The hashtag #PitBullDropOff is causing a lot of worry among animal lovers on the internet, with posters appearing to pledge adoption of pit bulls just to have them euthanized. The posts claim they’re doing this in order to keep children safe.
KREM’s sister station in Phoenix KPNX verified the hashtag originated on the anonymous forum 4chan, where users were claiming to begin the trend in order to provoke hysteria among pit bull owners. It does not appear the posts correlate with an actual movement to euthanize pit bulls in mass, and SCRAPS officials in Spokane said they have not seen evidence of a movement in the area.
“SCRAPS doesn’t euthanize for the public, and we would refuse to euthanize a healthy, well-behaved animal even if we did,” said Janet Dixon, Special Programs Manager at SCRAPS. “Any organization or vet that is ethical can and should refuse to do such a thing.”
These kinds of debates around pit bulls come up because of the perceived aggression of the breed. KREM’s sister station WFAA in Dallas did a ‘Verify’ segment on pit bulls last year and found that while they are strong enough to do serious damage when they do bite, they’re about average among breeds when it comes to aggression towards people.
