September 22, 2011 - By Kent Harper - Tuesday morning was beautiful in Mesquite -- the kind of morning when it’s enjoyable to take a stroll together and bring your pet along. So Bill and Nila Lilienthal put a leash on Otto, their 11-year-old Lhasa Apso, and took a walk down Chaparral Drive..
The morning wasn’t going to remain beautiful for long.
Just before 7 a.m., three pit bulls broke out of their fenced yard and were running at large. They may have been loving, loyal pets at home, but now they were a pack. And packs do one thing. They hunt.
As Bill reached the turn into Palomino Circle, the trio of dogs spotted Otto. Fortunately, Nila had lagged back and wasn’t with her husband when the vicious attack came.
The pack fell on the smaller dog. Lilienthal tried to pull his pet out of reach of the attackers onto an adjacent retaining wall. The dogs turned their fangs on him, savagely mauling his arms, hands and face.
A neighbor sitting on her patio in Palomino Circle heard Lilienthal’s cries for help and the howling of the pack. When she rushed to the street she saw the elderly man on the ground trying to shield his pet from the attackers. Two of the pit bulls were startled by her arrival and fled. But the third, a large cream-colored beast continued to bit the man trying to get at Otto.
The woman tossed a large rock to Lilienthal that he used to bash the dog and she struck the dog twice with two accurate rock throws of her own. That’s when the dog turned his attention to her and stalked toward her. She froze, fearing she would be the animal’s next victim. But the pack was gone. The dog realized it no longer had the advantage of numbers, and it too fled the bloody scene as more neighbors ran to help Lilienthal.
Then the police arrived. Animal control officers captured two of the pit bulls, but the third ran onto Interstate 15 and was struck and killed by a vehicle. The other two are in quarantine awaiting verification of their rabies inoculations. They’ve been declared “dangerous dogs,” and the owner, who received three citations for dogs at large, will need to obtain a special permit to keep them.
Lilienthal probably doesn’t feel like a lucky man today. He has stitches on his hands and face. And he’s waiting to find out if his attackers were properly protected from carrying rabies. But he’s lucky to be alive.
According to the website DogsBite.org, between 2006 and 2008 pit bull-type dogs killed 52 Americans and accounted for 59 percent of all fatal attacks. Pit bulls aren’t the only dangerous dogs, of course. Add rottweilers to the statistics during that period and the two breeds account for 73 percent of the deaths.
A report by Animal People compiled data on the 368 fatal dog attacks in the U.S. and Canada from 1982 to 2010 indicated that pit bulls and rottweilers were involved in 65 percent of all fatal human attacks – 166 were pit bulls, 73 were rottweilers.
DogsBite.org did its own research and concluded from 2005 to present, the two breeds accounted from 71 percent of fatal attacks. Although rottweilers are included in the statistics, pit bull attacks are double that breed’s.
That’s why 40 states have either banned the breed or have communities that have banned ownership of the animals.
Pit bulls get their name from the ancient sport of bull baiting. All bulldogs were bred to have compact, strong physiques with tremendous jaw strength, to harry and attack bulls, clamping their jaws on the animals and not letting go.
The sport likely goes back further, but by 1500 it had become Britain’s national pastime. The name bulldog first appeared in the printed word in 1631.
Selectively breeding continued for hundreds of years, giving us our various bulldog breeds today, including the pit bull. But the British public became more squeamish in 1835 and demanded bull baiting be banned.
But the breeders couldn’t very well let their art go to waste, so they developed a new blood sport – rat baiting. The dog would be unleashed into a pit full of rats. Winners were selected on which animal killed the most rodents in the allotted time. These pit fights, eventually led to development of the pit bull.
But the outcome of rat baiting was predetermined and didn’t catch the fancy of the gaming crowd enough. So dog fighting became the rage.
The pastime was imported to the United States by settlers.
The American Kennel Club back in 1884 refused to list pit bulls as a breed because of their use in dog-fighting. Breeders would – and still do – find small defenseless dogs to put in the ring with the rookie fighters to teach the to kill – to “blood” them.
The United Kennel Club was established in 1898 to bring formal recognition to the much-maligned breed. Of course the new kennel club also drew up the rules and regulations for organized dog-fighting.
Not all pit bulls are owned by “dogmen,” those who breed and manage their canine gladiators, of course. But the breed wears the stigma, nonetheless.
What makes a pit bull such a favorite among the dogmen and so dangerous to the public is the breed’s “gameness” – it’s ability and willingness to finish a fight; to continue to clamp its jaws, and clamp and reclamp them as it moves to a killing hold, no matter how injured it is, even with broken legs or spine.
Lilienthal learned full well how much punishment a pit bull will take and still continue the attack.
But dogmen live to hear the referee call, “Face your dogs” – the dog fight is ready to begin. Then with “Let go” up to an hour of canine carnage or longer entertains the dogmen, who bet heavily on the outcome. The fight doesn’t end until one of the dogs is incapable of continuing.
In July 2009, authorities in eight states launched a dog-fighting sting and seized more than 450 animals.
But it’s a shame what has happened to the breed.
A century and a half ago it was safe to call pit bulls “The Dog that Won the West.” Although other breeds were favored as working dogs, the pit bull’s loyalty and tenacity made it a favorite with families. Your children were safe from most dangers with the family pit bull around.
But that was then and this is now.
Pit bulls have been known to attack family members. Another dangerous attribute of the breed is that it frequently attacks without showing any aggressive behavior ahead of time.
People who own pit bulls love their pets. And you can’t blame them for that.
Attempts have been made by dog owners to improve the breed’s reputation by changing its name.
The New York Center for Animal Care and Control tried to rename them “New Yorkies” in 2004. It didn’t fool anyone and the new name was dropped. In 1996 the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals called pit bulls it wanted to adopt out “St. Francis terriers.” It found homes for 60 pit bulls it had screened for temperament. The program was scrapped, however, after several of the mellow animals killed cats.
A pit bull is a bred killer no matter what you call it. And that doesn’t mean that every individual dog is about to attack.
But there have been so many cases of pit bull attacks and many of them fatal, it’s a wonder that every community doesn’t ban the breed from populated areas.
The dog is too resourceful, too strong, too determined and too dangerous to live around high-density populations.
Lilienthal is lucky indeed to have survived. But what if the victim had been a child or a disabled person or someone much older than Lilienthal.
The Mesquite City Council really should research the issue. Read the available statistics and literature. Talk to the available experts. Then make a decision about public safety and how to secure it.
Ignoring the pit bull problem longer is making a bet that no one will be killed or mauled by the animals living in the community. And when it comes to betting, the pit bull has all the odds going for it
http://www.mesquitelocalnews.com/viewnews.php?newsid=8409&id=161
http://www.dogsbite.org/index.php
http://blog.dogsbite.org/
