WRIC Richmond News and Weather - Pit Bulls: Vicious Or Victims?
Member Center:
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A Richmond woman says pit bulls have gotten a bad rap.
Sara Meehan runs the nonprofit Misunderstood Pit Bull Rescue, which takes in "ambassadors" of the breed from shelters and adopts them out. She says the dogs are great family pets and she's never had a problem.
She and her one-year-old son share their home with 13 pit bulls.
Three dogs are hers; the others are orphans, several of them puppies from a recent litter.
Meehan brings orphan pit bulls to the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA every third Sunday in an effort to put them into good homes.
She also conducts a "parenting" class for owners of pit bulls.
Recent attendance has petered out, though, she says.
Meehan says media coverage, misidentification of attacking dogs and skewed bite reports have played a role in how pit bulls are seen.
The next Charlottesville SPCA pit bull adoption event and class is scheduled for July 20.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
