Afraid of Pit Bulls?
"The Inconvenient Truth" *
If Pit bulls are "genetically prone to viciousness" and attack without provocation or attack with the "slightest provocation", are capable of inflicting "devastating injuries," and do not stop once they've begun an attack, the question then becomes: How could the humans in the accounts given below, inflict this much pain and suffering on these animals and still escape unscathed?
Is it really Pit bulls that we should fear? How safe are we knowing that the humans that committed these violent, and cruel acts are free to move about in our communities?
Unfortunately, Denver, Ontario, Miami, and hundreds of other communities with breed bans and restrictions have not provided their citizens with an ordinance defining the "physical characteristics" of the humans who commit horrible acts of violence or cruelty.
The communities that have enacted breed specific bans or restrictions have duped their citizens into believing that they have been able to visually identify all the "Pit bull" dogs, and having disposed of these animals, their communities are now safe.
However, will the humans who have historically and repeatedly obtained dogs to be used as an extension of their own aggressive tendencies be neutralized upon the extinction of their bad breed du jour? Will these violent and dangerous people submissively shrug their shoulders and concede that they now have no option but to pursue socially acceptable forms of behavior - thereby forcing them to become tax-paying, church-going, cat owners?
The "Inconvenient Truth"
July 18, 2008: Albany police were searching for the owner of a tan and white Pit bull that was found severely abused. The dog was malnourished and had a severe wound from a too-small chain collar embedded in his neck. The dog was being treated by a shelter veterinarian for the infection, malnourishment and the pain associated with his severe injury.
July 4, 2008: Someone took a female Pit bull, tied a rope around her neck fastened to a homemade anchor and then dropped her into the Cedar River in Kings County, WA. A fisherman found the lifeless body of the dog anchored in deep, swift water. A necropsy indicated the dog was alive before it was dragged, submerged and left in the deep water. The person who committed this act of extreme cruelty has not been found.
July 2, 2008: Not a case of abuse towards a Pit bull, but another case of a parent failing to safeguard their child.
A 2-year-old North Dakota boy was found running after a loose Pit bull. The police noticed the dog attempting to avoid the child in an alleyway. The police took custody of the child and found he lived a half a block away. The father, who apparently was "caring" for the child, was found to have an outstanding warrant and he was additionally charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, suspicion of possession of marijuana and child neglect. The child was unharmed thanks to another tolerant Pit bull and the diligence of the police department.
July 2, 2008: A Hamburg Township, MI, man killed his Pit bull after he told officers he was "feeling crazy." The dog was found inside home with her throat slashed and her head nearly severed off. The man was taken in for psychological evaluation. Not so ironically, Livingston County, where this incident occurred, recently enacted a policy not to adopt out Pit bulls or Pit bull type dogs from their shelters (or more directly - to kill all unclaimed Pit bulls in their facility) - To our knowledge they have not enacted a policy which would prohibit this man from adopting any other breed of dog when he is released.
June 23, 2008: A Lincoln, NE, man was arrested on a charge of felony animal cruelty for trying to cut the dog's head off with a machete. The dog later died. The horrific act of cruelty was apparently triggered by an argument between the man's girlfriend and the owner of the dog. When the defendant's girlfriend and the owner of the dog left the premises, the man then inflicted the injuries to the dog.
June 13, 2008: In Stewart Township, PA, a Pit bull mix was so severely abused that even the Humane Society officer was shocked. The dog's rear legs were bound by some type of tape and once removed caused so much damage that amputation of her hind legs may be the only remedy to save her.
June 13, 2008: As severe storms rolled through Ohio, an Franklin County owner with no regard for his dog left the Pit bull chained out during the storms. It is believed the dog became so frightened during the thunder and lightening that in his struggle to find safety he strangled himself on the chain he was bound with.
June 9, 2008: A Saugus, California man was arrested after a neighbor witnessed him repeatedly beating his Pit bull over the head with a shovel.
May 15, 2008: An Oregon man was cited for animal abuse after he hit his Pit bull so hard he dislocated the dog's hip after humane society officials responded to a complaint from a concerned citizen. The dog was taken into custody and underwent surgery at the Oregon Humane Society to repair severe damage to the joint. The dog was noted to be very "gentle" and will hopefully be adopted.
