![Owning a pit bull causes a stir among those who view dogs as dangerous.](https://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/634/d92f442dd78e456cb60b3bd57972227e.jpg)
Owning a pit bull causes a stir among those who view dogs as dangerous.
Square Dog Photography, Getty Images
- American pit bull terriers should not be banned in South Africa, according to an online petition.
- The petition was launched in response to another petition calling for the breed to be banned, following a series of deadly attacks.
- P.Bull advocates accuse backyard breeders of creating crossbreeds that attack humans.
American pit bull terriers make excellent babysitters and toddlers are safe around the dog breed, according to the pet owners and their supporters.
One of the owners of three pit bulls, Mbasa Nyegane, says all of his dogs have pedigree certificates that show the dogs come from a family tree that has no history of attacking humans.
READ | “They should not be kept as pets”: Foundation calls for spaying and neutering of pit bulls
Nyengane is among 38 people who signed an online petition “Don’t ban Pitbulls as pets” after a recent spate of attacks, including a number of deaths, put the breed back in the spotlight. The call to action, launched by Lee-Ann van Staden, was posted online on change.org on Thursday.
“Pit bulls are not the problem. It’s the people who own them,” Van Staden charged in the petition’s title.
This comes after the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation launched its own petition on October 7, calling on the government to impose a total ban on pit bulls after 10-year-old Storm Nuku was killed by his family’s two pit bulls in Gqeberha.
Nyengana and Van Staden disagree with the 37,600 people who signed the foundation’s petition.
According to Nyengane, purebred American pitbulls were not the source of the slaughter of humans, but crossbreeds that resemble purebred pitbulls.
He claimed they were raised by backyard breeders.
READ | Neighbors at war over pit bull attack
Purebred American pit bull terriers with pedigrees will never kill humans because they are historically known as guard dogs who have a great love for humans, especially babies, he said.
“Even presidents in the White House had dogs with children and they could leave them with children. Dogs are very protective of humans,” said Nyengane, who has a young daughter.
He added:
They love humans so much that if you give them care, they show you more of what you expect of them. These dogs are very intelligent, very affectionate. They would go the extra mile for you as the owner, the human.
Dogs were never bred to attack people. Instead, illegal breeders began crossing the dogs with other breeds for exhibitions and illegal dog fighting, he said.
“Some of them are (what we call) pitboers. You can see it’s a combination of a pitbull and a boerboel. They look like pitbulls but they’re not,” he added.
“They’re nanny dogs. People would leave them at home with the kids while they maybe went shopping and these dogs would take care of the kids because they loved them.”
READ | Preschooler’s heartbreaking prayer to save his eyes after being mauled by 3 pit bulls
The Pitbull Federation of South Africa agreed with Nyengane that the dogs behind the spate of attacks were mixed breeds.
“Unfortunately, times have changed. Gone are the days when the majority of these dogs were of known and safe origin. Gone are the days when dogs were selectively bred and placed only with knowledgeable owners. Today’s APBT barely resembles the APBT of yesteryear. Dogs that do this are kept in the hands of pitbull enthusiasts and are never placed with a novice,” said the federation spokesperson. , Lehanda Rheeder.
She advised owners against leaving their children alone with a dog.
“Dogs do not have the mental capacity to ‘protect’ a child and they do not have the mental capacity to feel remorse. It is unfair to demand that of them.”
Rheeder warned that most pedigrees today are not worth the paper they are printed on.
“Many dogs are and have been mass bred from dogs known to be man-biters because owners and breeders want show dogs. Unfortunately, we no longer have that card to play,” Rheeder added.