Mama Girl is a 5-year-old American pit bull terrier mix looking for a forever home through Pitty Love Rescue.
City Newspaper did a story this week on what they called “pit bull paranoia” and the city of Rochester. In the article, writer Christine Carrie Fien points out that Rochester Animal Services doesn’t adopt out pit bulls and also writes that a local rescue group is considering not adopting pit bulls to city of Rochester residents.
It’s a short article and a topic that definitely needs more discussion, and if you read the comments from readers you can see that the pit bull debate rages on – sometimes despite the facts.
City of Rochester policy, unfortunately, requires that any pit bull that’s surrendered by its owner, or impounded or picked up as a stray and not reclaimed by its owner, must be euthanized. It can’t be adopted out and it can’t be sent to a rescue organization.
As a volunteer for RAS, I can understand how the pit bull climate in the city led to that policy (translation: many pit bull owners in the city often breed their dogs for aggression and fighting, let them roam streets, don’t have them neutered/spayed, and are otherwise not responsible). But believe me, no one likes having to put down any dog. We have, fortunately, been able to adopt out some great pit bull/mixed breed dogs and puppies, which gives hope that maybe one day the policy will change.
So why do pit bulls have such a bad rap? And how reliable are statistics when deeming any dog “dangerous”? Continue reading