May 11, 2008: A Plant City, Florida woman was arrested for allowing a Pit bull to nearly starve to death inside a small crate in her home. The dog had no food or water inside the crate and appeared to be dead, having lost more than half her body weight. The dog was taken to Hillsborough Animal Services and is unknown whether the dog survived.
May 6, 2008: A Lancaster, California woman heard a dog yelping in agony. She ran out and saw that someone had deliberately set a Pit bull on fire. The woman ripped off her jacket and threw it on the dog to douse the flames. The dog was severely injured but survived thanks to the actions of one kind woman.
May 5, 2008: In Jonesboro, Arkansas an unknown person locked a Pit bull in a hot car on Saturday morning and left the dog in the car all weekend. The temperature inside the car was close to 100 degrees and there was no food or water inside the vehicle. A property manager where the car was parked reported the incident and the dog was finally rescued from under the steering wheel, which is the only place that offered any "shade."
April 27, 2008: Police in Park Forest, Illinois discovered a Pit bull with massive trauma to its body inside a car during a routine traffic stop. The dog had both her ears ripped off and had severe and numerous lacerations to her body. The "owner" turned the dog over at the scene to the police and was "released from the traffic stop pending further investigation."
April 25, 2008: A Sioux City woman was "facing charges" after authorities found a dead Pit bull chained in her garage. The dog starved to death in the garage with a logging chain around its neck.
Apr. 2, 2008: A Hillsboro, Oregon man was arrested after admitting to giving his Pit bull a "roundhouse kick" and throwing the dog against a shed. The injured dog was found in his garage with severe injuries to her head and tail. Officers also found an AK-47 rifle under the owner's bed. The owner is a prior convicted felon and was arrested for charges of animal abuse and a felon in possession of a fiream. http://www.kptv.com/news/15775399/detail.html
March 28, 2008: Two Middletown, Ohio, men were arrested after allegedly neglecting their Pit bull. The dog was chained in their backyard and died only hours after being rescued. The female dog was severely malnourished and had serious neurological issues, shaking badly and then suffering a grand mal seizure. Shelter personal commented the dog was skin and bones, yet she was "very sweet" in the hours before she died.
March 21, 2008: A Pit bull lived his entire life, and died, chained to an electric pole in an Omaha, NE man's backyard. The last abusive act which led to this dog's demise was when the owner left town for a week in February and made no provisions for the dog to have food, water or shelter. A necropsy showed the dog died from starvation and hypothermia.
March 13, 2008: Tampa man arrested for animal cruelty after he hanged his Pit bull to death with a nylon rope. http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/crime/article.aspx?storyid=76053
March 12, 2008: A Wichita man pleaded guilty to criminal sodomy in connection with a sexual attack on a dog*. At the time of the assault on the dog he was on probation for a similar crime in Reno County. (* The abused dog in this case was not a Pit bull, but a Rottweiler).
March 10, 2008: Pit bull stabbed with spear in Indiana. http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/16457986.html
February 21, 2008: "An epidemic of animal cruelty" is how a Philadelphia animal control officer describe the most recent case of a young Pit bull set on fire. The emaciated and dead dog was another sign of the increase in severe animal cruelty cases that prompted officials to triple their agents to apprehend animal abusers in the city.
February 19, 2008: A school custodian was indicted for slitting the throat of his wife's Pit bull. The dog was also stabbed in the ribs before dying. Apparently the man was "upset" over his pending divorce.
February 13, 2008: A Pit bull was stabbed and then stuffed into an alley dumpster in Hollywood, FL. A good samaritan discovered the dog struggling to breathe and the dog was rescued and taken to a local veterinarian where surgery was performed in an attempt to repair the dog's severe injuries.
February 9, 2008: A 43-year-old Michigan man was arrested after jumping his neighbor's fence and stabbing his neighbor's Pit bull mix to death with a stick. http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/15352071/detail.html
February 18, 2008: A Los Angeles man was arrested for allegedly breaking the rear legs and fracturing the jaw of a young Pit bull dog. The dog was found lying under a running faucet, drenched in cold water. The horrific injuries to this dog were inflicted apparently because the 22 year-old-man was upset over a break-up with his girlfriend.
