They were bred to clamp down hard on bulls in arena rings. Their bite is enough to slow a bull down.
I believe they are not always vicious but when they go into territorial attack mode, rather than bark, snarl and show teeth, they simply maul and clamp down. The larger ones usually inflict a bite so severe it can crush bones.
I don’t think they are having any desire to kill, just to slow and clamp down hard, not letting go. Injuries are often severe to fatal.
Sad, so many love their pits.
It is interesting the woman that was killed did not know the pit bulls well enough to not be considered a stranger. The owners should have told her to call first and they should have posted a warning sign at their gate.
I have some questions regarding this aspect of the story.
While the name of the dog owners has not been released, the meme of the “she opened the gate” kept appearing. I know of very few (none) 75 year old religious females who will go onto the property of others uninvited, especially opening a gate to do so.
This particular item makes me wonder just who opened the gate.
A friend who volunteers at the kennel said 8 pits came in that were used for fighting. They had to euthanize them all because they can’t be socialized. She sees a lot of cases like that. She told me that when a pit clamps it’s jaws down the only way to possibly get them to release is to pick up and lift their back legs.