Editorial: Pit Bulls Are Ticking Time Bombs (British Columbia)

B.C. Opinion
Surrey B.C. - Pit bulls are attacking in the Surrey region again, and the great pit bull debate has returned. On Friday, 3-year old Justice Paradis was attacked by his family's pit bull. Several days later, a Surrey RCMP officer shot a pit bull after it attacked a mountie. The officer was not injured. The boy has since been released from the hospital and is back home, along with the family pit bull. In this same time period, Monique Tamminga of the Langley Times, wrote an excellent editorial.

Pit Bulls Are Ticking Time Bombs

Monique Tamminga, Langley Times
April 2009

      Just as gun advocates say ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people,’ now pit bull advocates are preaching their mantra – ‘it’s not the breed, it’s the owner’ – after a three-year-old boy was mauled in an unprovoked attack, and a Maple Ridge mother was bitten by a pit bull running loose on a trail. She likely will lose full use of her fingers.
      Along with these terrible tales come renewed calls to ban the breed just as countries across the world have done, as well as the province of Ontario and the city of Winnipeg. Prohibiting the sale of pit bulls is something the province should consider.
      A dog bite by a golden retriever and an attack by a pit bull produce very different results.
      A pit bull locks on to its prey, and even a crow bar can’t always unlock the death grip it can have on someone’s face, arm or leg.
      Here’s another reason: When have you ever heard of a pack of labradoodles roaming the streets, then all of sudden turning on an unsuspecting person for a full-out attack?
      Pit bull advocates are right: It’s not the breed – it is the owners.
      Putting political correctness aside, people who gravitate toward this breed are often the very ones who turn pit bulls into walking time bombs.
      People buy this breed to feel tough, to intimidate, to use the breed as guard dogs for drug houses. Most buy this breed and fulfill the stereotype, sorry to say.
      Most pit bulls around town don a spiked collar, only furthering their fearful reputation.
      It’s often a wonder if pit bull owners get off on watching people walk to the other side of the road. Nothing spoils a fun day at the off-leash park like a pit bull and a bad owner coming out to play.
      Then there are those who adopt pit bulls because they have an innate need to save this breed from damnation. Owners of all aggressive breeds are the problem.
      But just as we can’t oversee every gun owner to make sure he or she is a responsible person, we can’t trust every pit bull owner to raise these potentially vicious dogs right. The province recently banned the ownership of exotic and wild animals. They should do the same for pit bulls for the same reasons.
      A ban won’t stop dog bites from happening, but it will stop bad people from rearing ticking time bombs.

Related articles:
08/20/08: A Ban on the Breed is the Solution to the Pit Bull Problem
08/02/08: Pit Bull Owner and Vicious Dogs Continue Terror Streak in B.C.
07/31/08: Coverage of Pit Bull Attacks and SPCA Issues in Surrey, BC