North America closed out 2018 with 40 fatalities from dog attacks, 31 of which were committed by pit bulls. (status updated due to corrections of old cases)In addition to the fatal maulings, 623 North Americans were maimed or disfigured for life by pit bulls. It's important to note that even if someone is not mauled to death in a pit bull attack, their lives and the lives of their families are often irrevocably changed.The elephant in the room, the thing nobody nobody wants to talk about, is the number of innocent pets and farm animals tortured to death every single day by loose pit bulls. It adds up to tens of thousands per year. And those animals who survive pit bull attacks are often never the same again -Can we blame pit bulls? Dick Johnson weighs in: "That depends on how you define blame. We certainly can't pretend this bloodbath isn't happening. But on the other hand, pit bulls are simply doing what the breed was designed to do - nothing more, and nothing less. So the fault for this slaughter falls on those who insist on trafficking pit bulls into unsuspecting communities."More alarmingly, the trends are getting worse. While pit bulls have killed more Americans than any other breed in every decade since 1851, in recent years pit bulls are killing more Americans than all other breeds combined, but a large margin. We will detail the breed distribution in a subsequent article.In 2018, pit bulls and pit mixes killed over 3 times as many Americans as all other breeds combined. It's not from being starved, beaten or mistreated, as pit bull activists are quick to claim after every horrific pit bull attack. Do retrievers need to be starved, beaten and mistreated to make them retrieve? Do pointers have to be starved, beaten or mistreated to make them point? Of course not. So why the absurd claim that a purpose bred bloodsport dog needs to be starved, beaten and mistreated to make them do bloodsport?Some naive pit bull activists will say, "my pit bull wasn't bred for bloodsport", which is fallacious. One might as well say, "I didn't raise this caucasian shepherd to guard my house" - it doesn't matter what purpose you think you bred it or raised it for, genetics will manifest. As the dog matures, it will begin manifesting it's genetic imperative, whether than be herding, pointing, retrieving, guarding - or bloodsport.It's high time for real consequences. Those who traffic pit bulls into their communities need to be held strictly accountable for any violence done by those pit bulls. No token fines, or vaccination tickets. There must be heavy financial penalties, and jail time must certainly be on the table. Attacking pit bulls need to be put down, no exception, and the owners and other responsible parties need to be targeted financially, and with prison time as appropriate.References -