The effect of breed-specific bylaws on city pit bull terrier killing rates
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
This table shows pit bull killing as a share of shelter killing in 11 major U.S. cities–only one of which kills more pit bulls than the national average rate per 1,000 humans.
Cities with legislation either prohibiting pit bulls or requiring pit bulls to be sterilized are shown in boldface.
The first data column shows how many pit bulls were killed either in one recent year or as an average of recent years, depending on what information was available.
The second column shows the numbers of pit bulls killed per 1,000 human residents of each city per year.
The third column shows the contribution that killing pit bulls made to the total city rate of shelter killing of dogs and cats per 1,000 people.
The bottom line states national totals projected from the sum of data gathered for our 2009 shelter killing survey.
Cities with legislation either prohibiting pit bulls or requiring pit bulls to be sterilized are shown in boldface.
The first data column shows how many pit bulls were killed either in one recent year or as an average of recent years, depending on what information was available.
The second column shows the numbers of pit bulls killed per 1,000 human residents of each city per year.
The third column shows the contribution that killing pit bulls made to the total city rate of shelter killing of dogs and cats per 1,000 people.
The bottom line states national totals projected from the sum of data gathered for our 2009 shelter killing survey.
City Pits bulls killed/yr Per 1m ppl %
Denver 275 avg. .14 3%
Miami/Dade County 800 .33 4%
New York City 2,750 .33 14%
San Francisco 304 post BSL .38 29%
452 pre BSL .56 43%
Seattle 411 avg. .68 37%
Los Angeles 13,000 .73 11%
Philadelphia 1,222 .84 4%
Milwaukee 1,438 .85 18%
Cincinnati 1,121 1.34 10%
Houston 8,867 2.28 12%
Indianapolis 2,500 2.89 17%
Phoenix/Maricopa 10,000 3.54 24%
Indianapolis 2,500 2.89 17%
Phoenix/Maricopa 10,000 3.54 24%
———————————————————-
U.S. TOTAL 967,302 3.15 21%
U.S. TOTAL 967,302 3.15 21%
Philadelphia appears to kill relatively few pit bulls as a share of shelter killing chiefly because it has the highest rate of total shelter killing on the chart: 19.9 per 1,000 people.
Note that pit bulls are a much smaller part of total shelter killing in Cincinnati than in either Milwaukee or Indianapolis, two cities of very similar demographic profile.
