PIT BULLS & BSL

Today's Radio Times program on NPR included an interesting segment entitled "Who's to Blame for Pit Bull Attacks: The Dogs or Their Owners?" Radio Times host Marty Moss-Coane interviewed Debora Bresch, an attorney and ASPCA Director of Government Relations, Eastern Region, and Colleen Lynn, a survivor of a pit-bull attack and founder of Dogsbite.org, a public education website about dangerous dogs, "specifically pit bull type dogs."

Here's an introduction to the segment from the Radio Times web page:

Which end of the leash to blame after dog attacks? And should there oughta be a law? Three pit bull attacks on humans over the weekend in Philadelphia, including the fatal mauling of a 38-year-old Fishtown woman by one of her mother's six pit bulls, have brought the controversial kind of dog back into the headlines. They have raised long-simmering arguments over who should be held responsible after a dog attack, the dog or the dog owner?

The segment is of interest to our course not only because of the recent dog attacks in Philadelphia, but also because it concerns important issues regarding animal companionship--one of the primary ways in which humans and nonhuman animals relate. And breed-specific legislation (BSL) has a very real impact both on the lives of companion animals and on their caretakers.

Click here to listen to the segment.

Pit Bull Rescue Central is a good educational resource that debunks some of the myths and fallacies associated with pit bulls.