Pit Bull

RE THE letter "Pit bull of the Week": As a volunteer for the PSPCA/ACCT, let me answer your questions, Mr. Felix. First, the reason that some pit bulls attack anyone is because they are trained to do so by their idiot owners. And by the way, there isn't an attack "every week. " Second, the reason that the Pet of the Week is always a pit bull is that so much of this city's population thinks it's cool to get a pit bull, either for fighting or for breeding (to make money)

The popping sound of firecrackers is common around Ditman and Levick streets in Tacony, neighbors say. But last night that sound came from a gun used to shoot a pit bull in the head. It was the second pit bull that was found killed in a public area in two weeks. About 10 p.m. last night, residents on Ditman heard a "pop, pop" but thought nothing of it until cops arrived in the back alley way about an hour later. Police found a brown pit-bull mix laying in a puddle of its own blood, tied to a fence post with a gunshot wound on the side of its head.

You never realize just how a news story affects you, your family and everyone around until something happens to you. I am speaking about the latest pit-bull mauling. When my son was attacked, one of the first things I was told was that the dog was a pit bull. If you are like us and most others, the first thing that came to our minds was "Thank God it didn't kill him or get his face. " As our son continues to try to make his 8-year-old mind stronger and less fearful and his body tries to heal, we deal with scarring and other procedures he might have to endure.

A Philadelphia legislator has filed a bill designed to end fighting contests by dogs and other animals that have become a fad in some areas of his district. Rep. Gordon Linton, a Democrat who represents sections of Northwest Philadelphia, filed the bill this week stating that his proposal would make people who promote or sponsor pit-bull contests subject to stiff fines and jail terms. He said legislation setting a stiffer penalty was necessary because existing laws had failed to halt the growing practice.

MY 6-YEAR-OLD daughter was recently attacked by a pit bull, with some pretty serious lacerations. When I called police, they referred me to animal control. The people who own the dog were only given a citation and a fine. The dog got away with no repercussions at all. The police - I mean "animal control" - said to call the next time the dog was outside without a leash. I thought there was a leash law requiring all dogs to be controlled while outside in public. Next time could prove fatal.

A pit bull terrier escaped from its pen in Levittown on Sunday night, charged into a backyard birthday party, bit one boy and was shot by Bristol Township police as it chased two other boys on a bicycle, police said yesterday. The dog's owner, Terry Thompson of Aspen Lane, told police he was not home when the dog, named Rosco, got out of his pen. Thompson said he believed that someone had lifted a fastener that locked the gate. About 7:30 p.m. police got a complaint of a loose dog causing havoc at a neighbor's birthday party for a 7-year-old girl.

She's brown with a white belly, weighs about 50 pounds and has sweet disposition. Her name is Roxie, and she's a 2-year-old pit bull. Her owners don't know if she's still alive. About six weeks ago, she was snatched by two carloads of teen-aged dognappers right out of her North Philadelphia back yard. The thieves tricked the friendly pooch into coming close to the gate for a cuddle. Then they scooped her up, threw her in the back of their car and sped off. What Roxie left behind were tears and heartbreak as her owners, Ira and Patricia Williamson, grieve for their sweet pet as they would for a lost child.

They can be great pets and great fighters. In the wrong hands they can, and are, used as instruments of crime and terror. Originally bred in England to fight bears or bulls in a pit, they are pit bulldogs. American pit bulls were bred to fight each other, mostly in the rural South. Until seven or eight years ago, pit bulls were rarely seen in northern cities. Now thousands can be found in Philadelphia - some in the wrong hands. Recently, the vicious use of pit bulls manifested itself in several incidents in Philadelphia: Five youngsters were bitten Dec. 15 when two pit bulls ran amok among children playing in the schoolyard of St. Edward's parish school in North Philadelphia.

HOW MANY more attacks by these four-legged menaces are we going to have to endure before City Council does something? These pit bulls are a serious drain on the quality of life meter - just ask the poor woman going to work at 6:30 in the morning. I propose a law similar to the one that applies when a sex offender moves into your neighborhood. You should have the location and the name of the owners of these four-legged weapons posted around the streets to warn people that they're entering pit-bull territory - akin to a deer crossing.

