Pit bulls' reputation takes new hit -65 percent of all fatal dog attacks nationally in 2008

[The Straight Story]

Pit bulls' reputation takes new hit
Doctors, nurses say injuries prove danger,but others disagree.

Weary of mending the mauled victims of dog attacks, doctors and nurses looked back at 15 years of serious bite injuries treated at University Hospital and produced a study likely to offer new ammunition for those looking to ban or regulate pit bulls.

They found that attacks by pit bulls were more likely to kill people than those by other breeds. In fact, all three deaths seen at the hospital during the period — two children and a 90-year-old man — were from pit bull attacks, records showed. A fourth fatality wasn't seen at the hospital, a 64-year-old Von Ormy man also killed by a pit bull, death records show.
...

“Fortunately, fatal dog attacks are rare, but there seems to be a distinct relationship between the severity and lethality of an attack and the breed responsible,” they wrote in an article published in the April issue of the medical journal Annals of Surgery. “These breeds should be regulated in the same way in which other dangerous species, such as leopards, are regulated.”

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Among the grisly statistics the study cites: Pit bulls were responsible for 65 percent of all fatal dog attacks nationally in 2008. In Texas in 2007, seven fatal attacks occurred, six involving pit bulls. Someone in the United States is killed by a pit bull every 14 days. One body part is severed and lost in pit bull attacks every 5.4 days.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Pit-bulls-reputation-takes-new-hit-1370739.php