Discussion on the pros and cons of pit bull banning after multiple children are killed by pit bulls in South Africa in under two weeks. A third child is killed by a pit bull just after this episode aired.
Discussion in South Africa
Here in North America, we need to be having this discussion openly, given the amount of attacks by pit bulls. Clearly, these discussions have been had in countries where pit bulls have been banned and excluded from entering the country. Numerous voices were heard during this one hour program -- the panel discussion starts at 25:45.
What is not covered in this discussion is that pit bulls are overwhelmingly the most likely dogs to attack livestock and other domestic pets.
South Africa recently suffered a spate of pit bulls slaughtering and maiming children. In some cases there's been a vigilante response from the community, especially in cases where Animal Control or the police did not adequately respond to the threat that pit bulls guilty of a deathly mauling, posed to the rest of the community.
A common thread in the discussion is how pit bulls are seen as a form of protection dog. Yet, there is no discussion of how they are any better at protection work than a dog bred and trained to perform such duties or proof they were ever trained at all. Is that just what the owners believe without providing any actual demonstration of fitness to that purpose? Apparently, South Africa has a high crime rate and that's the oft-cited reason for such a high amount of pit bull ownership. Clearly, they're cheap and accessible due to over-breeding.
If we're going to have these discussions, we need to ask the hard questions, too.
For all the areas uncoverable by an hour-long show, it's a program we are unlikely to see any time soon in North America.
Sizwe Kupelo of the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation created a petition calling on the South African government to ban the breed after a 10-year old boy was killed by two family pit bulls in September in Nelson Mandela Bay. The petition has received over 125,000 signatures so far.
“ However, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA says it does not support the petition to ban or outlaw pit bulls but fully supports the motion to develop and implement stronger regulations/legislation regarding the keeping and breeding of the dogs.”
And this is the problem, we know here that “stronger regulations/legislation” does jack all to stop the attacks by pits. Doesn’t matter if the owners are responsible or not, pits from both types maul and kill.
And this, people, is why we need to STOP donating to the SPCA, the Humane Society, and all other so-called animal rights groups. They’re protecting dogs in general and dangerous dogs in particular.
Let’s vote with our wallets.
In the week following the first pitbull mauling of the 8-year-old boy in Bloemfontein, 49 pitbulls were relinquished to the Bloemfontein SPCA.
It’s hard to imagine that occurring in North America.
It would be hard to distinguish it from the sea of pitbulls already flowing into shelters. One thing I noticed about the South African debate is that shelters claim they will take the dogs. In the US, animal shelters turn dogs away because they are “no kill” and already full of pitbulls.
Rebecca, normally I would agree w you on this. However, in this case, it seems that there is a promising step prioritizing Community over Pitbulls occurring in South Africa.
South African Mokete Selebano was a witness to the mauling of 3-yr-old Keketso Innocent Saule.
Selebano has announced, “We can’t live like this in a world where dogs eat children.” I trust he will follow through with his verbal
promise to surrender his pitbull. As at least 48+ have done.
The neighbors don’t play around with trying to get the authorities to euthanize the dog after a mauling over there. They just get together and stone the dog and set it on fire. That’s the way neighbors should be dealing with a pit problem in their neighborhood here.
Kudos to the TV station for having such a format to allow in depth discussion on a controversial topic. Great idea to have guests present virtually do you can shut off the mic of motor mouths.
Regarding the discussion The pro pit bull side seems not to able to address that “family pit bulls” will invade other peoples property and homes to kill. That is not normal protection dog behavior.
Imagine if we had this kind of national reporting of pitbull attacks in the US. The press in South Africa is speaking the truth – and it sounds like a call to action, when people see how much damage these dogs are inflicting. People in the US don’t even hear about extraordinary cases like the baby and toddler killed recently. If our press were getting the news out, change would come.