REBRANDING OF VICIOUS DOG BREED IS JUST SO MUCH BULL

A report in Ananova claims that New Yorkers are renaming the pit bull terrier in an attempt to improve the dog's frightening image. The city's animal welfare agency has decided to change all its official documents to rename the pit bull the "New Yorkie". It is hoped that the image change will encourage more people to adopt the thousands of pit bulls taken in by the animal shelter each year. At present 90% of the 6,000 pit bulls taken to the New York City Animal Care and Control centre each year are destroyed.

This name change is reportedly the idea of Ed Boks, the new director of the centre. He said he came up with the idea because New Yorkers, like pit bulls, were often thought of as hard or mean, but are actually "some of the most generous and open-hearted people I've ever met". While pit bulls have suffered bad publicity following maulings and attacks, experts maintain that the breed is actually well behaved and that pit bulls outperform golden retrievers in behavioural tests. This is not the first attempt to rebrand pit pulls. In the 1990s San Francisco tried to persuade people to call pit bulls St Francis terriers, but to no avail.

The IPKat is not amused by this rebranding exercise, being firmly of the opinion that a rebranded dog remains a dog. The Pit Bull/New Yorkie may be man’s best friend, but he’s no friend of cats.

Other New Yorkies here, here and here
Real St Francis terriers here
Pit bull jokes hereand here
The Great American Pit Bull Postcard controversy here