ShareThisSACRAMENTO, Calif. - Animal shelters across the nation are overloaded with pit bulls, muscular terriers with a reputation for violence and fighting.
Media reports on pit bull maulings are commonplace.
Yet rescue groups are rallying around hundreds of "pits" seized from a dog fighting operation in Missouri, vowing to "rehabilitate" as many as possible and find them new homes. More than two-dozen of the animals have been trucked to Sacramento to be placed in "foster homes" and, eventually, adopted.
Can they be trusted as pets? And considering their overpopulation, does it make sense to rescue pit bulls, especially those that have been raised in fighting environments?
The answer to the first question is yes, said Rick Johnson, executive director of the Sacramento branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "There are many success stories" of pit bulls being safe and trustworthy pets, as long as they are properly trained and controlled, he said.
The second question is more complicated.
Johnson believes every animal deserves a chance at a good home. "But I'm not sure why you would want to bring additional dogs of that kind into the region when we can't find homes for the ones that we have," he said.
Even animal advocate Patty Letawsky, who runs a Web site on behalf of pit bulls, said she has mixed feelings about the effort to bring the Missouri dogs to California.
"We really don't need to be importing pit bulls into the area," Letawsky said. "But I've seen these dogs, and I'm looking at dogs that have a great chance to live. So I go back and forth on it."
The animals are among more than 400 seized from a dog-fighting ring for which 26 people are facing federal and state criminal charges.
Best Friends Animal Society, a rescue group in Utah, coordinated and funded the effort to bring 28 of the dogs to the Sacramento area. Various animal groups across Northern California will place them in foster homes.
John Polis, a spokesman for Best Friends, said the organization has found homes for many pit bulls, including a few formerly owned by football star Michael Vick, who served 19 months in prison on a dog-fighting conviction.
"These were deemed the toughest, most problematic dogs," but after many months of care and training they no longer are threatening, Polis said.
The pit bulls that arrived in Sacramento this week, including several puppies, are healthy and friendly and suffer mostly from a lack of socialization, Polis said.
"We feel that every animal deserves a fair shake," he said.
Jennifer Fearing of the Humane Society of the United States, said pit bulls have strong jaws and powerful bodies but rarely are vicious unless they are mistreated or trained to be fighters.
The breed has paid a price, Fearing said, for a "macho" dog-fighting culture that has taken advantage of one of the dog's most endearing qualities: loyalty.
"The pit bull has become the breed du jour preferred by those in our society who see dogs as a tool to enact their own aggression and machismo," she said. "One of the saddest things about all of this is that their very desire to please humans is what people exploit to get them to fight."
All big, strong dogs, regardless of breed, need intense monitoring, said Johnson of the SPCA. "Pit bulls are terriers, and terriers can be very focused," he said. "That combination of strength and energy is important. People who adopt them need to understand it."
Reach Cynthia Hubert at chubert(at)sacbee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com.
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