New York: Bad Dogs, or Bad Owners?

Last week, there were two pretty major 'pit bull' attacks in the New York area.  Both have gotten quite a bit of media attention, and has caused folks who don't get it, like congressman Peter Vallone, to come out of the woodwork. However, it doesn't take much looking at the attacks to understand the true problem.

We'll start with the second attack of the week. In this attack, three year old Kamar Reynolds was attacked and had part of his ear bitten off by a 'pit bull'.  According to the media reports, a man, Frantz Cesar (24) got into a fight with his girlfirend, Keesha Reynolds, the boy's mother.  The man had reportedly been drinking.  He was so angry, he went home, got his 'pit bull', kicked in a window unit air conditioner, and then threw his aggressive attacking dog through the window to attack Ms. Reynolds.  However, there were six young kids in the room and the 'pit bull' ended up attacking 3 year old Kamar. It does sound like the boy will make a full recovery.

In the first attack, was one where a 90 year old man, Henry Piotrowski, was attacked by two pit bulls in his Staten Island Neighborhood. Piotrowski, a war veteran, sustained major injuries in the attack, including having one let partially amputated (it appears that reports of having three limbs amputated were exaggerated).

The owner of the dogs was 28 year old James McNair. McNair has been out of jail for four years following a rape conviction, and had these two dogs that were continually left out in the neighborhood to terrify the neighborhood. According to NY1 on Staten Island, there had been at least eight 911 calls about the dogs in the past month.

So for these two attacks, we have as the dogs' owners:

1) A man, angry at his girlfriend, who has a dog he knows is aggressive (and likely trained that way?) that he sets loose in a room full of children and busting out a window unit air conditioner and has the dog attaack.

2) A convicted rapist that had dogs that had eight 911 calls about them in the past month and yet nothing was done.

So my question is, when you have owners like this, does it matter what type of dogs they own? If we banned 'pit bulls' tomorrow, do you think these owners are going to be any less of a threat to society with whatever dog they decide to get to replace them?  And where is the anger at animal control? EIGHT 911 calls in a month, and the dogs were still roaming free?  There should be anger generated at the animal control department for failing to protect the public in spite of knowing these dogs were potential problem.

This is why talk of BSL is, and continues to be a smoke screen.  Any talks of solving these problems without addressing the irresponsible owner issue is completely pointless.  Any talks of solving these problems without saying what you're going to do differently with the animal control department to get known aggressive dogs off the streets (at least within the first couple of phone calls) is pointless.

In order to solve the problem, you MUST address the issues of irresponsible dog owners and often times, animal control departments that are doing a crummy job. There is no other solution that works. But pretending that the breed of dog is the problem in situations like these is ridiculous, misleading, and frankly, dangerous.

Comments

[katie]

There were 8 calls about those dogs in the past month?? Then why on EARTH were they still out running at large? Why hadn't they been picked up 8 phone calls ago?

This is what makes me nuts about BSL and all that other nonsense legislation that results from attacks like this. Because had the laws already in place actually been enforced, chances are at least one of these tragedies could have been completely avoided.

Freaking ridiculous.

[Becky]

Preventable tragedies caused by human failure after human failure, (as well as system failure!) and yet we choose to blame dogs. This is insanity.

And, as usual, we have no expert ID on the breed. And as in ever single story, they could have been some other breed, or most likely pit mixes. If a lab mix or some other mix attacks, it is called a mixed breed dog. If a pit mix attacks, it is called a pit bull. Totally skews the stats and public opinion. Very purposeful propaganda.

[Lindsay]

Yes, this could happen with any breed. If pitbulls are banned, irresponsible owners will still have other breeds or pitbull mixes, and attacks will still occur. Of course, pitbulls are a powerful breed, which is why they have such a bad reputation. That doesn't mean they should be banned, it means most people aren't qualified to own one.

[Caped~PetBull~Crusader]

Well said KC!
I really don't understand the lack of common sense that is demonstrated over and over again by those who are supposed to be our representatives. I can't tell you how much I agree with this quote right now!
The more I see of the representatives of the people the more I admire my dogs.
- Alphonse de Lamartine -

[Adam]

YEAH! what Caped~Petbull~Crusader said.

What would the headlines have read if Cesar had pistol whipped this child instead of throwing a dog at him through a window? Gee I wonder if there was a history of violence in this home prior to this tragic incident?

Dogs only behave how they are allowed and trained to, it is every owners responsibility to maintain control over them. Domesticated animal behavior must be accountable to the owner PERIOD.

I don't understand why people can't see that until proper ownership practices are addressed, the public will be plagued with these problems regardless of breed. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! Stop misconstruing 'vicious' animals for human negligence. You wanna decrease these 'incidences?' Start targeting and prosecuting negligent dog owners. Perhaps in the NYC case, at least investigating the situation just 1 of the first 8 times might have avoided the violence in this case.