February 3, 2008: How long it took before this dog finally starved to death is unknown. What is known is that all the time she was mistreated, chained and dying of starvation she never harmed anyone. She never lashed out at any of the humans who came near her, saw her slowing dying and then walked away without lifting a finger to help her. http://www.wric.com/Global/story.asp?S=7821496
January 28, 2008: "Stanfield Man Accused of Sexually Abusing Dog and Teen Girls," http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=7788118&nav=menu484_2_9
January 19, 2008: "Utah Teen Charged with Raping Dog in 'Unspeakable Ways' http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324069,00.html
January 18, 2008: A Pit bull was thrown 30 feet from an overpass onto the pavement below in St. Louis, MO. The dog was euthanized due to severe injuries and extreme pain.
January 14, 2008: A malnourished Pit bull being kept in "deplorable" conditions in a basement cage escaped and bit a visiting boy in the arm, inflicting a minor injury. The boy's father, instead of seeing to his son's injuries, took a drill, grabbed the dog by the collar and drilled 12 holes in the dog's head. The dog died. (Plainville, CT). http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=7623087
January 10, 2008: A pregnant Pit bull was tortured to death and left hanging in a Philadelphia schoolyard. She was chained to a fence and then beat to death with bricks. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322085,00.html
January 10, 2008: A Vineland, NJ, police officer resigned after a plea agreement in which he admitted to failing to provide proper veterinary care for his Pit bulls. Twenty-nine pit bulls were found on his property. Investigators sezied 22 of the dogs and 6 of them needed to be humanely euthanized.
January 9, 2008: A small, female Pit bull was found dead in the woods in Cape May, N.J. Someone had bludgeoned her to death and punctured holes in her head with a screwdriver. The amount of cruelty and violence this dog suffered was described by the animal control officer as: "It's one of those things that takes your breath away. You can't believe that someone would do something like this."
January 5, 2008: A Cook County man was charged with 15 counts of animal abuse for keeping 15 Pit bulls in a small, filthy room in his junkyard trailer. He was also charged for failing to provide the dogs with adequate veterinary care.
A six-month sampling of cruelty: June 2007 - December 2007 **
Two men were arguing in Prince William County when one took out a knife and turned his rage on a Pit bull on the premises, viciously stabbing the dog.
A Long Island man tethered a Pit bull to a tree, doused it with gasoline and used a cigarette to set the dog on fire. The dog died an agonizing death.
An Arizona man slit the throat of a Pit bull dog because he said the dog "stared" at him. When attempting to the arrest the man he kicked two Yavapai County deputies in the chest and then kicked out the rear window after being placed in the patrol car.
Two Pompano Beach men are arrested after they were witnessed abusing a Pit bull thrown into a canal. They repeatedly attempted to drown the dog by pushing it under the water and hitting it a with stick.
A 17-year-old Decatur man took a Pit bull out behind a house, hit the dog over the head with a 2 x 4 with nails in it, broke beer and whiskey bottles over the dog's head and then took the dog's chain and tried to hand the dog on a swing set. He was charged as an adult with felony cruelty to animals.
An East Pennsboro Twp, PA man, who had been drinking all day, began arguing with his girlfriend. He went to his neighbor's house, got his neighbor's Pit bull and returned to his home. He then tried to make the dog attack his girlfriend. When the Pit bull would not bite the woman, the man pushed the woman against the wall, and punched her in the face three times. He then stated he would return with another neighbor's Pit bull that was "meaner." He was arrested before he could obtain another Pit bull.
A Michigan City woman was horrified to find that someone had entered her fenced-in backyard and set her 4-month-old Pit bull puppy on fire. Police have not caught the person who committed this heinous crime. The badly burned puppy was euthanzied.
A South Carolina man beat his wife's Pit bull to death with a baseball bat, and then beat his wife for attempting to stop him. Later the wife claimed she "still loves her husband...and wants the family back together."
A Pittsburg man had a witness intimidation charge against him dismissed because the witness failed to appear at a hearing. The man had been on probation for a federal conviction on gun charges when he bragged about killing a Pit bull mix. He shot the dog, severed its paw and tried to decapitate the dog.
Overnight someone threw a Pit bull into a drop box at a Florida pound. The rear paws of the dog had been cut off before he was dumped into the drop box. (The dog was rescued and has recovered).
