Replies

I was perusing the page scanning the headlines when I saw this story, thinking, oh, no, not again, recalling the "pit bull attacks diabetic" story posted recently. With each "pit bull attack" story, the usual love/hate, let live/kill pit bull adversaries end up about even in making points for their cause.

That pit bulls are inherently more violent than other breeds never gets resolved in convincing fashion, which got me thinking if somehow pit bull attack statistics on a national level might help resolve the issue on a purely mathematical approach.

Is there some sort of pit bull atack database that provides some perpective on this issue?

I'd like to hear from anyone who might shed light on this matter. Thank You.

1 out of every 37 people in the U. S. is a convicted felon
there are a half million registered sex offenders, many whose whereabouts are unknown…
50 people every DAY are murdered (humans are certainly a dangerous animal)
25, 000 people die each year because of drunk drivers
17,000 people fall to their death
3,000 deaths caused by accidental drowning
3,000 women a year die of spousal abuse
2,000 children are killed every year by their parents, through abuse and neglect (A child is 800 times more likely to be killed by their adult caretaker than by a “Pit Bull”)

Dog bite related fatalities did not even make the National Geographic magazine’s August 2006 issue feature “Ways to go” chart which is based on the National Safety Council’s Odds of Dying statistics.

Dr. Ian Dunbar, a veterinarian and behaviorist from Berkeley, CA. believes the entire issue is overblown. “we’re talking about maybe ten fatal attacks on people annually” he says. “Is this really something we should be putting our public policy efforts toward?” He maintains more people are killed annually by tripping over their own slippers than all fatal dog attacks combined, regardless of breed. Even Dr. Julie Gilchrist of the CDC agrees. “The truth is that SUV’s are far more dangerous than pit bulls, and they’re still on the road. As a public health researcher, I want to prevent all mortality and morbidity. But the truth is that with just over 60 million dogs in America, and who knows how many millions of pit bulls, it’s not a statistically significant issue.”

It is estimated that around 5,000,000 dogs per year are killed in shelters. In many places “Pit Bulls” make up as much as 30-50% of the shelter population, and sadly, are less likely to be considered for adoption than any other breed. Assuming that 25% of the shelter dogs killed are “Pit Bulls”, then approximately 1.25 million “Pit Bulls” are killed in shelters every year.

Therefore, it is at least a hundred thousand times more likely that a “Pit Bull” will be killed by a HUMAN, than the other way around.

Asking Chet for data that provides some perspective is akin to asking Obama about the redeeming factors of capitalism.

There is data out there. Perhaps the most cited, but also the most flawed data you'll find comes from a PETA symp named Clifton Merritt. His study has been soundly debunked, but continues to be referenced by pit bull haters. I'm pinging solosmoke, who has personally done a lot of research on the matter, and probably has a lot of the data at his fingertips.