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Opinion: Two pit bulls viciously attacked a therapy horse. This has to stop

A tiny therapeutic horse faces extensive surgery and a long recovery after it was attacked by two pit bulls. Yes, of course it was pit bulls.
pitbull
A pit-bull terrier, but not the one involved in the attack on a therapy horse. NOW FILES

A tiny therapeutic horse faces extensive surgery and a long recovery after it was attacked by two pit bulls.

Yes, of course it was pit bulls.

I saw the headline to this story and “pit bulls” was the first thing that entered my mind - tell me you don't think the same thing.

I’ve written too many news stories over the years about dog attacks and too often it’s this same breed. And, no, it's not some sort of media conspiracy.

The horse's owner, Eileen Stevens, says the 76-centimetre tall animal was attacked in its hobby farm corral on Monday when two pit bulls broke out of a well-fenced, neighbouring property in the rural suburb of Cassidy, south of Nanaimo.

The horse, named Hali Berry, suffered a completely severed left ear and deep bite wounds to its back legs.

Stevens says she used her walker and her brother used a broom to beat the attackers back, but the dogs worked as a team when one of them held the humans at bay while the other one continued biting.

Stevens says the dogs' devastated owner has given the canines up to be euthanized and is paying all vet bills for the horse's care.

These attacks have to stop. So does the defensiveness of pit bull owners. They can’t stand when news outlets report on pit bull attacks. They say their lovely dogs are not capable of such brutality. They say that other breeds bit people. That might be true, but pit bulls – compared to many other breeds – are able to inflict a tremendous amount of damage.

Yes, I don't have a magic answer. Breed bans in cities are difficult to implement and enforce.

I’m just so sick of these stories and the pathetic denials by pit bull advocates. It has to stop.

  • With files from Canadian Press

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.