Let's get away from bad, emotive factoids, and look at some real statistics.
1.) Since 1992, the breed most involved in fatal attacks has been the Rottweiler, not the pit bull.
2.) Although there are no accurate or even near accurate census records for dogs in the U.S., in some populations pit bulls are estimated to comprise some 30-40% of the dog population, making it a very popular breed. Considering that there were an estimated 53,000,000 dogs in the U.S., and assuming that pit bulls make up 10% of that population, there would be approximately 5.3 million pit bulls in our society. In 2000, 13 pit bulls were involved in 8 fatal attacks. That is roughly ONE dog out of 204,000 - or .000385 percent of the pit bull population.
3.) Over the 37-year period from 1965-2001, pit bulls have been blamed for an average of 2.48 human fatalities per year.
4.) About 40 people (children) per year die by drowning in 5-gallon water pails. A person, during their lifetime, is 16 times more likely to drown in a 5-gallon water pail than to be killed by a pit bull.
5.) Approximately 50 children in the US are killed every year by their cribs - 25 times the number of children and adults killed by pit bulls.
6.) Approximately 150 people are killed every year by falling coconuts. Therefore, you are more than 60 TIMES MORE LIKELY to be killed by a PALM TREE than a pit bull.
7.) Each year, 350 people drown in their bathtubs. You are 151 times more likely to be killed by your bathtub than you are by a pit bull.
8.) It is estimated that about 500 deaths per year are caused by aspirin. You are more than 200 times more likely to die from taking aspirin than from a pit bull attack.
9.) Every year, more than 2,000 children in the U.S. are killed by their parents or guardians either through abuse or neglect. A child is more than 800 times more likely to be killed by their adult caretaker than by a pit bull.
10.) It is estimated that 5,000,000 dogs per year are killed in shelters. Since in many places pit bulls make up 30-50% of the shelter population, and are less likely to be considered for placement than any other breed, guessing that 25% of those dogs killed is a reasonable estimate. Therefore, it can be assumed that perhaps 1.25 million pit bulls are killed per year.
Therefore - it is at least a HALF MILLION TIMES MORE LIKELY that a pit bull will be killed by a HUMAN than the other way around.
11.) For every pit bull who kills, there are hundreds of thousands that DON'T.
You seem to be good at this, so, since Pit Bull ownership has become so trendy in the last decade... could you give figures for, say, 1994-2004?
Is there a way to figure how many family pets have been killed by pit bulls?
I think it would be gross negligence to leave out humans maimed/severely attacked by pit bulls. I am horrible at researching things like this, and glad you have such an aptitude with the numbers, etc.
I did find some stuff through just 2 pages on Google, though:
In June '06, in Key West, there was 1 man attacked, and one schnauzer killed by a pit bull, and also in June, in N.J., a 24 yr old female was "severely attacked" by the family 18 mo old pit bull (her 9 month old baby and 3 yr old were removed from the property w/out injury, thank god).
Oh... and today, July 4th, there was and animal control officer attacked in Pennsylvania by a pit bull who had gotten loose. He'll need surgery. (The officer, not the pit bull).
In April, in Key West, there was an attack on a man, and one on a pregnant woman. In June a year ago, there were 3 separate & horrible attacks in Santa Rosa, (in one month!) one on an eight year old girl.
I realize these random attacks I found in about 8 minutes will not be included in your totals, due to the recent dates. I also realize that they are just a sample of other attacks throughout the country.
Not all that long ago, I was walking down a public street and a loose Rottweiler growled at me and was shortly joined by a loose pit bull. I could have been killed or permanently disfigured.
A postal worker from Santa Ana was attached by a loose Rottweiler and a year later, her leg is still healing.
You can toss all those nice, sensible statistics at me all you want, but it doesn't change that fact that a LOT of ordinary people, including me, are mortally threatened by certain dog breeds. Dammit, a lady should be able to unload her groceries in her own house without being threatened by pit bulls or any other breeds that have the demonstrated ability and will to kill humans. The more I read from so-called "responsible" pit owners like kanawa, the more I am leaning toward simply banning breeds like pit bulls and Rottweilers, even though I think it is VERY unwise to do so because it is morally dubious and will certainly snowball to other non-lethal but bad-temptered breeds and eventually infringe on many other rights. But you know what? SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE and so-called "responsible" pit bull owner are too feminized with regard to their "kids" to be man enough to exert peer pressure on people who have no business owning pit bulls.
Hell, as you've seen, they won't even cop to the fact that pit bulls, and Rottweilers (if you research my past posting history you'll see that I pretty much lump them together), pose a greater risk than any other breed. Their mantra is "It's the owner, not the breed!" Stupid, blind, and feminized. They are 50 percent right 100 percent of the time with that mantra -- a bad owner in combination with a breed that has killed dozens of humans in the past decade msans "It's the owner AND the breed." I have lost all respect for them because they are as stupid about their dogs as my old poodle-loving Aunties, but unlike my Aunties, THEIR dogs threaten lives, not ankles.