A bone to pick with the press

Local dog owners claiming media coverage of pit bull attack on boy not fair

jeff hodson/metro vancouver

Kristen Bergum with her three-year-old American pit bull terrier outside the Vancouver Public Library downtown yesterday.

Published: April 13, 2009 5:34 a.m.

Last modified: April 13, 2009 1:37 a.m.

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About a dozen pit bull owners and their dogs walked through Downtown Vancouver yesterday calling for “fair reporting” in dog attacks.

The walk follows an attack Friday on a three-year-old boy in a Surrey home.

The boy was mauled when the family’s pit bull, which is usually kept chained outside, ran into the house. He suffered severe injuries to his face, but is expected to survive.

Shelagh Begg of the HugABull Advocacy and Rescue Society said she doesn’t dispute the facts of the incident, but said people need to look at why the animal attacked.

“That poor dog didn’t stand a chance,” said Begg, who organized yesterday’s walk down Robson Street. “That’s a dog that has major stress, major frustration, being locked up in a yard 24/7 and then suddenly being allowed in the house.

“It doesn’t know how to interact with people, let alone children.”

Instead of concentrating on the dog’s breed, people should look at tethering and what that can do to a dog. “That wasn’t a breed issue last night,” she said. “That was what happens to dogs tied up in backyards.”

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