"...Screw all the statistics and studies..."
do you have any stats or studies that can be pointed to that validate your theory on pit bull? i would love to read them. i would also like to point out that in my opinion any dog bite stories reported by the media should be viewed as antecdotal and slanted, unless they can quote some specific statistics and studies to back up their story.
You want statistics...? OK...here you go...
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[/link] [linkhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/16/EBGH47KIR31.DTL]Return to regular view[/link]
[linkhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/16/EBGH47KIR31.DTL]Vocal pit bull owners stand by the breed, despite the statistics[/link]
- [email=cnevius@sfchronicle.com]C.W. Nevius[/email]
Friday, July 16, 2004
Last week, wherever I went, I was asked the same question: How much mail did you get after your pit bull column?
After the attack by a pit bull on an 88-year-old woman in Concord, another reporter suggested that I look into the subject of how dangerous pit bulls really are. But he warned me, those pit people are passionate.
I will never doubt him again. When I cited government statistics showing that pit bulls were much more likely to be involved in fatal attacks, I got hundreds of responses. Once the column reached the pit bull chat sites I would estimate the number of e-mails was up over 600. And they are still coming in.
So a big reaction wasn't a surprise. But a lot of it was not what I expected. Despite predictions of nonstop e-mail flaming from fanatic pit bull owners, the response ran pretty much 50-50 pro and con.
Besides the flaming rants, there were thoughtful negative responses. These fell in two broad categories. First, the "I have the sweetest pit bull in the world, and he has never hurt a flea.'' Second, "Your numbers and statistics are all wrong. (What's this Centers for Disease Control, anyhow?)" one asked.
I dutifully attempted to answer the ocean of e-mails and even responded to responses for a while with more statistics and numbers. But gradually I realized there was only one thing that was going to make them happy -- if I completely changed my opinion and declared that it was a wonderful idea to own a pit bull, especially around kids and small dogs. Several demanded that I apologize to pit bull owners.
Uh ... no.
I will, however, try to answer some of the most commonly raised points. (Except for the one about how I'm "an idiot.'' Frankly I don't have the stats on that.)
Luckily, I have help. Among those who wrote was Dr. Alan Beck of the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine. Beck, a biologist, has studied dogs, breeds, and even worked in shelters during his schooling at Johns Hopkins University.
Beck has dealt with the pit bull fanatics in his studies as an epidemiologist and says he's observed that, "The arguments and the people strike me as very similar to the gun control people.'' First was the question of the overall population of pit bulls. Sure, several readers complained, if the pit bull population is increasing it is obvious there are more bites.
For starters, although pit bulls are being bred (and over bred) wildly, most experts, including Beck and his former student, Randall Lockwood, of the Humane Society of the United States, estimate that pit bulls and pit mixes are no more than 6 percent of the overall dog population.
For his study Beck used the American Kennel Club registrations by breed. Although the AKC doesn't register or recognize pit bulls as a breed, Beck included the broad range of dogs, like Staffordshire terriers that fall within the range. Beck stresses that, if anything, his inclusion of dogs with pit bull characteristics was conservative, it was not a wide range of any dog with a square jaw, for instance. And before you fire up your flaming e-mail, Beck reminds you that this is "a representative sample,'' not the total of all dogs. But it is certainly larger than the one we use to rate television programs.
"It was clear,'' Beck says, "that pit bulls were a very small part of the dog population. And second, that small part was accounting for 40-50 percent of the fatal attacks.''
That's the real point. Your pit bull "Cuddles'' is a wonderful dog. But as Judge Francis X. Gorman who in a ruling in Toledo recently, "Arguably, some families own docile pit bulls who have never threatened anybody; possibly their violent instincts have been effectively diluted over succeeding generations. The undeniable fact remains, however, that a disproportionate number of pit bulls have been involved in very serious attacks.''
I tried to give the next point the benefit of the doubt, but frankly it was hard to stomach. Several writers suggested in one way or another that Mabel Wong, the Concord woman who was badly mauled two weeks ago, somehow brought the attack on herself. She invaded the dog's space, they said, and she should have been more careful.
"Well, look,'' Beck says. "You can't fix a shotgun to your door to go off when someone comes in even if you are trying to catch someone who is not supposed to be there. By law, it is our responsibility to keep the pool covered, not the kids to stay out of it.''
Others wrote that it is all those terrible owners who are the real problem. That's true to a point. The number of backyard breeders is appalling. The dogs are poorly cared for and often end up homeless. That is one reason the percentage of pit bulls killed in shelters, according to studies by animal expert Merritt Clifton, is 93 percent.
"However,'' says Beck, "if a very small part of the dog population accounts for 40 to 50 percent of the serious and fatal attacks, 'pit bull- ness' is the cause." Look, we are not surprised when a pointer starts pointing, or when my dachshund starts digging. Everyone accepts that. But if we start talking about a low tolerance for pain and a propensity to attack (with pit bulls) it is wrong.
We wouldn't allow this in any other case. If this animal was carrying a disease we'd just say, "You can't have it." That's why you can't have monkeys. They are too prone to disease. The pit bull has a disease. Now maybe it was us who caused it (over years of breeding), but at this point he does not fit in well in an urban environment.''
"What do you want to do -- ban all dogs?" (A reader asked this in all seriousness.)
No, but I would favor something like the new law in Boston that requires pit bulls to be muzzled in public, or the Colorado law that abolishes the "one free bite'' rule that has allowed dogs to get away with a first attack. And again, I'd watch pit bulls carefully.
As Beck says, "I would never let you come into my house with a pit bull when my grandkids were visiting.''
That's his right. Putting a pit bull in our neighborhood isn't illegal. But it doesn't mean we have to like it.
E-mail C.W. Nevius at [email=cwnevius@sfchronicle.com]cwnevius@sfchronicle.com[/email].
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Of course, this article and the studies quoted come from the San Francisco Chronicle, a paper well-known as being anti pit bull...isn't it...? I love that his respondents use the same "logical" defenses you folks use....