Pit Bull Attacks and Dogfighting in Illinois: 12/01/2012

Dec 24, 2012 Pit bull bites man in front of store; owner bails

Chicago - A West Town man was bitten by a pit bull tied outside a grocery store. The owner just left the man bleeding.
Witnesses say that she regularly ties her pit bull out on the street even though it is "crazy, not normal."
Just another responsible pit bull owner - blaming the victim and running away.

Read more:
DNAinfo.com Chicago

Dec 16, 2012 Pit bulls killed by police during drug bust

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Dec 06, 2012 Dog fight bust in Dolton, IL

UPDATE: photos of the dogfighters who, if pit bull advocates have their way, will get no jail time in exchange for blood money to put fighting dogs in your neighbor's home:

Dolton - Eight people were arrested and four pit bulls were recovered when police broke up a dog fight in progress. The dog fighters scurried like rats every which way and six of them were found hiding in the rafters - like rats.

Chicago area media, well-tutored by the pit bull promoters, reported that the dogs "looked like pit bulls" or didn't ascribe a breed to them at all and reported that the dogs had been "rescued."

Here is a fight bust dog next to a champion pure bred fighting pit bull:

And as usual, because this is Chicago, commenters are hoping that the "poor babies" can be adopted out. No thank you. I do not want a fight bust dog owned by a nincompoop who thinks they have to be forced to fight landing in my neighbor's yard.

Here is what these bad boys are all about:

Dec 05, 2012 Chicago police shoot pit bull sicced on them by thieves

Chicago - One of the six people who robbed a pizza delivery driver released a pit bull to attack pursuing Chicago police. Officers shot the pit bull twice, but it survived. Police caught all six robbers and no one was hurt.

This occurred just a few days after the Seattle Times published a story about a new study by the NCRC, a pit bull advocacy group, that laments the number of dogs shot by police as largely avoidable if only police understood dog body language. Why is a pit bull advocacy group leading the charge? Statistics of police shootings of dogs from a couple of Illinois cities might make that clear:

Between 2008 and July 2012 Elgin police were forced to shoot 23 dogs, 20 of which were pit bulls.
In the same time period Aurora police shot 8 dogs, 5 or 6 of which were pit bulls.
Illinois Pit Bull Attacks has found 78 accounts of pit bulls being shot. Roughly 76 were shot by police.

Now it becomes clear why the NCRC has published this study - because the vast majority of dogs shot by police are pit bulls.

The Seattle Times article leads with this statement:

There has never been a documented case of a dog killing a police officer.

I'm just spit balling here, but that might be because police officers are armed and are willing and able to fire on dogs to protect themselves when they are threatened.

There certainly are cops who wrongly shoot pets. Officers need education and discipline to avoid that. However, very few of the 76 or so police shootings of pit bulls that have been reported in this blog suggest that the officer was unjustified. Often, pit bulls can only be stopped from attacking by shooting them.

But, if cops seem more willing to shoot all kinds of dogs since pit bulls have come on the scene and more and more cops are witnessing pit bull attacks believing they are typical of all dog bites, well, then that is simply yet another way that selfish pit bull owners are hurting us and our normal dogs by bringing their fighting dogs into our communities.

The only way to make sure fewer pit bulls are shot is to make sure there are fewer pit bulls.

Pit bull owners, it might be noted, give their blessings to cops who shoot their pit bulls when the pit bulls are attacking them, the owner.

Read more:
CBS local
Chicago Tribune
Police One

Related posts:
Sep 13, 2012 Berwyn pit bulls attack woman, police officer and kill small dog
Aug 06, 2012 Police: South Elgin officer kills pit bull attacking family
It is Time, Elgin
Apr 12, 2012 Cook County Cop Details Off Property, Unprovoked, Serial Attack to Defend Pit Bulls
Jun 29, 2011 Victim Of Dog Attack Speaks Out
Nov 25, 2010 Rockford alderman, daughter bitten in pit bull attack
Aug 07 2010 Pit Bulls Attack 5 Year Old Boy