Highlights: In a bizarre turn of events last month, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he would ban American XL bullies, a type of pit bull-shaped dog that had recently been implicated in a number of violent and sometimes deadly attacks.

XL bullies are perceived to be dangerous — but is that really rooted in reality?

  • Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    15
    ·
    11 months ago

    A pitbull isn’t even a breed of dog. Grouping then all together as a breed is like grouping together all dogs considered hounds. It’s and umbrella term for the American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, American bulldog, Boston terrier, Boxer, Bull terrier, Bullmastiff, English bulldog, French bulldog, and Staffordshire bull terrier.

    So essentially statistics on pitbull bites are either completely flawed, or just flat out wrong.

    Vox did a very nice piece on pitbull stigma that changed my mind about them.

    • hiddengoat@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      11 months ago

      They’re all intentionally flawed because the people that spew this horseshit always conveniently leave out per capita statistics and the fact that pit bull breeds, as far as they’re typically defined with APBT’s and Staffordshire terriers, are far more populous than any other breed.

      When you actually look at the numbers per capita bullies are not even as “dangerous” as things like German shephers, rottweilers, dobermans, or several other breeds nobody wants to ban.

      • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        70% of fatal bites are by pitbulls, but no where near 70% of dogs are pitbulls. Pits are roughly 6% of dogs.

        • hiddengoat@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          11
          ·
          11 months ago

          Ooh look, you’re partway there.

          Now do some more reading on how many dogs that is, what percentage of the population other breeds account for, and what percentage of pit bulls are responsible for fatal injuries vs what percentage of other breeds are responsible for fatal injuries.

          And then, to actually make it even, separate the pit bull breeds into their individual actual breeds. You did know there were several breeds considered pit bulls, right?

          https://www.pitbullinfo.org/inaccurate-pit-bull-statistics.html

          100% FAlse: “Pitbulls” account for around 65% of fatal dog attacks
          This statistic is derived from grouping together all dog bite-related incidents for the four unique pitbull-type breeds, 20+ bully-type breeds (and their many mixes) that are frequently misidentified as one of the pitbull-type breeds, and the many different mixed breed dogs that can be mislabeled as “pitbulls” (based on their appearance) into one bucket and classifying all of these dogs as “pitbulls” - which will undoubtedly lead to flawed and inflated “statistics”.

          What you find is that PER CAPITA pit bull breeds are not significant outliers when it comes to fatal injuries or attacks. They are similar to other breeds that nobody gives a shit about like rottweilers, dobermans, German shepherds, and other common breeds you can find anywhere that pit bull haters live.

          Black people Pit bulls are only X% of dogs but account for Y% of crime fatal injuries!”

          Stop me if you’ve heard that one. It tends to come from the same type of person.

          • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            11 months ago

            Don’t bring racism into this, this has nothing to do with racism or people.

            And yes, per capita pitbulls do account for far more fatal attacks compared to other breeds.

            And my goodness, you’re actually linking to pitbullinfo, hahahaha. I already did a full teardown of that idiotic site, and its inability to actually read scientific papers with another lemmier. It’s such a massive crap pile of propaganda, trying to disguise itself as a reliable source.

            Every paper they list in their sources either doesn’t say what they claim it does, or says literally the exact opposite. It’s hilarious how bad that site is, and I can’t believe anyone falls for it.