Tell Overland Park, Kansas to keep their pit bull ban

To send the following letter to the mayor and city council of Overland Park, Kansas, fill in your email address at the end, and click Send Now.

Popcorn700 / wikimedia / December 2016 / CC0 1.0

I’m a supporter for a national, non-profit dog attack victim’s group dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks and supporting victims. Thank you for keeping your citizens safe by banning pit bull-type dogs.

I’m writing to ask you to please keep Overland Park’s pit bull ban.

Outside of Overland Park, doctors are calling pit bulls a “public health crisis.” See this page for a quick overview of just how wide-ranging and devastating the scope of pit bull attacks has now become. https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/pit-bull-attack-database-keywords

It is not an accident that pit bull restrictions are challenged. Cities and towns face systematic heated challenges instigated by people sympathetic to the pit bull lobby [ https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/pit-bull-lobby/ ], which spends tens of millions of dollars annually disputing both local bans and enforcing bills at the House level to prevent Breed Specific Laws (BSL) state-wide [ https://www.dogsbite.org/legislating-dangerous-dogs-bsl-faq.php#statepreemption ].

The purpose of a breed specific law is not to prevent minor bites by pets, but to prevent life-altering, severe bite attacks known as “maulings.” Pet bites typically require band-aids or a few stitches at most; maulings require life flights, amputation, plastic surgery, and rehabilitation therapy. On average, 30 – 50 people are directly mauled to death every year by pit bulls. Hundreds more people die of related causes such as falling downstairs to escape an attack, having a heart attack during the mauling, or being hit by a car while escaping a pit bull attack, and thousands upon thousands more are hospitalized for emergency surgery. Reconstructive surgery with skin grafts, tissue expansion, and scar diminishment often requires multiple procedures over a period of years – with the victims bearing the medical costs.

Pit bulls make up 7% of the dog population but inflict 72% of dog bite-related human fatalities [ https://blog.dogsbite.org/2019/05/2018-dog-bite-fatality-statistics-discussion.html ]. Anyone who understands statistics knows this is enough proof that they are dangerous in our neighborhoods. Most insurers don’t cover pit bulls because they can’t afford the actuarial risk. In Kansas, there have been nearly 81 serious pit bull attacks and maulings in the past four and a half years alone https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/pit-bull-attack-database-keywords?wdt_column_filter[5]=Kansas — and that’s just the ones that made the news.

Twenty-four articles recently published in refereed medical journals conclude that of dogs, pit bulls pose the highest risk of biting, cause the most damage per bite, and inflict the most deaths. Some of these studies examine thousands of hospital cases. [ https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/articles/medical-studies-on-pit-bulls/ ] In addition, Level 1 trauma center dog bite studies from all geographical regions in the U.S. are reporting a higher prevalence of injuries from pit bulls than all other breeds of dogs, a higher severity of injury, and a greater number of required operative interventions. [ https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-studies-level-1-trauma-table-2011-present.php ]

This video gives a short overview of what doctors are now saying about pit bulls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua1eKhrSAac. Remember: the people pressing you for the return of pit bulls to Overland make money off them, and do not swear any oath to protect public health and safety. Medical doctors do swear an oath. Who are you going to trust?

Medical studies recommend parents keep their children away from pit bulls and dogs built like pit bulls. I feel it is critically important that cities keep or enact actual bans since we live in communities and accidents happen. Many children are attacked in their own yard, at playgrounds or at school grounds. Please see maps of attacks reported by the media for the past 5 years for the extensive number and nature of pit bull attacks and deaths in the community. [ https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/map-of-attacks-2020/ ]

Supporting breed specific legislation (BSL) not only increases public safety but decreases pit bull breeding and the number of pit bulls being euthanized at shelters. BSL also cuts down on the transport and re-homing of dangerous pit bulls between states from No Kill shelters, which are desperate to reduce their numbers.

There are 1,160 cities in the USA and 50 countries outside the USA that enact breed specific ordinances because pit bull type-dogs present an unreasonable risk to health and public safety. [ https://www.scribd.com/doc/56495216/Estimated-U-S-Cities-Counties-States-and-Military-Facilities-with-Breed-Specific-Pit-Bull-Laws ]

I hope you will consider these facts when considering restrictions for this kind of dog in your community.

