idiot when you have explained the evidence five times and they still refuse to address it, or provide counterexamples, is not an ad hominem attack, but rather a valid logical conclusion based on their actions. Similarly, tacking an insult onto the end of any argument might be bad form, but it doesn't automatically make it an ad hominem. It's only an ad hominem if you say the other person must be wrong because they are an idiot - not the other way round.
Creationists sometimes make the mistake of calling a personal insult an ad hominem attack when it is not intended to address the truth or falsity of the creationist's claim, but merely to denigrate the creationist. Likewise, creationists are known to mis-characterize logically sound arguments as ad hominem attacks in an attempt to obscure the soundness of the argument or their burden to respond by making an emotional appeal.
A criticism is also not an ad hominem argument if a person's merits are actually the topic of the argument. A habitual liar is not physically incapable of telling the truth, and therefore dismissing their claims entirely is not valid, but it is certainly not incorrect to weigh their testimony as less trustworthy than that of someone with a reputation for studious honesty if comparing contradictory claims by the two.
SRUV put it best when they wrote "An entire genre of the advocacy movement has developed based not on evaluating the data but on character assassination." (In regards to the constant assaults on investigative journalist and humanitarian Merritt Clifton, but it is a route taken with all scientists, investigators, victim advocacy groups, and writers whose findings defy the propaganda machine; dogsbite.org, Animals 24-7, daxtonsfriends.com, Walk for Victims of Pit Bulls (and other Dangerous Dogs), Barbara Kay, Alexandra Semyonova, Jeff Borchardt, etc.) In fact, these raze-the-ground tactics are such a default modus operandi of 'pit bull advocacy' that exposes on these crimes against human decency are myriad enough to span an entire blog; Scorched Earth: The Politics of Pit Bulls.
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