Question:
Taken from http://www.washhumane.org/Law/support.htm:
The Washington Humane Society picks up over 2,000 pit bulls each year. All but a few have been abused, fought, neglected, and mistreated. Many have clearly been bred and trained for aggression and are dangerous. The problems and threats posed by pit bulls in our city cannot be solved by enforcing existing laws on a case-by-case basis or through education. If education or stricter enforcement could work, WHS would already have solved the pit bull problem, or least be making progress. Something else has to be done.
WHS supports several D.C. City Councilmembers' initiative prohibiting the introduction and breeding of additional pit bulls in the District of Columbia. The proposed change would allow people with pit bulls to keep them under certain provisions, but no new pit bulls could be acquired or kept by city residents.
Numerous statistical studies, for the most part done by medical and veterinary journals, have demonstrated that this breed is uniquely aggressive and unpredictable. Their bite is worse than that of other dogs: According to a Journal of Trauma study, a pit bull bite carries twice the force of the average Doberman Pinscher or German Shepherd, and their jaws hold the victim and grind as they hold. Not surprisingly, pit bulls outstrip all other breeds in human fatalities resulting from dog attacks. People have cause to fear these dogs. City Councilmember Kevin Chavous says he is "tired of having senior citizens call...saying they do not feel comfortable sitting on their porches or walking down the streets of their neighborhoods because they are afraid of pit bulls."
Pit bulls are closely linked to organized dog fighting, a form of cruelty that has long vexed the humane society. "Even if we catch pit bull fighters in the act," says Rosemary Vozobule, WHS Director of Humane Law Enforcement, "it's extremely difficult to prove in court that the fight was deliberately arranged. The dogs' owners will claim the fight was an unfortunate accident." Under the new law, officers could begin to seize pit bulls who have been fought even without witnessing the fight.
Ms. Vozobule further points out that the fighting itself is only one form of cruelty to the dogs. They also suffer from abusive training (which can include encouraging the future combatants to kill dogs, cats, and other small animals), inhumane confinement, and lack of veterinary care.
A ban on pit bull might not be warranted for every locale, but it is certainly right for Washington, D.C., where so many dogs are bred and trained for outright aggression and where abuse of pit bulls is so widespread. According to Mary Healey, WHS Executive Director, "Animal agencies can afford to embrace the 'It's not the dog, it's the owner' philosophy if problem dogs are an exception to the rule. Here problem pit bulls are the rule, not the exception. In short, that's why the current animal control laws, which worked well for years, are now inadequate. The city needs a ban. So, somewhat ironically, do the pit bulls."
I suppose the problem must be quite severe for them to pass a breed specific ban, anyone from around that area who can comment or how do the rest of you feel about this pit bull ban?


Answer:
I know that in some areas pitbull fighting is very prominent. In a way, I see that this ban is better for the breed as they won't have to live the horrible life of being a fighting dog. One the other hand, I wonder if the ban will make it more "fun" to try to get a pitbull and these idiots that are fighting them will try even harder and create sort of a black market for fighting. I feel bad for all of the people who are keeping pitbulls as pets though.


Answer:
While I think it is an outrage, if this is the ONLY way to protect the breed from being used and abused for illegal acts, than I support it. It is quite unfortunate that the responsible owners that own pit bulls with sweet natured personalities are being punished. Unfortunately, the bad owners outweigh the responsible owners. I know this has been repeated many times but if states were to enforce stricter laws against the people who commit the crimes through the dogs, perhaps there wouldn't be as many incidents. It doesn't help all these people get is a small fine and a slap on the wrist.


Answer:
I think the ban shows even more clearly how irresponsible PEOPLE cause problems, not the animals.


Answer:
http://members.aol.com/radogz/find.html
Part of the problem, I think, is that people do not know what a pit bull is. Second, the people who are more likely to want a pit bull want it for it's reputation, and therefore aren't the best pet owners around.
Just my two cents.


Answer:
That is a great website, greencolander. It really showed me that the breeds I thought were pit bulls really aren't!


Answer:
Here is another interesting website that describes the history of the pit bull: http://www.angelfire.com/or3/pitbull...l_history.html


Answer:
Very interesting, thanks GC and Denise.
I have always like pitbulls so most of the content in those sites doesn't surprise me...but it is informative. It's so sad seeing a good breed being taken advantage of by humans.


Answer:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...3/HO299622.DTL
An article on how each individual dog can be different even though they share the reputation of being pit bulls.


Answer:
I have a pitt bull and I used to live in P.G. county, which is near DC. PG County has had a Pitt Bull ban for a few years now, and all it has done is make people look for bigger, more powerful dogs to exploit and mistreat. Then you end up with problems like happened in California that time with the presa Canarios.
I am a firm believer that there are no bad dogs, just bad owners. And it's so sad that such a beautiful, loving and loyal breed of dog can be exploited to this point by some bad seeds.