How the media frightens people with misinformation: a case study
On October 11, 2009, the following headline, “Pit bull threat escalates in Western Pennsylvania,” was published in the Pittsburg Tribune-Review. Below are excerpts from the article, accompanied by NCRC comments and corrections. (To read the full article, use the link at the end of this essay.)
“When he became an animal control officer 18 years ago, Ken Ferree had to put down two or three dogs out of every 10 reported as dangerous. Now, the numbers have increased dramatically, to at least seven or eight dogs out of every 10, said Ferree, owner of Ferree Kennels in McKeesport. Most are pit bulls, he said, estimating that he puts down hundreds of the breed in a year’s time. — (It appears the greatest threat is to any dog Ferree identifies, based upon a visual inspection, as a pit bull. See: Breed Specific or Looks Specific
“That’s how much the problem has escalated,” said Ferree, who serves 30 communities scattered throughout Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties. — (And what is the problem? There seems to be an escalation in the number of criminal owners and the number of dogs abused in eastern Pennsylvania, as the PSPCA recently had to triple the number of officers to combat increased cases of animal cruelty. Do the reporter and Ferree see any parallel in their part of the state?)
On Thursday, officials said Clairton police had no choice but to shoot a rampaging pit bull who got out of a Sixth Street yard, bit a woman, threatened a mail carrier and charged at officers called to capture it. In a separate incident there on the same day, an aggressive pit bull was seized when it was found improperly tied to a tree branch by a clothesline, Ferree said. – Why did officers have no choice but to shoot the first dog? See the story about LaMarque, Texas below. What is the relationship between the second dog’s improper confinement and its emotional state? See the NCRC essay: What is the difference between a “family dog” and a “resident dog?”
Clairton Mayor Domenic Virgona said pit bulls appear to be gaining popularity in the city, where residents say the dogs are commonly found in areas known for drugs and criminal activity and in vacant houses that reportedly are used for dogfighting. — (Isn’t it animal abuse that is gaining popularity? Unless human cruelty towards animals is acknowledged as the root of the problem, we cannot expect to see a decrease in “aggressive” dogs. See: http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/in-your-state/pennsylvania/abuseneglect/
Historically, pit bulls have a reputation as violent dogs kept by drug dealers and other criminal offenders for protection or bred for dogfighting. They often are the subject of bad publicity in news reports about mauling attacks.
In May, a pit bull severely injured the 2-year-old son of Pittsburgh Steelers’ James Harris at his Franklin Park home when the dog became agitated by the boy’s crying. Early last month, two men were injured in an attack by four pit bulls in Larimer. “You don’t hear of things like that with a golden retriever,” Ferree said. “It seems to me that this breed has just blown a wire somewhere.” – Not to be picky, but pit bull is not a breed, and dogs don’t have wires. In any event, facts and information would have been helpful here. There have been 18 fatal dog attacks in Pennsylvania in the past 45 years (1965-2009). 11 different breeds or types of dogs have been reported in connection with these incident. NONE were pit bull type dogs.
Additionally there has been an astounding decrease in the number of recorded dog bites in most cities over the past three decades, including Philadelphia and Pittsburg: http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/in-your-state/pennsylvania/dog-bites-2/ .
The number of fatal and severe attacks by dogs of any kind in Pennsylvania has seen no increase since the 1970s –whatever kinds of dogs have become increasingly popular: http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/in-your-state/pennsylvania/dog-bite-fatalitles/
Indeed, animal control groups say pit bulls appear to be responsible for most bite attacks. DogsBite.org, a national group of dog bite victims, said Pennsylvania is fourth in the nation for pit bull attacks, with 18 reported in the first six months of this year.
There is NO national recording system for recording dog bites, much less one that tracks dog bites by breed. Nor are there any state recording systems that track dog bites by breed, including in Pennsylvania.
No animal control agency, animal professional organization, public health agency, or individual animal care expert has made the claim that “pit bulls appear to be responsible for most bite attacks.” Such a statement cannot be substantiated, as the data does not exist.
Nationally, pit bulls were responsible for 52 of 88 fatal dog attacks the group recorded between 2006 and 2008.
Again, no public agency at any level of government, animal professional organization or individual expert makes the claim that dogs identified as pit bulls are responsible for “52 of the 88″ fatal dog attacks. There is no verifiable data to support such a statement.
Pit bull lovers argue that generalized comments about the breed amount to “dog racism” and insist that problems with pit bulls can be traced to bad owners. “It’s not the breed. Any dog at any given time can bite someone or become aggressive,” said Tifanie Tiberio, marketing and events director for the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania.
