In Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s excellent book, The Black Swan, he describes how observers of an event could be at polar opposites as to the reason(s) for it and the likelihood of it occurring in the first place.

He uses the example of turkeys, who from their perspective, expect every following day to be very similar to the day preceding it. They wake up, get fed, stroll around the yard, get fed again and go to sleep. Cycle repeats. The turkeys are quite correct, from their vantage point, to expect that routine to repeat indefinitely. Sadly for them, on the 1000th day they are slaughtered. To the turkey this is a “Black Swan” event. They never saw it coming. To the butcher, there was a 100% certainty that this was going to happen. The turkeys “nearly” get it right though, in that they only get slaughtered 0.001% of the time.

It is in this little fraction of time (0.001%), that Pitbull owners and turkeys get it very, very wrong, with death being the penalty paid.

Child-murderer, torture-killer, and rapist known as ”La Bestia” (“The Beast"), Confessed to killing 140 children over a 5-year period in Colombia. He is suspected of murdering over 400 victims, mostly street children. He is the most “successful” serial killer of all time.

In his 42 years of life prior to apprehension, he killed 0.001% of the time (if he spent 1 hour killing each of his 400 victims).

Following most Pitbull owners’ reaction to articles on News24 where Pitbulls are involved in deadly attacks, I would venture say that it is akin to them being surprised when a man like Luis Garavito “The Beast” kills another victim, after already proving his tremendous ability and affinity to do so. He may have been “such a nice guy” 99.999% of the time.

Thus when Pitbull owners are telling us that their dogs are so loving, timid and haven’t eaten any kids yet, what they are actually saying is that they haven’t experienced their day 1000 yet.

Worse than being “turkeys” though, is how Pitbull owners deny science. One would swear that, according to their logic, Tinker Bell sprinkled fairy dust on a hamster and turned it into a Pitbull.

Here is the science: “The Pit Bull was originally created as a fighting dog…to be used for bull and bear baiting in "pit" fights”

“A 1991 study found that 94% of attacks on children by pit bulls were unprovoked, compared to 43% for other breeds.”

Avner, Jeffrey R.; Baker, M. Douglas (1991). "Dog Bites in Urban Children". Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics) 88 (1): 55–57.

Please Wiki this yourself too. One shouldn’t comment without examining the evidence.

There are many, many more studies proving that the “creators” of Pitbulls got it right. They created the ultimate killer dog. Besides breeding physical traits desirable for killing, these dogs would have been no good if they were too “nice” and couldn’t follow through right? So another important scientific fact for Pitbull “denialists” to understand is that one can breed both physical characteristics AND temperament.

I understand that we live in a country ridden with crime and where people feel unsafe. Unfortunately, as shown by the facts and statistics, Pitbulls add far too much content to our already violence ridden news headlines. Dogs are not meant to attack or kill intruders. If you say they are, please explain to me how you’ve tested that your Pitbull won’t be killing your neighbour’s teenage son fetching his cricket ball from your yard.

There are many breeds that have proven to be wonderful watchdogs and statistics, facts and news headlines prove they are far, far less likely to kill innocent men, women and children.

Finally, this is my hope in writing this article, it would be really great if when discussing articles related to Pitbull killings, we can now do away with the “…my Rambo is such a nice doggie and will lick you to death…” comments. I agree with you. They are wonderful pets 99.999% of the time, but don’t be a turkey. Your 1000th day just hasn’t arrived yet!