To send the following letter to Winnipeg City Council, just fill in your email address at the end, and click Send Now! (Afterwards, you’ll get a quick email link to click to confirm you’re a real person.)

“I’m a supporter of National Pit Bull Victim Awareness, an international, non-profit 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.

The purpose of breed specific legislation (BSL) bans is not to prevent “simple” bites, but rather to prevent maulings. Bites require band-aids or a few stitches; maulings require amputation, plastic surgery, and rehabilitation therapy.

Thousands of people in Canada and the US with severe, life-changing injuries are being hospitalized for emergency surgery every year after pit bull maulings. On average, at least 30 people are killed every year. Hundreds more die of “causes related to the attack” such as falling downstairs to escape a pit bull attack, having a heart attack during the mauling, or being hit by a car escaping an attack. Medical doctors are now terming pit bulls a “public health crisis.”

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 they are dangerous in our neighborhoods. The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) notes most insurers don’t cover pit bulls because they can’t afford the actuarial risk. (https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/breaking-news/pit-bulls-and-rottweilers-scare-insurers-away-ibc-44324.aspx). Can you, as lawmakers?

Academic journal articles published in the last two years, some examining thousands of cases, conclude pit bulls pose the highest risk of biting and cause the most damage per bite, (https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Articles-in-Refereed-Medical-Journals.pdf) in all geographical regions in the U.S. Level 1 trauma center dog bite studies are reporting a higher prevalence of injuries from pit bulls than all other breeds of dogs, a higher severity of injury, and require a greater number of operative interventions (https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-studies-level-1-trauma-table-2011-2018.php).

Medical studies recommend parents keep their children away from 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 what should be safe spaces — in their own yard, at playgrounds or at school grounds — by family pit bulls or pit bulls belonging to a neighbor.

Please take a moment to scroll through this list of serious pit bull maulings documented by the media in the past five years (https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/pit-bull-attack-database/). You can search by city or province. Look at the level of first responder engagement required in these reports, from several armed police at a time to life flights, and picture the “after-the-fact” human and financial cost of all this. You will also see the political outrage and call for action against pit bulls that is growing.

The same data is pictured visually in our maps of attacks. (https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/attacks/map-of-attacks-2019/).

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 importation of potentially dangerous pit bulls across the border from American No Kill shelters, which are desperate to reduce their numbers.

It is not an accident that your ban is being challenged. Politically active pit-bull promoters are currently targeting 265 Canadian towns and cities (outside Ontario) that have restrictions or bans on pit bulls. They targeted Montreal and Quebec and are currently targeting Ontario. A CBC Fifth Estate segment by Mark Kelly examined the influence of the American pit bull lobby on Canada, yet few cities are aware that this is a coordinated and well-financed effort (https://youtu.be/iFa8HOdegZA). The vast majority of people and organizations urging you to rescind the pit bull ban actually profit from pit bulls financially in some way.

In addition to Canadian cities and towns with restrictions, there are 1,160 U.S. cities and 50 countries which enact breed specific laws because pit bull type-dogs present an unreasonable and unjustifiable 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).

Please contact National Pit Bull Victim Awareness via their Facebook page for more information (https://www.facebook.com/NationalPitBullVictimAwareness/).

Thank you for your time. I know you are being heavily lobbied by a vocal few whose top priority is not public safety. I hope you will weigh these facts, and the safety of the silent majority, when considering restrictions for this kind of animal in your community.”