Tuesday, October 27, 2015

PETA & Pit Bulls

The blog post “PETA Joins Forces with Group Working to Kill All ‘Pit Bulls’ Nationwide” by Nathan J Winograd really saddened me. Before this article, I was under the impression that the goal of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was to save all animals from human use. This article by Winograd discusses the opposite. PETA’s goal is to kill pit bulls. Why? That’s a great question. The article doesn’t go on to say why PETA is choosing to kill all pit bulls that go through the shelter door. It shares examples of how PETA carries out this campaign. This is the opposite of the “No Kill” movement.

We discussed no-kill shelters in lecture on October 20th. Nathan Winograd who wrote the blog post about PETA started the “no kill” movement.  Our October 20th lecture discussed the “No Kill Equation” started by Winograd on the left. These examples demonstrate ways of saving pets in   We also discussed the problems associated with this movement in our lecture on October 20th. The first issue was warehousing. It is a problem in many shelters to have room for all the animals that come in. With the “No Kill Movement”, they do not euthanize animals; therefore, they need room for all pets. It would take time and money as well to house them. This also goes along with the hoarding issue. Too many animals in one place can also lead to neglect and not be able to give each animal its needs. Another issue according to our lecture is limited admission within the shelter. On what condition do they accept animals? Who makes those decisions? A lot of these issues depend on the shelter and their approach to the matter. Another problem with the “No Kill Equation” by Winograd is the emotional and physical state of the animal itself. The length of time they are in the shelter is important as well as their exercise and nutrition. This issue also plays into warehousing. These are all issues with the “No Kill Equation” by Nathan Winograd. PETA’s goal to kill pit bulls obviously goes against this movement. 
animal shelters rather than killing them. I think these are practical methods; however, there are many factors such as cost that need to be taken into consideration. It also depends on each shelter and whether they are willing to participate in the “No-Kill Movement”.

I have a close connect with this blog post. My own dog is half Labrador and half Pit Bull. We adopted her from the county humane society. She was cheaper than the other dogs for two reasons. The first was she was a pit bull. The shelter had many terriers, more than any other breed. They had her at a lower price so she could get adopted. The second reason Sasha was cheaper because she was going to get euthanized if no one took her in. The animal shelter was not a “no-kill” and had limited room.  When we met Sasha, she was the sweetest dog. She was well behaved and not the stereotypical pit bull that everyone thinks they are. The blog post by Winograd talks about this stereotype. Winograd explains that there is no such thing  as a pit bull breed. It is just a stereotype for a group of dogs. I went on to research and found out from that the American Pit Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier are what make up the stereotypical “pit bull” (Dogtime.com). Winograd goes on to write that “not only do shelters misidentify breeds as much as 75 percent of the time, but as used by shelters, law enforcement agencies and even courts, ‘Pit Bull’ is not a breed of dog” (Winograd, 2015). It is an interesting point that Winograd makes. However, he does not provide a source to his statistic, which makes it difficult of whether or not it is factual.

 Winograd’s blog post degrades PETA’s anti pit bull campaign. He is for the “no kill” movement and until now I thought PETA was on the same page or they used to be. I found a blog post from 2009 from PETA’s website that talked about their stance that there were for saving pit bulls. They also advocated for spay and neuter of the dogs. A lot has changed since then. I am confused by PETA’s position, as it seems inconsistent. In this video from PETA’s YouTube Channel, it talks about how PETA supports legislation in favor of requiring pit bulls to be spayed or neutered. This video was posted on October 19, 2015.
The video is titled “100 Pit Bulls in 100 Seconds” that shows injured and starving dogs and why they need to stop the increasing population. They do not mention killing the pit bulls but just simply spaying and neutering them to avoid this problem.

After reading Winograd’s blog and seeing PETA’s blog post and video, it is difficult to say which side PETA is on. Are they anti-pit bull or for saving them? I have always known PETA to save animals, not kill them and their blog post and video support that. We watched a documentary in class about Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA. In that video, she was shown going to houses and rescuing dogs that were not cared for.  Most of them were terriers. In my opinion, I think it is important to do our best to save dogs no matter what their breed. I understand the “no kill” movement and the issues that are associated with it. It is a complex issue. I think the bottom line is that it is important to spay and neuter our pets if we don’t have room for them. I think of my own dog, Sasha, and how she was almost euthanatized. I’m very thankful that my family came along and saved her but shudder to think if we did not. This is an issue I take personally and think it is in our best interest to do anything we can to give pets a great life.






Albert, S. (Presenter). (2015, October 20). The Emotional Environment of Animal Sheltering. Lecture presented at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL.

Dogtime.com. (n.d.). American Pit Bull Terrier. Retrieved from Dogtime.com website: http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/american-pit-bull-terrier

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (2015, October 19). 100 Pit Bulls in 100 Seconds [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arPB4FHgwHg


Winograd, N. J. (2015, October 19). PETA Joins Forces with Group Working to Kill All “Pit Bulls” Nationwide. Retrieved from Nathan J Winograd website: http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=15754

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