Controlling pit bulls

Editor, Smithfield Times
The tragic mauling of a Goochland woman by her own pit bulls should serve as a wake-up call for the need to regulate breeding pit bulls and confining dogs outdoors 24 hours a day. Dogs who are confined to chains or pens are more likely to be neglected and to become territorial and aggressive. Pit bulls are especially vulnerable, targeted by dogfighters and others who chain, beat and starve them to turn them into cheap alarm systems or living weapons. Pit bull overpopulation, abuse and attacks can be addressed logically and humanely with legislation that regulates ownership of these dogs. Such ordinances have proved effective. In San Francisco, the number of pit bulls euthanized at the city’s animal control facility dropped by 24 percent just 18 months after the city passed an ordinance requiring that pit bulls be sterilized. Just one year after San Bernardino County, California, passed a breed-specific law, it experienced a nearly 10 percent decrease in dog bites. In Aurora, Colorado, officials reported that nine years after banning pit bulls, bites involving the breed were down 73 percent and euthanasia of pit bulls was down 93 percent. Legislators must act before more people and dogs get hurt. Teresa Chagrin
Animal Care & Control Specialist
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)