Pit Bulls are one of the most feared and misunderstood dogs today. New research reveals that this stigma may heavily influence if they'll get adopted or not -- if they'll get a second chance or a death sentence.
Researchers from Arizona State University discovered that dogs labelled as pit bulls could wait three times as long to be adopted from shelters into their forever homes compared to their lookalikes without the label or labelled as another breed. "Less friendly," "more aggressive" and "less attractive" were associated with dogs labelled as pit bulls. Ultimately, the researchers recommend "removing breed labels seems to be an easy way to improve the experience of pit bull type dogs in animal shelters," says Science Daily.
Here are a few more startling statistics about the plight of pit bulls in animal shelters:
-- 200 pit bulls are euthanized in Los Angeles County, CA animal shelters every day (Pit Bull Rescue Central)
--60 percent of the total dogs euthanized are pit bulls (Nat Geo Wild infographic)
-- 30 percent of the total dogs admitted to U.S. animal shelters are labeled as pit bulls (Nat Geo Wild infographic)
-- 86.7 percent of pit bulls admitted to open admission shelters are euthanized (Nat Geo Wild infographic)
Sign and share this petition urging animal rescuers to lose the stigmatizing pit bull label that unnecessarily penalizes innocent dogs. It's a matter of life and death.
Photo Credit: Max Schneider
