The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → Pasadena Councilman Steve Madison Comments on Wednesday’s Pit Bull Attack
Monrovia Weekly Jan 30, 2014
by
share with
photo by terry miller
Pasadena Councilman Steve Madison Comments on Wednesday’s Pit Bull Attack
Pit bulls viciously attacked a cyclist in Pasadena this morning (Wednesday Jan 29). A witness calling 911 reported that the dogs were dragging the cyclist down the street. When officers responded. the cyclist was up on a car. The pits charged the officers and were shot with a shotgun.
Coincidentally, 36 hours ago my colleagues on the City Council rejected my proposed ordinance that would have called for mandatory spay and neuter of pit bulls. Not a ban, mind you, or even a limit on the number one can own, just spay and neuter to control the overpopulation of this breed. One of my colleagues, Terry Tornek, stated that the evidence did not support the ordinance.
Pit bull breeds make up about 4 percent of the dog population in the US.
Last year in the US 31 people were killed by dog attacks. 49/o of those attacks would equate to I out of 31. 27 out of the 31 fatal attacks were by pit bulls.
In California last year there were 5 fatal dog attacks. 4% of those of course would be. none, probably, or possibly one. All five killings were by pit bulls.. Including two-year old Samuel Zuledio, six-year old Nephi Sedu, and 91-year-old Elsie Grace.
27% of all dogs euthanized by the Pasadena Humane Society are pit bulls, almost three times the number of any other breed. in 2012 alone, 182 unwanted pit bulls were put down by the Humane Society.
If you read about this breed as I have, you will learn that they have been bred over many generations to be fighting dogs, and to kill their opponent. Their massive jaws. are extremely powerful, and when they bite they lock onto their victim and shake back and forth violently until the victim (be it another animal or a person) succumbs. Although they do not appear to bite any more frequently than some other breeds, when they do bite, because of these factors much more severe injuries or even death results. Ilegal dog fighting almost always involves pit bulls, for these reasons.
Pit bull lovers (and there are a number of them and they are passionate about their dogs) argue that they don’t bite any more frequently than other dogs. That’s beside the point because we are talking here about the gravity of the harm, the severity of the attacks.. They argue that if properly cared for pit bulls are loving, peaceful pets. Well, three of the five fatal attacks in California last year (two-year-old Samuel, six¬year-old Nephi and 91-year-old Elsie) last year were by the victims family1s pets.
But even if true, that many pit bulls behave peacefully does not change the fact that year-in year-out the overwhelming number of the most severe attacks are committed by this breed, notwithstanding its relatively small population.
An ER physician who came to one of our meetings told us that every ER physician in America knows how dangerous pit bulls are because they see the horrific injuries they inflict.
