Leigh Jackson’s Witness Project
Get out the Kleenex, things are about to get real.
Every year, three to four million (!!!) pets are euthanized in the United States. It is believed that 58% of dogs who are put down are pit bull type breeds. In many cases this is due to appalling breed-specific laws in states that outlaw owning any dog that shows pit bull characteristics (whatever that means). A sad state for the breed formerly known as the nanny dog.
To put a face on this horrendous number, artist Leigh Jackson has begun painting portraits of some of the dogs who haven’t made it out of our nation’s shelters in a collection called Witness. The images are based on photographs taken by Josh Liddy and Janelle Nielson.
Side note: If you really want to get bummed, take a look at Josh’s collection of pitties who never made it out from a single shelter on his Facebook page (part 1, part 2, and part 3). When you’re done crying, make sure you check out Josh’s collection of some of the rescues who did make it out. For every hundred good-byes, there’s at least one new beginning. Sigh.
One Response to “Leigh Jackson’s Witness Project”
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I feel for the animals, yet the primary reason breed specific laws (BSL) are being passed all over is that pitbulls and bulldog types are responsible for a growing majority of deaths and serious injuries to people and other animals by dog bite.
All dogs are liable to lose it and bite, but pit bulls and other bulldog types are apparently more likely to to go all out when they lose it. So, they are more likely to maim or kill when they do bite. Also, they’re bred to have strong jaws and great tenacity, so the damage they do is much greater.
Until pitbull advocates address this primary concern, they will not have any success in stopping the BSL trend.
One idea is for them to devise legislation of their own to require pitbull owners to get professional training and assessment of their dogs and to carry insurance. The better the temperament of the dog and the more they are trained, the lower the owner’s premiums would be. Those who cannot afford the insurance also wouldn’t be able to afford the training, so such legislation would discourage dilettantes from owning the breed. Such legislation would also give law enforcement a reason to arrest dogfighters since such operations would likely not bother to pay for the insurance nor training.
They could also support legislation regulating dangerous dogs based on behavior and not breed, holding the owners liable for the damage done by their aggressive or untrained dogs and enabling law enforcement to take such dogs away from careless owners.
Either way, until the the very real danger of pitbulls to human and pet safety is addressed, BSL is going to be the trend.
P.S. Pitbulls might have been known as “nanny dogs” in Victorian times, but people back then also thought radioactivity was a cure-all and it was ok to freely drink opium in the form of laudanum! Needless to say, we know better nowadays.