raise a long overdue topic that needs to be addressed.
Some of you know me: I worked in forensics for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator and am a former sighthound breeder. So, of course, I love big fast dogs, which are, at their core, highly efficient hunters.
(On April 12) in Fort Collins, a loose pit bull dog entered another property, biting a 9-year-old girl, puncturing her shoulder. Pit bulls are allowed in Fort Collins and Larimer County. The dog is currently at the owner's house.
The police were called; a report was filed.
Working in New Mexico, I have seen children and adults maimed and killed by pit bull dogs. Seeing just one was enough. But let's look at this from the scientific, not an emotional, aspect.
Pit bulls were bred in Britain centuries ago to bait bulls and other large mammals, hanging onto their larynxes until the bull or deer went down. In 1835 the British govt banned them from blood sports. These are specialized hunting dogs, refined over centuries to kill.
We all know pit bulls that are the kindest dogs around. I am a former sighthound breeder, in this same class of dogs. They were also refined over 2,000 years to pursue and take down large mammals, even horses in battle. We breeders are very aware that these dogs have a deeply ingrained genetic disposition to attack mammals they perceive as prey. A switch is flipped, and Cuddly Mr. Biggles becomes what he was originally designed to do. Very much a Jekyll-and-Hyde situation.
Heres some stats for you: Dogsbite.org reports that nine Colorado cities ban pit bulls, including the city and county of Denver. Since 1989. That's 35 years.
Nationally, in the one-year period of 1997 to 1998, 27 people were killed by dog attacks; 67 percent of those dogs were pit bulls and rottweilers.
From Wikipedia with noted sources: A nine-year (1979–88) study of fatal dog attacks in the U.S. found that dogs characterized as pit bulls were implicated in 42 of the 101 attacks where the breed was known.
And perhaps most telling, the American Academy of Pediatrics states: A 1991 study found that 94 percent of attacks on children by pit bulls were unprovoked, compared to 43 percent for other breeds.
Again, these dogs were, for centuries, selected for the strongest traits to attack and kill large game animals.
It is past the time for Fort Collins to ban pit bulls. It is not this breed's fault they were designed to kill, but they cannot turn off that genetic switch. And nor can their owners, as we have seen over and over.
I call upon you, the City Council, to move with all expedience to legislate a ban on pit bull type dogs, including mixed breed, in the City of Fort Collins.
Laurence Budd lives in Fort Collins.
(The Coloradoan - Apr 24, 2015)
No comments:
Post a Comment