by Kerry Dougherty
As soon as I saw the headline in Sunday’s New York Post I knew the breed of the culprit:
“Girl, 6, Needs 1,000 Stitches, ”Won’t be able to smile again’ After Vicious Dog Attack.”
Was this a case of a poodle gone wild? A dachshund? A beagle?
Of course not. Only one breed is responsible for most of the maulings and deaths-by-dog-bite year in and year out: pit bulls.
It was a safe bet that it was one of these muscular, thick-jawed curs — bred for fighting — that grabbed the little girl by the face while she was playing cards at a friend’s house.
Pit bulls represent just 6% of the American dog population, but account for 66% of all dog bite fatalities according to DogsBite.org a data-driven organization that collects information on dog bites.
I’ve written about this breed so many times that I know exactly what’s coming: my mailbox will fill with photos of toddlers cuddling with pit bulls, there will be threats of violence against me, and accusations of racism — as if saying some dog breeds have more of a propensity for fighting and biting than others is the same as being prejudiced against PEOPLE of a different race.
Look, there was a reason Michael Vick was training pit bulls for fighting out in Surry County in 2007, and not Labrador retrievers.
There will be folks who blame the 6-year-old Maine girl for somehow antagonizing the dog that has rendered her facial muscles and salivary glands useless. Fingers will be pointed at bad breeders. Bad owners. Bad press.
Never bad dogs.
Fact: all dogs with teeth can bite. Few seriously maul and kill. Pit bulls are specialists when it comes to death and dismemberment.
Yet the little girl in Maine, who’s in a medically-induced coma so she won’t rip out her stitches, was luckier than a 58-year-old Toledo woman who was eaten by her own dog and died on February 20.
She’s also more fortunate than the 81-year-old San Antonio man who was attacked and killed on Friday, February 24, by two marauding pit bulls that attacked four people. Firefighters finally got the vicious dogs off his 74-year-old companion.
Using pick axes.
These are not ordinary dogs.
How many more children have to be permanently maimed? And how many adults have to die before all of America does what military bases have done:
Ban pit bulls.
If the U.S. Marine Corps doesn’t want to mess around with this breed, neither should you.
Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited.
