*50% of the proceeds of new annual subscriptions from this article (for the next 12 months) will be donated to Slow the Flow, a local charity in the Cleveland OH region that provides free sterilization for pit bulls. *
I would have chosen a more national charity, but the national charities that sterilize dogs (ASPCA) are also deeply invested in the “rehabilitation of the pit bull image” which contributes to dangerous and aggressive dogs being placed with families and young children. (The reason I am limiting this to annual subscriptions is that I cannot tell how long a monthly subscription will run for a year.)
A horrifying and tragic story broke on my Twitter feed from a well-known Twitter user. I’ll keep the story somewhat brief and anonymized since I did not get a response from the OP about whether they would want to be interviewed: A gentle, elderly dog was mauled to death by a pit bull in a hotel lobby. There were several facts of this story which illustrated that the tragedy was maddeningly preventable: the pit bull was unleashed, the owner was faking a service dog designation with a service dog vest, the owner knew the dog had bitten other dogs before, this owner had a history of adopting aggressive dogs who had been euthanized as a results of their attacks, and she was a regular in the pet-friendly hotel who likely knew about her antics and were familiar with the dog, allowing it to roam free.
And as horrifying as this attack was, it could have been worse. Children have been mauled to death by unleashed dogs, almost always by pit bulls, and perhaps most troublingly, often by pit bulls that belong to their own families—not stray dogs and dogs raised for fighting. Say “it’s the owner” all you want, but I find it hard to believe this nice suburban Memphis family were abusing their pit bull, who mauled the mother while killing the two children after being perfectly pleasant for years. At a certain point, we have to admit that something is wrong with this breed and resist attempts to “rehabilitate” its image, which as far as I’m concerned, is well-earned at this point if not undersold.
While it would be neither humane nor practical to euthanize all pit bulls (I am not suggesting this!) there are plenty of other, far more ethical policies and actions which could be done in America. The problem is, nobody is doing anything, because it is still unpopular (albeit less so lately) to admit that something is wrong with pit bulls and related breeds.
