OP-ED: Pit bulls: Dogs of doom...action needed!

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You KNOW what to tell the paper and its writer!!!

 

Contact AM New York at: info; tel. 212.239.5555; fax

212.239.2827

Contact the author, Jim Watkins, at WB11 TV News: tel. 212.949.1100;

fax 212.210.2591.

 

 

 

-

" L. French " elf8000;

" Animal Defenders " <k-blackman

Friday, August 13, 2004 2:07 PM

Fwd: OP-ED: Pit bulls: Dogs of doom

 

 

> AM New York

> (a free 5x week NYC newspaper)

>

> Thursday, August 12, 2004

>

> The author of this opinion piece is Jim Watkins, a channel 11

(WB11,

> formerly WPIX-TV) news anchorman

>

> Pit bulls: Dogs of doom

>

> It's getting to where it hardly qualifies as a big story anymore.

It

> was

> even buried in most newspapers on Monday, the awful story about a

pit

> bull mauling a baby in Brooklyn. Not to sound insensitive, but

> stories of

> pit bull attacks are becoming as routine as terror warnings.

>

> This latest incident involved a pit bull named Cujo (isn't that

> cute?),

> which attacked a little boy who was all of 3 months old.

>

> There's a fair fight. The dog bit the infant in the head. Luckily,

a

> man

> nearby was able to wrestle the dog away from the child, having his

> flesh

> ripped from his arm for his trouble, as another pit bull -- turns

out

> there were four living in the house -- began gnawing on his back.

To

> bring the scenario to full nightmare status, the man could only

drag

> the

> dog to the roof of the apartment building and throw it over the

> edge. As

> a result, Cujo is no longer with us, but you'll forgive me for not

> mourning him.

>

> Let's take just this year, just the stories that we reported on

the

> WB11

> News at Ten:

>

> ** Jan. 24 -- Police responding to a burglary alarm in Harlem are

> attacked by a pit bull.

>

> ** Feb. 6 -- A pit bull mauls two little girls in the Bronx.

>

> ** May 20 -- Another little girl is attacked by a pit bull, this

> time in

> Brooklyn.

>

> ** June 6 -- A woman becomes a victim of a pit bull in Harlem.

>

> ** July 7 -- In New Jersey, a woman and her dogs are set upon by a

> pit

> bull.

>

> Are you seeing a pattern here? It sure seems like pit bulls attack

> people

> quite often. It's the kind of problem some politicians would turn

> into

> their, so to speak, pet issue. But don't count on it. Pit bulls,

> after

> all, are dogs. And if someone begins regulating pit bulls, owners

of

> all

> kinds of dogs will see it as the slippery slope leading to tougher

> regulation -- maybe even the banning -- of *their* pets. There are

> lots

> of dog owners in New York City, and they form as passionate a

special

> interest group as you'll ever see.

>

> Lawmakers are about as eager to propose bans on pit bulls as they

> are on

> rent control. And so the assault weapon known as the pit bull

> continues

> to be an unconcealed weapon.

>

> I have three little boys, and we can't take a walk without passing

an

> animal on the sidewalk that, if it decided to, could turn them

into a

> meal before anybody could do anything about it. Pit bull owners

will

> say

> -- rather emphatically, I'm guessing -- that *their* dog would

never

> do

> that. To which I return, in closing, to the case of Cujo and the

> infant.

> Quoting from the Daily News article about Monday's

attack: " Several

> neighbors said the dogs had never been a problem before and were

> surprised they went after the baby. "

>

> Maybe people shouldn't be so surprised any more.

>

> Opinions expressed in this space are of the writer, not AM New

York.

>

> ###

>

> This piece is crying out for a response -- both letters to the

> editor and

> an opposing op-ed piece.

>

> Contact AM New York at: info; tel. 212.239.5555; fax

> 212.239.2827

>

> Contact the author, Jim Watkins, at WB11 TV News: tel.

212.949.1100;

> fax

> 212.210.2591.

>

>

>