How many more serious injuries and deaths involving pit bulls
must we tolerate before we take meaningful action to curb these
frequently dangerous animals?
How many more serious injuries and deaths involving pit bulls must we tolerate before we take meaningful action to curb these frequently dangerous animals? In unincorporated parts of Santa Clara County, we might not have to wait that long.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager has proposed that the county require that all pit bulls be spayed or neutered. His proposal, which would only affect unincorporated parts of the county, is an understandable reaction to yet another fatal mauling in the Bay Area involving this breed. In the most recent case, last month a two-year-old Concord boy was mauled to death by his step-grandfather’s unaltered pit bulls.

Spaying and neutering is a proven method for reducing aggression in dogs. The Humane Society of the United States advises, “Intact dogs are more likely to display dominance, territorial, and protective aggressive behavior.”

We hope that the full board approves Yeager’s proposal and that Morgan Hill City Council follows suit with similar legislation. We have far too many local examples of the danger that pit bulls present:

  • In Morgan Hill in 1987, a two-year-old boy was mauled to death by a neighbor’s pit bull.

  • In Gilroy in 2001, a pit bull attacked a woman walking her dog, inflicting life-threatening injuries. It took three neighbors — one armed with a broom handle and another armed with a hammer — to get the dog to release her. The woman’s dog also received extensive injuries.

  • In Gilroy in May, a pit bull killed a neighbor’s pug after breaking through a fence.

While pit bulls might not have the highest bite rate among dogs – that honor goes to dachshunds, according to University of Pennsylvania researchers – they are a breed that was developed for aggression; what’s more, pit bulls, unlike dachshunds, have the strength to seriously injure and kill humans. A 1996 Centers for Disease Control study found that pit bulls are the breed most likely to be involved in fatal attacks on humans.

Strength and aggression create a dangerous combination, and it makes sense to require that pit bull owners take the responsible step of reducing their dogs’ aggressive tendencies by having them spayed or neutered.

It will save lives.

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