Are Pit Bulls born vicious?

LOS ANGELES — Pit Bulls are the most abused, reviled, abandoned and euthanized dogs in the US. More than 500 cities ban the breed or require sterilization, muzzles in public or insurance. Some regulate the size of fences that keep pit Bulls enclosed, or the weight of leashes that keep them restrained.

Even the US Army and the Marines ban Pit Bulls in base housing.

In an Associated Press-Petside.com poll, 53 percent of American pet owners said they believed it was safe to have PitBulls in residential neighborhoods, but 43 percent said the dogs were too dangerous.

Of 60 percent who support breed bans, most put Pit Bulls at the top of the list, according to the poll conducted by GfK Roper public affairs and corporate communications.

Only one state, Ohio, has a statewide Pit Bull law, requiring owners to confine them as “vicious dogs” and carry at least $100,000 in liability insurance.

Is the breed predisposed to be dangerous, or is man to blame? The divide between advocates and detractors is wide.

“Dogs are products of their environment. Dangerous dogs are not born, they are created,” said Adam Goldfarb, director of the pets at risk program for the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C.

More than 250,000 Pit Bulls are maimed or killed in dog fights every year, he said. Up to 75 percent of dogs in many shelters are pit Bulls.

“When you hear about a dog being set on fire or attacked by an ax, it usually involves a Pitbull and it’s not their fault. In some communities, there is a perception that Pit Bulls have less worth than other dogs,” Goldfarb said.

Colleen Lynn of Austin, Texas, is not convinced. She was jogging in Seattle on June 17, 2007, when she was attacked by a Pit Bull that knocked her to the ground and grabbed her arm. The dog was being walked on a leash and was pulled away, but not before Lynn’s arm was broken, she said.

Last year, 33 people were mauled to death and two-thirds of the dogs were pit Bulls, Lynn said. California reported the most fatal maulings with seven.

Under most laws covering the dogs, Pit Bulls are defined as American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, or any dog displaying the physical traits of one of those three.

Lynn, through her DogsBite.org, encourages breed bans. “A ban saves the most human lives by preventing attacks before they occur,” she said.

Jennifer Walsh of Los Angeles does not consider her seven-year-old pit bull TC a threat.

— AP