Haddonfield resident Shannan Herckner responds to the “Lending a Helping Paw” cover story.
While reading the cover story “Lending a Helping Paw” in the May 10–16 edition of The Haddonfield Sun, I was immediately struck by Mrs. Schaffer’s comment that she “relates stereoptyping pit bulls to stereotyping people.” Mrs. Schaffer, I ask that you not stereoptype people who have a rational discomfort with pit bulls residing in neighborhoods with children.
On Roberts Avenue alone, there have been three attacks by three different pit bulls within the last five years. One was a nearly fatal attack on another dog and two were actual human attacks. In March, my 11-year-old daughter was chased by a pit bull that our neighbors had recently rescued. Thankfully the pit bull listened to his owner and stopped running after her. This same pit bull attacked our next-door neighbor a few weeks later while he was walking by on the sidewalk. The pit bull bit punctured the arm of his leather jacket — imagine if that had been my daughter. In another attack, a different pit bull terrier bit the face of a woman bending down to pet him.
According to DogsBite.org, the two most dangerous breeds of dog in the United States are pit bull terriers and rottweilers. These two breeds were responsible for three out of every four fatal dog attacks on humans from 2005 to 2015.
Pitbull advocates — please stop pushing your agenda that these dogs are misunderstood. We are not saying that all pit bulls will attack. In fact, many of us who are dog owners like myself think pit bulls can be adorable and friendly. We are simply using rational thought and published statistics to back up our concerns about this type of dog in our neighborhoods. Do people really feel that all of these published reports citing the dangers of pit bulls are a conspiracy theory meant to target this breed?
Clearly Mrs. Schaffer’s therapy dog Aladdin is an amazing dog and her rescue efforts are admirable and respected. I only ask that she understand and respect those of us that have legitimate concerns about an animal that, like it or not, has proven time and again to be dangerous.
Shannan Herckner
