pit bull terrier[/caption]Carol Forsloff--“This poor woman was just walking down the street and attacked without provocation,” Animal Services Director Robert Miller said. “Her injuries are very serious and our thoughts and prayers go out to her as she recovers from these wounds.”
This remark followed the report of a woman who was between 40 and 50 Press-Enterprise reported who was taken to the hospital for treatment of "very severe" dog bites.
The Press-Enterprise spoke with a witness to the attack, Terry Fury:
“I was drinking coffee and I heard hellacious screaming,” Fury said in a phone interview. “At first I thought it might have been one of the kids across the street. But then it continued for five seconds and I went to the front door … and I could see two pit bulls on this lady, and she was lying on the curb.”
Last week a postal service worker was bitten on the legs by two pit bulls who escaped from a yard in the greater Pittsburgh area. According to news reports the dogs escaped through a hole in the fence.
In both cases, the dogs either jumped the fence or found a hole to crawl through in order to bite passersby.
So who is responsible the dog, the owner or the passersby? Is a fence enough? Are there breed specific behaviors which suggest pit bulls should not be kept in an ordinary neighborhood?
While each case is different, simply because there are always details in every situation that is different from another, there are similarities. Two pit bulls in each situation were involved. And secondly the fences were not equipped to keep the dogs from attacking people who happened to innocently pass by.
Every week one can search for pit bull attacks somewhere in the United States, or the rest of the world, and find cases of pit bull attacks.
Sam, who labels himself the Dog Trainer, gives some reasons why dogs attack. Some of these reasons have to do with territorial issues, the dogs concern about a specific area as mapped out as the dog’s. There are also medical problems, abuse, lack of socialization and poor breeding.
But in these two recent cases both of the issues have to do with dogs being able to get through fences, something that many animals find fairly easy to do when most neighborhood fences are not made in an impenetrable fashion.
The Animal Liberation Front has as its stated purpose to prevent cruelty to animals. That is the mission of that organization, while PETA believes pit bulls should have their population reduced by spaying because people often can’t care for the dogs the way they need to be cared for. ALF acknowledges the pit bull is descended from an aggressive breed, their attacks tenacious, are angrier and more aggressive than most dogs, and 50% of the serious dog attacks in this country are from pit bulls.
