SRUV writes to WGAL8 TV

To:  WGAL 8

I noted with interest your interview with Chief Margeson of the Carlisle Borough Police.

I commend WGAL 8 for coverage of the recent Pit Bull attacks in Carlisle. I note, however, that the wrap of the interview included a light-hearted reference to a study published in AABS (Applied Animal Behavior Science), which claims that Chihuahuas and Dachshunds are more aggressive than Pit Bulls. This is farcical, considering the damage inflicted during a Pit Bull attack. The AABS report has been widely cited by Pit Bull advocates but has been criticized by legitimate animal researchers.

At least four people have died from Pit Bull attacks already in 2011 (Fatal Pit Bull Attacks). In addition there have been numerous non-fatal attacks on humans and uncounted attacks on animals including horses, llamas, and of course other dogs. Many of these attacks are too horrific to recount. Pit Bull advocates ignore these attacks and can point to no such horrors from other breeds. Reporting which ignores the horror of Pit Bull attacks dishonors the victims, human and animal, who have suffered from them.

Information on Pit Bull attacks can be found at Dogsbite.org and elsewhere.

Cordially,
SRUV

Hall of Shame Standards

NOTE: This page has been revised and updated. See new version HERE.

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SRUV received an overwhelming response to the previous HOS post. In response to suggestions we are making the following changes:

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Any journalist who has published a Pit Bull advocacy article in a newspaper, blog, or website is eligible for the SRUV HOS. Nominees will be awarded points based on the following standards:

1. The journalist receives one point for each term or rhetorical device from the Maul Talk Manual;
2. The journalist receives one point for each image of a Pit Bull with infants, in affectionate poses with adults, or in a winsome pose;
3. The journalist receives a point for each Pit Bull advocate cited; 
4. The journalist receives a point for each citation or link from a fake science source such as the NCRC (National Canine Research Council);
5. The journalist receives a point for each perceived expert cited or quoted.

SRUV will not attempt to score inaccuracies, distortions, or omissions.

SRUV accepts nominations from the general public. Please send a link to the article, along with any supporting links, history, or documents.

Hall of Shame

Revised: Dec 25, 2012; 16:16 GMT

SRUV nominates Tim Long, Editor of the Mint Hill Times, to the Hall of Shame for the month of January 2011.

Mr Long published the remarkable story Are Pit Bulls Mean Dogs? We Ask the President of a Pit Bull Association. The story consists of four softball questions lobbed to Michael Davis, the President of the National American Pit Bull Terrier Association.

Dozens of similar advocacy stories are regularly published but Mr Long's is exceptional for the following reason. Not far from Mint Hill is the town of Waxhaw, NC, where five year old Makayla Woodward was killed by two Pit Bulls not two weeks before Mr Long wrote his story. His ghastly defense of pit bulls on the heels of this horrific attack demonstrates a callous disregard.

The day after Mr Long's story appeared a horse was attacked by a pit bull in Mint Hill, the second time in ten days that Joker had been attacked by the same dog. The owner of the horse, Bill Williamson, suffered a heart attack but was revived by a defibrillator. These attacks followed the earlier attack (December 22) on a 6 year old child and her grandmother, Muriel Price, also from Mint Hill.