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Tell Freakonomics to Retract "Breeding Killers?" Blog Post
  1. Signatures
    442 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. Authors (+ 2 others)
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      • Authors (Levitt & Dubner)
      • Editor (Dwyer Gunn)
      • Author (James McWilliams)
  2. Created By
    Ledy VanKavage
    Collinsville, IL
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

James McWilliams contends that breed discriminatory legislation in states like Ohio is on the right track. Despite being on the Freakonomics blog, he fails to take into account the economic impact of canine profiling. A Fiscal Impact Study by John Dunham and Associates revealed that if the United States banned pit bull terrier type dogs it would cost $459,138,163 per year.

A recent study in the American Veterinary Medical Association Journal revealed that to prevent just one serious dog bite you would have to ban 100,000 dogs from a community. Plus how do you tell the heritage of a dog without DNA testing? According to Dr. Victoria Voith, animal shelters are right in guessing the heritage of a dog only 25% of the time.

Focusing on the appearance or breed of a dog dogs diverts resources and attention from responsible ownership practices. It is reckless owners of any dogs that pose a threat to public safety, not the specific breed of dog. 

Advocating for breed discrimination is irresponsible and this blog post simply isn't up to Freakonomics standards. Please ask them to retract it.

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Please Retract Freakonomic's "Breeding Killers?" Blog

Greetings,

Please retract your January 5 Freakonomics blog post by James McWilliams entitled "Breeding Killers?" The blog post is flawed. It fails to even take into account the economic impact of breed discriminatory legislation. According to economist John Dunham, who has studied the issue, breed discriminatory laws are both unfair and costly to taxpayers. In New York State alone, the enforcement costs would total over $32 million if such a law were to pass.

According to a 2010 paper published in JAVMA by Dr. Gary Patronek, Dr. Amy Marder, and Dr. Margaret Slater, you would have to ban 100,000 dogs from a community to prevent a single serious dog bite.

Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated: "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."

Focusing on the appearance or breed of a dog dogs diverts resources and attention from responsible ownership practices. It is reckless owners of any dogs that pose a threat to public safety, not the specific breed of dog. This type of conjecture has no place on a Freakonomics blog.

Thank you for your consideration in this important matter.

[Your name]

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