It’s time to repeal pit bull ban, Walkom, Oct. 28

I would like to protest Thomas Walkom’s column, as it is not time to end the pit bull ban and it never will be.

Pit bulls and their crosses are the only common breed specifically bred to fight and kill other dogs. As a retired owner of a five-year-old medium-size retriever, I frequent dog parks and trails in the Humber Valley and interact with dogs, owners and dog walkers every day who have far more experience than me. Nobody wants pit bulls back.

The two most violent incidents I have encountered in my five years were with obvious pit bulls or crosses. When we see one coming, we all sense the threat.

Walkom’s argument is essentially a regurgitation of the NRA (National Rifle Association) argument for owning assault rifles: blame the bad owner, not the gun. But just as assault rifles were designed to kill people, pit bulls were designed to kill dogs and should be banned so that the bad owner does not get hold of a lethal weapon. And that is exactly what will happen if the pit bull ban is repealed.

Pit bulls were bread for the genes of dominance, aggression and a lethal bite force and do not belong in a civilized society.

David McDonald, Toronto

One attributes more than 22 per cent of dog attacks to pit bulls, and more than 60 per cent more to “unidentified” breeds. If one assumes that even a small portion of the 60 per cent were pit bulls, that would make the breed responsible for about one-third of all attacks.

And that doesn’t even take into account the ferocity of pit bull attacks, as noted in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study conveniently ignored by Walkom. Pit bulls were responsible for more than 65 per cent of fatal dog attacks in America over a 13-year period, despite the breed making up just over 6 per cent of the dog population.

Brian Smith, Waterloo

Let’s examine two of them: “All dogs bite” and “All dogs can be trained to be aggressive.” While these statements are obviously true, they are patently misleading.

When it comes to biting, pit bulls are in a class of their own. As noted at dogbite.org, the issue is “the acute damage a pit bull inflicts when it does choose to bite. The pit bull’s ‘hold and shake’ bite style causes severe bone and muscle damage, often inflicting permanent and disfiguring injuries. Moreover, once a pit bull starts an attack, firearm intervention may be the only way to stop it.”

We know there are other breeds of dogs that are also dangerous, but pit bulls are the pack leaders, so keeping the ban in place is important. Just because the ban is not perfect and does not capture all dangerous dogs is no reason to repeal it.

David Sweeney, Markham

Let’s assume Walkom is correct in his opinion that pit bull attacks are a result of irresponsible or unhinged owners. There’s a reason they choose that type of dog, often a bit bull. It’s because they actually are menacing.

This breed has an inbred penchant for dominance and aggression, much the way a border collie has the urge to herd everything that moves.

We can’t afford to be sentimental about this. One more pit bull attack is one too many. People don’t bite people, dogs bite people. If we are focusing on the owners, I think we are barking up the wrong tree.