Best Friends Sanctuary Working To Save Pit Bulls

[shel]

Earlier this week, Best Friends posted a great article on their website about the number of mis-reported bites and attacks that are reported by the media....including how stories about 'pit bulls' get a lot greater distribution vs bites by other breeds, and how often times the media will talk about 'pit bull attacks' on young children that end up with mere scratches.

The net result is an irrational fear of 'pit bulls' that is created by the media reporting.

KCDogBlog

Blog Bites: The media and BDL

With the dog cowering in its kennel behind him, the reporter recounts a 'pit bull attack' that left a toddler in Redondo Beach, CA hospitalized. In an interview, police sergeant Phil Keenan describes the attack. "The child and the pit bull were in the living room. The child either touched the tail or grabbed the tail of the pit bull. The pit bull turned around and bit the child."

In the video, in just over two minutes, they repeat the term 'pit bull' about ten times.

The message is clear. This wasn't just a dog, presumably, like the viewers' dogs. It was a pit bull. This dog is different.

But the message falls apart when you see the dog in the video. It isn't a pit bull. It is a mixed breed dog. It could have some German Shepherd in it. Maybe some Lab. It might even have some of one of the pit bull breeds in it. As with most mixed breed dogs, it's hard to tell.

The media and BDL

Reports such as these often help create and perpetuate the myths behind all forms of breed discrimination, including Breed Discriminatory Legislation (BDL). Inaccurate breed identification is common, and even the classic example of a non-newsworthy story, "Dog Bites Man," can be made sensational if the dog is called a 'pit bull.'

Nobody knows this better than Brent Toellner, Kansas City blogger and Legislative Chair for Kansas City Dog Advocates. In his KC Dog Blog, Toellner examines the causes and effects of BDL throughout the country and the world. In his Weekly Roundup feature, he scours media reports of dog bites and other animal welfare news, cataloging media reports of dog bite incidents and legislative efforts such as BDL and other animal control efforts. Nearly every week, he uncovers examples of inaccurate breed identification and of media reports that unnecessarily emphasize breed as a factor in dog bites.

In many cases, even minor transgressions and acts of rudeness by pit bulls attract excessive attention, including a case in which a 'pit bull' puppy accidentally nipped a little girl while playing, without breaking the skin; and a case in which a 'pit bull' jumped up on a little boy in greeting, then ran away to cower when the boy yelled. Neither child was injured beyond a minor scratch. Neither dog was behaving aggressively. They were just normal dogs doing normal dog things, but because they were 'pit bulls,' these everyday events were elevated to newsworthy status simply because the dogs were identified as 'pit bulls.'

In one heartbreaking example, there were almost two identical dog bite fatalities within days of each other in March of this year, both entirely preventable. In both cases, tethered, unsupervised, and unsocialized dogs attacked and killed unsupervised toddlers. In one case, the dog was identified as a 'pit bull,' and the story was reported in hundreds of news outlets, spurring cries for BDL in the local community and others around the country. In the other case, the dog was identified as a Husky, and the story was reported in only one news outlet--a small local paper with a circulation of about 8000. There was no call for the community to ban Huskies; but more importantly, there was little public discussion of the commonalities between these two cases and what could have been done to prevent them.

Again, the message is clear: These aren't just dogs. They're pit bulls.

And with that clear message comes another message: Other breeds don't bite. As Toellner illustrates repeatedly, when reports of 'pit bull' aggression dominate the media, and incidents involving other breeds of dog are ignored, the public develops a distorted view of the problem of dog bites. And, at its core, this inaccurate perception is responsible for the proliferation of ineffective and dangerous BDL.

Fatal dog attacks, of course, are incredibly rare. Fewer people in the US die from dog bite injuries each year than are killed by lightning or drowned in bathtubs. And taken from a different perspective, dogs save and enrich many more human lives each year than they take.

However rare serious dog bite injuries are, though, Toellner's careful accounts of these incidents illustrate how important it is to evaluate each case individually, beyond the often inaccurate breed identifications.