Are We Any Smarter Today then We Were 40 Years Ago?
July 10, 1969 – The San Antonio Express, Page 1
Sam Kindrick, staff editorialist wrote the following about the city’s new leash law:
“Enforcement of the city’s new leash law will probably be on a limited basis. Maybe though, there should be a clause in the ordinance outlawing private ownership of German Shepherds and possibly Dobermans. Many people own the intelligent, and often docile, German Shepherd, and the hue and cry would be deafening if officialdom attempted to outlaw possession of these large, and often vicious, dogs.
But, every time you read about a child being killed or mauled, by a dog or dogs, the odds are overwhelming that the dirty work was done by the shepherd. I believe the shepherd to be an unpredictable, wolf-like animal which should be used only for military or police work.
A father in West Virginia battled a pack of shepherds with a garden hoe while they tore his two small sons to pieces. The little girl in Houston, who was maimed horribly by a female shepherd and one of her grown pups, must go for the rest of her life wearing a wig. The dogs literally scalped her. In San Antonio, police Sgt. Andre Colaw was ripped and gnawed by one of the German Shepherds he trains privately and rents as watch dogs.
So far, a San Antonio kid hasn’t been seriously hurt or killed by one of these dogs. But it will happen.”
NCRC Comment: Are we any smarter about dogs or understanding the reasons for dog attacks then we were 40 years ago? Would the banning of certain breeds solved the problem of dogs attacks in 1969, or in 2009?
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If There was Ever Any Doubt that “Pit bulls” are News:
Pit bull attacks deer in Smokies National Park
Knoxville News Sentinel – Sep 18, 2009
A story about an unleashed pit bull that attacked a deer in the Smokies National Park almost certainly ran (and headlined) exclusively due to the “breed” involved, and now adds to the mountain of biased “evidence” that is used to prove pit bulls behave differently than other dogs and are involved in a disproportionate amount of attacks.
And for those who know little about history and little about canine behavior, this story can only serve to reinforce the extreme prejudice the media has perpetuated against “pit bulls.
Anyone with knowledge about dogs and canine behavior, understands that dogs (virtually each and every dog) can be enticed into chasing wildlife.
For decades, authorities have pleaded with dog owners to restrain their dogs over concern for other domestic animals and wildlife. Predation on wildlife was one of the driving forces for many of the leash laws enacted in the United States over the past 40 years.
For decades, officials have calculated yearly dog kills on livestock and wildlife and simply reported the totals.
Of the hundreds of thousands of livestock and wildlife killed by loose roaming dogs in the U.S. over the past 40 decades, virtually all of these incidents have gone unreported, except for an incredibly select few (usually involving multiple animals killed or multiple separate killings in a specific region).
Roaming Dogs Big Menace to Pennsylvania Deer
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 10, 1978
A deputy game protector shot a dog near Sizerville in Cameron County Tuesday morning. The dog , a big fellow of uncertain lineage, had killed eight deer in the preceding nine nights, four bucks and four does.
Monday afternoon, a state trooper shot two dogs which he saw drag down a deer near Emporium, killing one and wounding the other. A few days before, deputy game protectors in Cameron County had to shoot two deer which had been dragged down by dogs which had chewed up their hindquarters.
The number of deer being killed by dogs has been growing year by year in Pennsylvania. The Game Commission (PGC) reports 1,123 losses of whitetails to free-running canines in the state in 1977. The year before the official count was 804.
These official figures represent only the casualties picked up by PGC personnel. Just how many more are killed by dogs is anybody’s guess.
It is a shame that dogs have to be shot for killing whitetails. The dog is just following an age-old canine instinct. The dog owner is the real culprit in such cases.
If he had kept the dog leashed there wouldn’t have been either a dead deer or a dead pet.
In the case of the dog whish had killed eight deer in nine nights, a widow not only has lost her dog, but also a sizeable chunk of case which she paid in fines.
And it would have been so easy to keep the dog on a leash.
FACTS: Most people assume that national wildlife refuges are truly refuges, where animals are protected from hunting; however, federal law allows the government to permit secondary uses, such as hunting, on wildlife refuges if a review of the potential effects indicates that protected wildlife will not be adversely affected.
Killing is often the control method of choice on federal lands, including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other areas overseen by the USFWS, USFS, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and National Park Service (NPS). According to the USFWS, 40% of hunters hunted on public lands in 2001.
In Tennessee, over 170,000 deer were killed (”harvested”) by hunters in 2004.
Livestock also fall prey to dogs that have been allowed to roam by their owners:
The National Agricultural Statistics Service showed that dogs killed 40,325 sheep/lambs in the U.S. in 1994 and approximately 21,800 cattle in 1995.
The number of cattle killed by loose roaming dogs is an on-going problem, as in 2005, the NASS reported 21,900 cattle falling prey to dogs.
National Canine Research Council