A 17-year-old Tampa teen, angry at his mother, and in the presence of his 8-year-old sister, stabbed his newly adopted Pit bull multiple times and then slit the dog's throat with a kitchen knife. Animal Services commented that this was "only the latest in a series of animal cruelty cases - severe ones - involving young teens and children."
A 20-year-old Montgomery (AL) man was arrested for felony animal cruelty charges for torturing his mother's Pit bull after she wouldn't let him use the family car. He was accused of tying the dog to a post, beating it with a shovel, soaking it with lighter fluid and setting the dog on fire.
Colorado Humane Society personnel called it the "worst case of animal abuse they had ever seen." A female Pit bull was dumped on the side of the road in Englewood. She was anemic, dehydrated, and had lesions and ulcers on her face due to years of neglect. He had a large mammary tumor and severely overgrown nails. The dog was found unable to walk and stumbling to get to some stagnant water.
A Mount Holly college student was sentenced to community service after he pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after he took a Pit bull, tied it to a tree and beat the dog, fracturing the animal's skull and ribs.
Three 14 year-old Georgia teens were arrested after setting a Pit bull on fire. The dog's chain became entangled in a patch of bushes as it desparately attempted to flee. The dog burned to death.
A 20-year-old year Steuben County (NY) owner intentionally tied his Pit bull to the back of his SUV and dragged it along a dirt road until the dog died.
A Buffalo Animal shelter employee stabbed a Pit bull during a party, allegedly because the dog was "barking."
A Michigan man admitted he stabbed a Pit bull at least 10 times to get revenge against the dog's owner for a drug deal gone bad.
A young, scarred, injured female Pit bull was found dumped in a ditch in Oregon. Thanks to some compassionate Oregonians, the dog was rescued and received veterinary treatment.
A "horrible case" of animal abuse was inflicted on a female Pit bull. After going "two months without food," the suffering dog was humanely euthanized at the animal hospital in Burlington.
A female Pit bull, after giving birth to puppies, was shot in the neck and abandoned in Beaver Falls, PA.
A young Pit bull was found alongside a busy Florida roadway with this throat slashed and his ears cut.
Orlando police went to a home to arrest a child-rape suspect and instead uncovered a dog-fighting operation and 8 scarred, starving Pit bulls.
20 Pit bulls on "extremely short chains" and with no food or water were found in a house in Shreveport. The owner of the home was a Shreveport firefighter who had been arrested for dogfighting in June 2005, but was not convicted at trial.
A Pit bull puppy was found dead, chained to a fence in a Pittsburg backyard.
A dead Chow/Shep X and an emaciated, anemic, flea and worm infested Pit bull were found chained to trees in a St. Petersburg yard. The owner of the dogs was arrested with animal cruelty and resisting arrest.
Nine wounded and malnourished Pit bulls are taken form a home in Milwaukee. The owner was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms, maintaining a drug trafficking place, bail jumping, resisting arrest and felony mistreatment of animals.
A woman in Copiague, NY was charged with animal cruelty after she left her two Pit bulls to die of hunger and thirst, locked in small wire cages in an abandoned house.
For the third time in 6 months, someone in Beaumont, Texas, threw a small dog in a yard with a Pit bull. A 22-year-old man walking on the street had his shorts torn by a small shih-tzu puppy. He picked up the dog and threw it into a yard where a Pit bull resided. The puppy was bitten in the leg by the Pit bull, but was "rescued" and survived.
A few months prior, a 14-year-old threw a puppy into a yard containing two Pit bulls. The puppy was injured but survived.
And the month before, several children threw a small dog into a yard with a Pit bull and then attempted to provoke the Pit bull into attacking the dog. The Pit bull did not respond and the dog was uninjured.
**Of course, this list does not include the thousands of violent rapes, murders, or child abuse deaths committed by humans during this six month period. Nor is it a comprehensive account of abuse inflicted on Pit bulls, as many reported cases are not included here, and many more cases are not reported at all. Nor does this list include abuse inflicted on other breeds of dogs or on other types of animals.
* Phrase credited to "An Inconvenient Truth," the American Academy Award-winning documentary film about global warming, presented by former United States Vice President Al Gore, and the book of the same title.