Is the Puppy Bowl Pro-Pit Bull? Animal Planet Packs Lineup With Adorable 'Bullies'

Is the Puppy Bowl Pro-Pit Bull? Animal Planet Packs Lineup With Adorable "Bullies"

By Hannah Sentenac Fri., Feb. 1 2013 at 11:35 AM

Animal Planet/Keith Barraclough

Cash, a 15-week-old pit bull who "loves belly rubs."

With shows like Pit Boss and Pit Bulls and Parolees as part of their programming, Animal Planet has done more than a little to showcase the work of pit bull rescuers and change misconceptions about the breed. And in their latest effort to promote these pups, the cable channel has packed their annual ode to cuteness -- the Puppy Bowl -- with mini versions of the much-maligned pooches.

This year's utterly adorable starting lineup features two purebred pit bulls and four pit bull mixes out of a total of 31 pups. With those kind of numbers, they're definitely making a statement.

But were the bowl to take place in Miami, these six fluffy balls of fur wouldn't be allowed, thanks to Dade County's 20-plus-year ban on pit bulls. Efforts to overturn the legislation failed in a ballot measure last year. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade is the only county in Florida with an active ban, and cities like Cincinnati have recently voted to overturn similar BSL.

There's no doubt that Animal Planet is one of the major players when it comes to changing public opinion about these pups.

Shorty Rossi, star of Pit Boss (a show about a group of little people in the entertainment industry who rescue and rehabilitate pit bulls) was actually in the 305 last year to help stump for the breed. He's stoked that his network is doing so much to support bullies. "They've done a tremendous job," Rossi says.

Rossi has five pit bulls of his own, including his certified service dog, Hercules. He believes that Animal Planet and shows like his have made a huge impact when it comes to raising awareness.

"When I used to travel with Hercules it would be like parting the red sea at LAX. Now it's like, I tell people, if you pet him one more time or get one more picture we're gonna miss our flight! In the airports, the supermarkets that we travel we get people saying, 'Because of you we know how a pit bull really is, because of you and your show we don't believe the hype.'"

Cultist reached out to the nation's largest pro-BSL organization, DogsBite.org, for comment on the issue, but didn't receive a response.

Tags:

Animal Planet, Puppy Bowl

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rebtris

What part of Pit bulls are BRED to KILL do people not understand? Just what the innocent kids and pets of America need.. more people keeping pit bulls.. NOT!

maxgold20

1 Like

Quote from the recent study - "Mortality, Mauling, and Maiming by Vicious Dogs 2011"

"Over a recent 3-year period from January 2006 to March 30, 2009, a total of 98 dog bite fatalities involving 179 dogs occurred; 60% of the deaths were caused by pit bulls, and 76% were caused by pit bulls and Rottweilers. A total of 113 pit bulls were involved in these deaths, and they accounted for 63% of the dogs involved in fatal attacks. If the risk of fatal attack is normalized to Labrador Retrievers and Labrador-mix breeds (the most common registered dog in the United States), the relative risk of death related to pit bull attacks is more than 2500 times higher.

In one 85-day period from July to September 2008, pit bulls were involved in 127 dog attacks, 57% of which occurred off the owner’s property. In these attacks, 158 people were injured, 63% of them severely; 10% of the victims suffered severed body parts; and 6 victims were killed. 12 In the same period, 128 dangerous pit bulls had to be shot to death by police officers or citizens. A closer look at these figures indicates that 1 person is killed by a pit bull every 14 days, a person loses a body part to a pit bull attack every 5.4 days, 2 persons are injured by pit bulls each day, and 1.5 pit bulls are shot to death each day.

Dog bites are a serious public health concern in the United States and across the world. They result in substantial emotional and physical trauma and in a substantial economic cost to the victims and to society. Fortunately, fatal dog attacks are rare, but there seems to be a distinct relationship between the severity and lethality of an attack and the breed of dog responsible. The unacceptable actuarial risk associated with certain breeds of dogs (specifically, pit bulls) must be addressed. These breeds should be regulated in the same way in which other dangerous species, such as leopards."

Sounds like the ultimate pet for a sociopath. Also, these Pitbull propaganda shows fail to mention how the serious maimings maulings and killings at the jaws of Pitbulls have increased dramatically ever since they began TO PEDDLE THEIR LIES ABOUT THE BREED. All they have achieved is to support and increase these regular and serious attacks as well as the mass euthanasia rate of Pitbulls. You can't expect anything more from a Sociopathic Pitbull Loving TV Show.

HOBO87

2 Like

You won't hear back from dogsbite.org because they are a bunch of sick puppies. They spread false information they must know is false. I don't what their problem is.

Kimberly Lynne

3 Like

Alex, it's clear you've not met many (or any) pit bulls judging from your profoundly ignorant comment. I get that it was meant in a way to be satirical, however you missed the mark - by a lot. The vast majority of pit bulls (and the breeds that fall under this broad term) are just dogs. They're family dogs. They're service dogs. They're police dogs. They're companions. They're not vicious zombie-face-eating abominations. When you lump a large amount of different breeds into one category and use the collective term 'pit bull' to label them as one, and then you gather statistical data regarding this group which is now known as one, don't you think the data will be skewed? And just to be clear, there are about 12 breeds and then another dozen more crossbreeds labeled under the catchall term "pit bull". That is not to say there aren't a fair share of dogs of these breeds who are poor representations. Because, let's be honest, there are poor representations of every breed, everywhere. But to say a dog is inherently dangerous due to breed and breed alone is ridiculous.