More on Pit Bull Violence, Part Two

I had a radical pit nutter/"No Kill'er" who mentioned that Toledo had an increase in dog bites and, of course, blames the Dog Warden of the Year, Tom Skeldon for it. My reasoning is that the dogs are fighting back because Skeldon was being raked over the coals and didn't deserve it. So I will pass this along. From Toledo on the Move, December 09.

"TOLEDO -- The latest statistics on dog bites for Lucas County, once again show
that Pit Bulls are in the lead for the number of bites and for most serious attacks
on humans. One source is the Toledo Lucas County Health Department which
tracks all bites in the county and through November 8th, their data shows that there were 380 dog bites reported and of those bites, 65 of them were the result of Pit Bull attacks. That accounts for about 17 percent of all bites, with Pit Bull breeds accounting for less than 5 percent of the county's dog population. The second most common breed for dog bites was the Lab and Lab mix, which accounted for about 36 bites, but their numbers are much higher than the Pit Bull breeds. The dog bite numbers also suggest that there is at least one dog bite per day in Lucas County. Some more serious than others, but the health department keeps records of all. The Lucas County Dog Warden's office keeps track of the more serious bites and they show that in the county so far this year, there have been about 150 more serious dog bite cases. Once again, the pit bull breeds and mixes were at the top of the list of biters, accounting for 42 of the bites. In 18 of the cases, the victims were under 18 years of age. Children are traditionally the most frequent victims of dog bites and those bites often involve the face and head area. Toledo attorney, Charles Boyk, who specializes in dog bites litigation says recent efforts by some groups to allow the dog warden to adopt out Pit Bulls or their puppies is "foolish". Boyk likens Pit Bulls to loaded guns that can go off an anytime. He says his experience as an attorney handling these cases, convinces him that Pit Bulls are far too dangerous to be around children and says" who would want to have a neighbor who has a pit bull" He says most people who have children would be terrified is their neighbors had pit bulls. Boyk's contention runs counter to the growing chorus of Pit Bull defenders who saythat their breed is unfairly getting a bad reputation and that how a dog behaves is more a case of how it is trained as opposed to its breed. "

Now I ask you, with that kind of information, wouldn't you expect something to be done? Of course, any rational thinking person would but not these nutters. Now if the dog population of labs and pits were the same, you might be able to point a figure and yell discrimination. It's pretty obvious, again to a rational thinking person, that you do all you can to eliminate the biggest of the problems first. That is why Skeldon adhered to the stance of the State of Ohio and concentrated on the biggest offenders, the pits, first. But Toledo has spoken and now they have to pay the price. Once a few kids are killed by pits adopted from their shelter, you'll see a ban and Konop will be tarred and feather and driven out of town.

In a story in Freeb.com, September 21, 2009, Royal Oak, Michigan reports that they have 5,311 licensed dogs in their city of which pits comprise only 1.7% of those. But those pits have accounted for 35% of their dog bites.

Springdale, Arkansas 4029TV.com in a story on August 12, 2009 reports that over half the bites recorded in the last two years were from pits.

Charlotte, North Carolina WFAE90.7FM in August 2009 that for the fiscal year ending in 2009, pits had 208 bites compared to labs with 152 although labs are considerably more popular and have higher population numbers.

Hamilton, Ohio reported in the Oxford Press that from 2001 to 2009 that pit bulls had 157 bites compared to labs at 65, and again labs are much higher in their population numbers. Rotties, GSDs and boxers combined had 98 bites.

Hillsborough County, Florida Animal Control reports in July 09 that for the prior 18 months, pit bulls accounted for 371 bites while labs were at 151 bites. GSD's and Rotties had 168 bites.

Woonsocket, Rhode Island in a piece done in The Call, dated in June 09 reports that for 08 half the dog bites were delivered by pits.

Lincoln, Nebraska in an article in the 1011Now.com dated in June, o9 reports that of 851 pit and pit mixes licensed, 38 pit bites and labs had 27 with labs being more popular.

Richmond County, Georgia on News12 has their bites from pits at 19% and "is the most out of all dogs" in June, 09.

Ogden, Utah in the Standard-Examiner article of March 09 that 40% of their bites in 07-08 were delivered by pits. An estimate for Ogden is about 16,000 dogs including 3,200 pits or about 20% of the pet population.

Broward County, Florida in a report on Fox8.com in 09 has pits at 39 bites and labs at 11 bites in 2005. For 2006 it shows for 06 pits were at 161 bites compared to labs at 47 bites. 2007 has pits at 183 bites and labs at 51 bites. 2008 the pits had 203 bites compared to 42 bites for labs.

Altoona, Pennsylvania reports in the Altoona Mirror dated March 09 that pits comprise only 3% of their licensed dogs but delivered a whopping 61% of the bite cases.

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania on WXIA in June 09 shows that out of a 5 county area the registrations of dangerous dogs were 42 pits, 18 mixed breeds, 9 GSDs, 4 rotties, and 4 Danes.

Marion County, Indiana reports in the Indy Star dated in February 09 that their pit bull bites were three times higher than in 06.

Wichita City reports that in 08 that 55% of dogs deemed dangerous were pit bulls and accounted for 34% of the attacks. The Wichita Police report that the percentage of aggressive pits encountered by the police increased from 66% in 04 to 95% in 08.

Now you might ask why I didn't provide the links, I have my reasons. First, I want to keep this nutter/"No Kill'er" busy trying to find this information. I will make it easy, all of it is contain in hard copy (the original stories and links) on http://www.dogsbite.org/. Unlike Karen Delise with her "reviews", DBO provides the links and you can check it out yourself.

So turn on your computer and get to work, Nutters.