Dogs' owners responsible for attack

The pit bull incident in Theresa reported on April 30 in the Times is sad. The unfortunate part of the whole scenario is that the dogs are the losers all because of human irresponsibility. Yes, it had to be a frightening experience for the lady that got knocked down, but is killing going to solve the big problem? I don't think so. There is a mind-set out there against pit bulls, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Dobermann Pinschers and Chow Chows — to name just a few breeds.

Insurance companies are fueling the fire by refusing to write homeowners insurance if one of the aforementioned breeds is in the household. Any breed of dog can be made vicious by the way it is treated! There are pit bull dogs that are pussycats with great dispositions.

Destroying these dogs will not solve the problem of human irresponsibility. Their owners did not have them licensed; they were not current on their vaccinations. Rabies vaccination and licensing are the law; these owners broke the law and yet they claim to love their dogs. If every town was mandated to do a dog census, these owners would have been required to license these animals. The town would gain revenue and perhaps incidents like this might be stemmed. If town justices would punish animal owners who break the law as well as animal abusers, it certainly would help stem some of these problems. These dogs will die. Will the problem be solved? Not at all.

Only when human beings step up to the plate of responsibility can unfortunate incidents like this begin to be corrected. In closing, I wonder if these animals were spayed or neutered? I would guess probably not. Spaying and neutering can help by calming hyper animals. Because New York state is a home-rule state, towns have the ability to mandate spay/neuter through local ordinance. I challenge Theresa to step up to the plate and give it a try. See if it wouldn't help. Killing is neither the answer nor the solution.

Bea Schermerhorn

Hammond