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Since the beginning of July, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control has recorded 23 bites. Most of the pit bulls bites caused only minor damage, but some were serious.

Last month a 9-year-old girl was hospitalized after being bitten in the face.

Melissa Knicely with Animal Care and Control says the pit bull attacks are up this year in part because more people own the dogs.

"They're the trendy dog to have right now. It's the dog of choice," says Knicely. "So whatever's the trendy dog to have there's obviously going to be more incidences involved with that dog. Same as a golden retriever and a lab. They're higher usually on the bites because there are so many of them."

Pit bulls also tend to show up in police reports more often. On Friday, police shot two pit bulls that were released on them while officers were serving a search warrant.

Animal Care and Control keeps track of dog bite statistics in Mecklenburg County. In the fiscal year ending June 30th, pit bulls represented 208 bites. Labrador Retrievers were second with 152, followed by German Shepherds and Chow Chows.

there are pit bulls in sandal wood apts i think they should be ban from apartment complex.all big dog should not be allowed in any apartment complex

COMMENT: NCRC agrees with Dr. Randall Lockwood* of the ASPCA. In 2007, Dr. Lockwood submitted an affidavit in opposition to the breed ban currently in effect in Denver, Colorado. He stated, in part: “Focusing on a single breed as the ‘source’ of the dog bite problem reflects a 19th century epidemiological mindset . . . The dog bite problem is not a disease problem with a single vector, it is a complex societal issue that must address a wide range of human behaviors in ways that deal with irresponsible behavior that puts people and animals at risk.”

A CDC study on fatal dog bites lists the breeds involved in fatal attacks over 20 years (Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998). It does not identify specific breeds that are most likely to bite or kill, and thus is not appropriate for policy-making decisions related to the topic. Each year, 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs. These bites result in approximately 16 fatalities; about 0.0002 percent of the total number of people bitten. These relatively few fatalities offer the only available information about breeds involved in dog bites. There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill.

Over the past 44 years (1965 – present) there have been 25 fatal dog attacks in North Carolina, or an average of one (1) fatality every 1 to 2 years. At least eleven (11) different breeds/types of dogs have been identified in these attacks. All of the dogs involved were intact (not spayed or neutered). The victims were 7 adults and 18 children. 43% of the children were attacked by chained dogs.

It's the nearly the same situation in any county that tracks bites by breeds...Pit Bulls lead by a mile. At least we can now get past the "least likely to bite" myth generated by the Pit Bull breeders! Defective product.....

NotAFan, your argument would be more salient you explained what "bred to kill" means (that's as vague as "bred to follow") and if you you believe that Labrador Retrievers are also "bred to kill". Otherwise, you just appear to be fear-mongering without any factual evidence to boost your claim.

Knicely's reasoning is so off the wall. www.DogsBite.org can give the true stats. Pits and pit types are killing people on average of one every 21 days for the last three years. It has nothing to do with being a "trendy" dog, it has a lot to do with what they were bred for, killing.