Because some pit bulls are used in connection with criminal activity, the breed has been labeled as bad, said Clariton resident and pit bull owner Colleen Policastro, who witnessed an encounter between Clairton police and a pit bull in her neighbor’s yard Thursday afternoon. She said police “were out of control” when they approached the barking animal tied to a tree on her neighbor’s property. “If one of my dogs gets out, I have to worry that it’ll get shot. The police had their guns drawn and they did everything in their power to taunt the dog, even though the dog was tied up in its yard and was just trying to protect its property,” Policastro said.
Tiberio, who owns a pit bull mix, said it appears as though law enforcement officers are too quick to use deadly force when it comes to dealing with pit bulls. She said she can’t understand why the “reaction is to drive up and draw weapons immediately” when police or animal control officers get a call about a loose pit bull roaming about town. (See story below “Panicky Police shoots playful pit bull)
Ferree insists that deadly force is used only when necessary with dogs that are aggressive and violent. Nevertheless, he finds that the need for it appears to be more frequent, based on increasing numbers of dangerous dog determinations he’s had to file against the breed. In order to label a dog as dangerous, Ferree must determine that the dog is “guilty of some criminality, confirm the identity of the dog’s owner and find that the dog has injured or killed another animal or a human.” This year, he said, he has filed more dangerous dog determinations than in any other year. — It is incredible that Ferree determines that the dog is “guilty of some criminality” and the only acknowledgement of owner responsibility by Animal Control is to “confirm the identify of the dog’s owner.” Can that possibly be the sum and substance of the process specified by the relevant animal control ordinances?
For these animals, often the only option is his kennel, which he refers to as a “dog jail.” Again, the anthropomorphic concept that dogs can be “criminal” – with no mention of the owners responsibility to provide humane care, control and custody of their dogs or any criminal charges against the owners of “aggressive dogs.”
“We have ‘pit bull row.’ These dogs aren’t adoptable; they’re problematic, and nobody wants them,” Ferree said. “This is the breed with the problems.” — At last we agree. The dog is the one with the problem. But unless the community develops an animal control program that does more than round up dogs and kill them, the problem will persist. One definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. The reactive animal control procedures Ferree describes are a guarantee that animal control will kill more dogs and that community attitudes towards dogs will deteriorate. A safer, more humane community only results when owners are held to a standard of humane care, custody and control for all dogs, regardless of breed or type.
See full article: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_647497.html
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Media based breed attributions are often arbitrary and lead us away from intelligent discussion
On October 3, 2009: Mary Garcia, a 70-year-old Adams County, Colorado woman was attacked by two loose roaming dogs and severely injured. She suffered a heart attack from her ordeal and has been upgraded from critical to stable condition at St. Anthony Central Hospital.
The NCRC wishes the victim a speedy recovery from a senseless, terrifying and totally preventable attack.
As seen all too often, the media has assigned arbitrary breed identifications to the dogs involved in this attack, and in doing so, have ignited useless discussions about breed behaviors that offer no useful information as to how or why this attack occurred.
Additionally, the fact that this incident was 100% preventable is virtually ignored while discussions are focused on “breed.”
When reading the breed identifications given by the Colorado media, it is interesting to note that while the dogs are reported to be “mother and son,” in some reports the breed attributions of the mother dog (Boxer mix?) seems to be “missing” in her offspring.
CBS4Denver reported the dogs to be: Boxer mix (mother) and a Mastiff / pit bull mix (son)
The Coloradoan.com reported the dogs to be: Boxer/pit-bull mix and the younger dog as a boxer/pit-bull/mastiff mix
The DenverChannel.com reported the dogs to be: Pit bull mixes
KDVR News reported both dogs to be: Pit bull mixes
9News.com reported the dogs to be: Boxer/pit bull mix and a Boxer/pit-bull/mastiff mix
Incredibly the Denver Post reported two different breed identifications in the SAME article: The two dogs — a Boxer mix and a bull mastiff-pit bull. — The dogs, a pair of mixed-breed pit bulls, who are mother and son, were taken to the Adams County Animal.
Boxer? Mastiff? Bullmastiff? Pit bull? Boxer mix? Pit bull mix? Mastiff mix? Bullmastiff mix? Boxer-mastiff mix? Mastiff-pit bull mix? Boxer-pit bull mix? Boxer-mastiff-pit bull mix?
Trying to figure out which of these breed attributions may be correct is a colossal waste of time and will ultimately yield no useful information.
The simple fact is that an owner allowed his dogs to leave his yard and attack an innocent woman.
How and why the owner allowed his dogs to get loose and attack this woman is the only discussion that will show this attack to be an entirely preventable tragedy.
National Canine Research Council