Why do we let people breed “bully” dogs, let alone sell them? by Lee Hall The orientation for new U.S. mail carriers includes a half-day of video clips showing guard dogs charging professional dog trainers. The carrier learns: When taken on by an aggressive dog—and as a mail carrier you will be, probably soon and […]
Anti-Vaxxers and the pit bull advocacy movement
by Barbara Kay & Merritt Clifton Reasonable people tend to overestimate the role that reason plays in history and in their own culture, and also tend to overestimate the power reason has to combat the theories, belief systems and emotions that drive people to action––or inaction ––much of the time. Unreasonable theories, belief systems and […]
How many other animals did pit bulls kill in 2014?
Of the 82,000 animal victims per year, 59,000 die; 23,000 survive their injuries. Fifty thousand dogs per year, including at least 34,250 pit bulls, attack other animals, according to ANIMALS 24-7 analysis of dog attack data from 2013-2014. Of the 82,000 animal victims per year, 59,000 die; 23,000 survive their injuries. Among the dead are […]
Record low shelter killing raises both hopes & questions
Fewer dogs & cats are being killed––but are shelters simply relegating the killing to others? U.S. animal shelters are now killing fewer cats and dogs than at any time in the past 60 years––nearly 300,000 fewer in the most recent fiscal year than just one year earlier, and just 8.6 per 1,000 Americans, the lowest […]
Oakland hires former SF animal control chief Rebecca Katz to face Nathan Winograd and pit bull advocates in their lair
“To oversee the transition of Oakland Animal Services” OAKLAND––The City of Oakland on October 29, 2014 announced the hiring of former San Francisco Animal Care & Control director Rebecca Katz, 43, “to oversee the transition of Oakland Animal Services into a stand-alone department in the city administrator’s office.” Katz is to begin work on November […]
A fireside message from Merritt Clifton
I don’t always warn people about pit bulls. Sometimes I talk about Chihuahuas. And, with the help of a few dedicated assistants, I investigate and write about every aspect of the human/animal relationship, from animal rights and animal welfare to zoological conservation and zoonotic disease control –– always focused on what we can do that […]
“Don’t bully my breed, but we will bully the victims.”
by Beth Clifton A tribute art memorial entitled “Out of the Blue,” honoring 30 recent victims of fatal dog attacks, was unveiled on September 24, 2014 in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Wyoming, Michigan resident Joan Kowal as an entry in ArtPrize, an annual outdoor art contest attracting upward of 1,500 entrants and more than 400,000 […]
An impromptu debate about pit bulls
by Beth Clifton ANIMALS 24-7 editor Merritt Clifton was confronted at the recent AR 2014 conference in Los Angeles by several pit bull advocates, following a panel discussion of issues in animal control and sheltering with Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation general manager Brenda Barnette and Best Friends Animal Society cofounder Francis Battista. Merritt, […]
Large retrievers still nearly twice as popular as pit bulls
Fifth annual survey An ANIMALS 24-7 electronic survey of 206,014 classified ads offering dogs for sale or adoption confirms that large retrievers are still by far and away the most popular dogs in the U.S. Births of pit bulls and their close mixes are continuing to increase at the rate of about 10% per year. […]
Pit bulls were 32% of U.S. shelter inventory in June 2014
More pit bulls in no-kill shelters About two-thirds of the dogs in U.S. shelters as of June 2014 were housed by tax-funded animal care and control facilities, 22% were housed by open-admission humane societies, and 12% were housed by selective admission no-kill shelters and rescues, according to the annual ANIMALS 24-7 summer survey of shelter […]