Britain, a nation of dog lovers, has found a breed it hates: the American pit bull terrier. And under a ban on fighting dogs now being rushed into law, as many as 10,000 pit bulls now living in Britain could be put to death. After a series of attacks by bull terriers against children in the last few days, the government on Tuesday banned the import of pit bulls. And yesterday, it announced that it would seek to eliminate the breed from British soil. "It is clear that such dogs have no place in our homes," said Prime Minister John Major, at whose insistence the measure was drafted.

Animal welfare officials are investigating the death of a dog whose burned body was found this afternoon in Fairmount Park near 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue in the Strawberry Mansion section. The Pennsylvania SPCA said a necropsy will be performed to determined the cause of death. The male pit-bull type dog had been wrapped in a blanket and set on fire, the SPCA said. Anyone with information was asked to the Pennsylvania SPCA's anticruelty hotline at 1-866-601-7722.

Down-on-their-luck residents of Tent City, a homeless enclave in a wooded area in Bristol Borough, have next to nothing — a few tarps, blankets, and clothes. Some have a heater to warm their shelter and a chair to sit outside. There's no electricity, no running water. By Monday, they'll need to pack up their meager belongings and find another place to call home. Their refuge is about to be leveled for a warehouse. "I have nowhere else to go," 46-year-old John Haacke said Monday as eviction loomed.

MANILA, Philippines - Sixteen pit bulls rescued from a dogfighting ring in the Philippines were euthanized Tuesday and dozens more are likely to be because there are no facilities to rehabilitate them and prevent them from reappearing in underground arenas. Roughly 300 dogs were rescued in separate raids late Friday in Laguna province south of Manila, said Anna Cabrera of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society. Seventeen with the worst injuries were put down over the weekend, and the health of the living dogs and the progress of rehabilitating them will determine how many of them ultimately survive.

Left for dead, a severely injured pit bull found in Chester County on Monday has undergone a dramatic recovery and provided inspiration to animal-control officers. The dog's condition when a Caln Township police officer found him in a ravine near Coatesville was so horrific that observers thought he had been hit by a car and likely would not survive. On Thursday, the dog dubbed Radar by officers from the Chester County SPCA - a name connoting what they perceived as his quiet, soulful pleas for help - cavorted with balls, Frisbees, people, even TV cameras, outside the agency's West Goshen building.

A pit bull was stabbed to death Tuesday night during an argument between two men in Overbrook, authorities said. Police arrived at a house on Jefferson Street near 55th Street about 8:45 in response to calls about a fight and found that the dog had been stabbed at least six times, authorities said. A man in his 30s, "covered in blood," was arrested at the house, said Wendy Marano, Pennsylvania SPCA spokeswoman. The dog's owner was not injured. Police said they were unsure about the dog's age or gender.

AN ARGUMENT between two men in Overbrook ended with a pit bull being stabbed to death last night, authorities said. About 8:45 p.m., cops responded to calls about a fight at a house on Jefferson Street near 55th and found that the suspect - identified only as a man in his 30s - turned his aggression from the man he was arguing with to the man's dog. "The argument escalated, and it resulted in the friend of the owner stabbing the dog -...

Curious George, the young pit bull found starving on a Delaware County road, will be spending the holidays in his new home. On Tuesday, the pooch was presented to his new owners, Aimee and Eric Tysarczyk of Bryn Mawr, before a horde of photographers and reporters who captured every doggy smooch on camera. George took the event in stride, even showing off some new tricks for the crowd. The Montgomery County couple had been looking to adopt a dog when they spotted George's photo and story on the Delaware County SPCA website.

A pit bull attacked a 19-year-old woman Wednesday morning in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia, severing her right ear, police said. The victim, who was not identified, was having a seizure when she was attacked by the family's dog in a home on the 5200 block of Arlington Street, police said. The woman was reportedly in stable condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A police spokeswoman said officers recovered the ear, put it on ice, and took it to the hospital.