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Guest Column

Pit bulls are a danger; ban them now

By MARY KOUSATHANAS
Published September 4, 2007

The mauling that occurred in Tampa in January could have had such a devastating ending if 9-year-old Dontae Vincent or his rescuer, Angel Perez, had died from the brutal attack on them by four pit bulls. They lived, but if they had died, the outcome would have been as it usually is: sadness, until the next attack and the next death.

In February, we read of the attack on 2-year-old Ian Keo in Plant City while he was helping to feed a family pit bull.

Three years have passed since 8-year-old Anton Brown was killed by mixed breed pit bulls in Tampa. In 1999 a 5-year-old girl in Citrus County was found dead, covered with bite marks from four pit bulls. Her body was in the Tsala Apopka lake, her ripped clothes on the banks.

Mike Mailles of Tarpon Springs was attacked early this month by a pit bull that had just killed a miniature dachshund in his neighborhood.

The stories continue to be featured by the newspapers, yet not one legislator has put forth legislation to ban these abhorrent animals in Florida. Communities such as Denver, Miami and the Canadian province of Ontario have responded to the growing danger of pit bulls by banning these animals.

The most frequent victims of dog attacks are the most vulnerable members of our society: the very young and the elderly. According to a study of fatal dog attacks by all breeds from 1965 to 2001, children under 12 account for 79 percent of the attacks. People over age 65 account for 12 percent. The remaining 9 percent are between those ages.

According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, pit bulls accounted for 32 percent of the fatal dog attacks in the United States from 1979 to 1998.

Do the victims have to be related to the people in charge of making laws before something is done? Any one of us could be a victim at any time.

The state of Florida must act on behalf of our elderly population as well as our innocent and defenseless children by placing a ban on private ownership of this breed.

The city of Denver has enacted a ban on pit bulls, but only after so many people were brutally maimed or killed. Action needs to be taken here before so many lives are profoundly affected.

While many owners of pit bulls try to be responsible by keeping their dogs trained, neutered and under strict control, these precautions do not prevent some of these aggressive animals from turning on their masters or on a member of their family.

We cannot go door to door and selectively say who is a responsible owner and who is not. Prevention is paramount. It is reasonable to have laws that prohibit lions and tigers as pets, as it is understood that these animals have innate instincts of aggression and tremendous power. So do pit bulls. It makes sense that pit bulls not be kept as pets.

It is time to act now to protect our citizens. Please enact a law banning pit bulls. The life you save may be your own.

Mary Kousathanas lives in Clearwater. Guest columnists express their own views, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

[Last modified September 3, 2007, 21:44:07]