Keep Overland Park's pit bull ban

I'm a supporter for a national, non-profit dog attack victim's group dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks and supporting victims – National Pit Bull Victim Awareness.

I'm writing to ask you to please keep Overland Park's pit bull ban.

Outside of Overland Park, doctors are calling pit bulls a "public health crisis." See this page for a quick overview of just how wide-ranging and devastating the scope of pit bull attacks has now become. https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/pit-bull-attack-database-keywords

It is not an accident that pit bull restrictions are challenged. Cities and towns face heated challenges instigated by people sympathetic to the pit bull lobby [ https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/pit-bull-lobby/ ], which spends tens of millions of dollars disputing both local bans and enforcing bills at the House level to prevent BSL state-wide [ https://www.dogsbite.org/legislating-dangerous-dogs-bsl-faq.php#statepreemption ].

The purpose of a breed specific ordinance is not to prevent minor bites by pets, but to prevent life-altering, severe bite attacks known as "maulings." Pet bites typically require band-aids or a few stitches at most; maulings require life flights, amputation, plastic surgery, and rehabilitation therapy. On average, 30 - 50 people are directly mauled to death every year by pit bulls. Hundreds more people die of related causes such as falling downstairs to escape an attack, having a heart attack during the mauling, or being hit by a car while escaping a pit bull attack, and thousands upon thousands more are hospitalized for emergency surgery. Reconstructive surgery with skin grafts, tissue expansion, and scar diminishment often requires multiple procedures over a period of years – with the victims bearing the medical costs.

Pit bulls make up 7% of the dog population but inflict 72% of dog bite-related human fatalities [ https://blog.dogsbite.org/2019/05/2018-dog-bite-fatality-statistics-discussion.html ]. Anyone who understands statistics knows this is enough proof that they are dangerous in our neighborhoods. Most insurers don't cover pit bulls because they can't afford the actuarial risk. In Kansas, there have been nearly 81 serious pit bull attacks and maulings in the past four and a half years alone https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/pit-bull-attack-database-keywords?wdt_column_filter[5]=Kansas -- and that's just the ones that made the news.

Twenty-four articles recently published in refereed medical journals conclude that of dogs, pit bulls pose the highest risk of biting, cause the most damage per bite, and inflict the most deaths. Some of these studies examine thousands of hospital cases. [ https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/articles/medical-studies-on-pit-bulls/ ] In addition, Level 1 trauma center dog bite studies from all geographical regions in the U.S. are reporting a higher prevalence of injuries from pit bulls than all other breeds of dogs, a higher severity of injury, and a greater number of required operative interventions. [ https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-studies-level-1-trauma-table-2011-present.php ]

This video gives a short overview of what doctors are now saying about pit bulls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua1eKhrSAac. Remember: the people pressing you for the return of pit bulls to Overland make money off them, and do not swear any oath to protect public health and safety. Medical doctors do swear an oath. Who are you going to trust?

Medical studies recommend parents keep their children away from pit bulls and dogs built like pit bulls. I feel it is critically important that cities keep or enact actual bans since we live in communities and accidents happen. Many children are attacked in their own yard, at playgrounds or at school grounds. Please see maps of attacks reported by the media for the past 5 years for the extensive number and nature of pit bull attacks and deaths in the community. [ https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/map-of-attacks-2020/ ]

Supporting breed specific legislation (BSL) not only increases public safety but decreases pit bull breeding and the number of pit bulls being euthanized at shelters. BSL also cuts down on the transport and re-homing of dangerous pit bulls between states from No Kill shelters, which are desperate to reduce their numbers.

There are 1,160 cities in the USA and 50 countries outside the USA that enact breed specific ordinances because pit bull type-dogs present an unreasonable risk to health and public safety. [ https://www.scribd.com/doc/56495216/Estimated-U-S-Cities-Counties-States-and-Military-Facilities-with-Breed-Specific-Pit-Bull-Laws ]

I hope you will consider these facts when considering restrictions for this kind of dog in your community.

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