Article writer Kara Murphy needs education about how to interpret dog bite statistics and how to identify credible scientific sources (see “Journalist Resources: Scientific Studies” to understand why Animal People/Merritt Clifton’s so-called “study” is not legitimate scientific research): kara.murphy@timesnews.com
City shelter manager Kris Watkins needs education about no-kill initiatives, how to decrease the kill rate, and how to save more “pit bulls” (first step: stop talking about “pit bulls” in a way that feeds the vicious stereotype): staff@theannashelter.com or 814-451-0230.
Erie can’t pass BSL due to state law, but City Councilmembers need information about effective non-breed-specific dangerous dog laws, preferably from locals who understand why the current dog laws are failing.
Incidents renew calls for regulation of pit bulls, other vicious dogs
By KARA MURPHY
kara.murphy@timesnews.com
Published: November 23. 2009 1:15AM
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The recent attacks have raised questions of whether regulations on pit bull owners should be tightened, an idea that Erie police last raised in 2007 after a series of attacks involving the breed, including two incidents in which Erie police officers shot and killed attacking pit bulls.
But City Councilman Jim Thompson said state law prohibits local governing bodies from putting in place breed-specific laws. He pursued the idea of tightening regulations against pit bull owners several years ago.
“State law forbids us to be breed-specific,” Thompson said. “The problem is persistently pit bulls, but we can’t pass a law until the state changes its laws.”
The city could, however, put in place a strict “vicious dog” ordinance, said Erie Police Chief Steve Franklin. That ordinance could require dog owners to turn over their pets to authorities in cases of bites or aggressive behavior, he said.
“It’s something I’d like to look at further,” Franklin said.
But pit bull owners say the city should leave them and their dogs alone.
Daniel Harman, of Erie, owns a 5-year-old pit bull named Sincere. He grew up around pit bulls and adores the breed.
“I baby my dogs. They’re part of the family,” he said. “My mom calls Sincere her granddaughter.”
He said Sincere is affectionate with children and adults, and has never shown any signs of aggression. She sleeps with him every night, and the two go for walks every day.
He, like other pit bull owners, said he believes the problem with the breed stems from certain owners, rather than the dogs themselves.
“They can be trained, and when they are, they’re great dogs,” he said. “But there’s certain people who shouldn’t own dogs, period.”
But while good owners can keep pit bulls under control, the number and ferocity of the attacks involving pit bulls indicate a problem specific to that breed, said Kris Watkins, the manager of the city’s A.N.N.A.. Shelter.
Pit bulls by far outnumber any other breed in the number of attacks that maim or kill people, according to a study by Animal People, an independent newspaper that says it provides investigative coverage of animal protection. The magazine looked at attacks between September 1992 and November 2006 by all breeds of dogs. Pit bulls accounted for 50 percent of serious attacks, with 495 adult victims and 397 child victims. Of those victims, 104 were killed.
The fact that pit bulls attacked more adults than children was noteworthy, the study’s author found.
“Pit bulls seem to differ behaviorally from other dogs in having far less inhibition about attacking people who are larger than they are,” Animal People Editor Merritt Clifton wrote.
‘Chihuahuas can’t bite a face off’
On a recent afternoon in Erie, six of 13 stray dogs being kept at the Association for Needy and Neglected Animals were pit bulls. Overall, 22 percent of the stray dogs the shelter has housed in 2009 were pit bulls or pit bull-mixes, making them by far the most represented breed at the shelter, said Ruth Thompson, the shelter director.
But the figure that really stands out to Thompson is the number of those pit bulls that have been adopted or returned to their owners.
If a dog’s temperament does not allow it to be adopted, the shelter euthanizes the animal, she said.
The shelter has euthanized 278 dogs in 2009. Of those, 151 — or 54 percent — were pit bulls.
“I hate those numbers,” Thompson said. “But we can’t responsibly adopt these dogs out.”
The pit bulls that come into the shelter are city strays, and very few owners ever come looking for them, she said.
“They’re disposable animals to people,” she said. “It’s very sad.”
Because of the issue, the A.N.N.A.. Shelter is considering creative ways to reduce the number of pit bulls in the city, including applying for a grant that would provide funding to pit bull owners to spay or neuter their animals.
“Very few of the pit bulls we see have been spayed or neutered,” Thompson said.
Pit bulls are a type of status symbol in the inner city, Watkins said.
“They make someone tough,” she said. “That’s why we’re also extremely careful about who we adopt them out to, when we do have one that is adoptable.”
While the Humane Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania does not count dogs by breed, pit bulls aren’t nearly as big of a problem there, said Joe Grisanti, the Humane Society’s executive director. The Humane Society does not take animals from the city.
Because of the numbers of pit bulls and the problems associated with the breed, Watkins said she supports the idea of toughening up regulations on pit bull owners. Specifically, she would like to see rules in place that don’t allow anyone under 18 to walk the dogs, mandatory identification chips to identify owners of stray dogs, and higher licensing fees for owners of pit bulls.
“It would be a start,” Watkins said.
She said while she understands that all dogs have the potential to bite, the injuries associated with pit bulls and the number of attacks involving the breed make them a more dangerous animal than other types of dogs.
“Chihuahuas can’t bite a face off,” she said.
KARA MURPHY can be reached at 870-1858 or by e-mail.
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