Dangerous dogs: Let go of the criminal's best friend

The savaging to death of a five-year-old girl in Britain must serve as another reminder of how dangerous pitbulls are and how grossly unsuitable they are as pets. These, and other similar vicious breeds, should be banned completely by law and the breeding of them made a criminal offence.
The blood-crazed thugs who organise dogfights and badger-baiting sessions primarily use pitbulls or dogs that are the result of crossbreeding with them. They are pitted against each other as dozens, or in some case hundreds, of sadistic louts stand around egging them on, placing large bets on the outcome of fights.
Pitbulls are also the favoured “pets” of drug dealers and other undesirable elements. That leaves only a tiny minority of misguided pet owners who would have to be deprived of their fetish for macho monsters in the event of a ban.

There is no valid excuse for being in possession of such creatures. They belong in a museum alongside the remnants of dinosaurs and extinct woolly mammoths.
Pitbulls, though innocent in the sense that animals cannot be held ethically responsible for their actions, are a high risk to children and adults alike.
Must we wait for a tragedy like the one that has left an English family grieving? I say the time has come to remove these lethal killers from our streets and homes.

John Fitzgerald
Callan, Co Kilkenny