00:51:47.080Anyway, so you watch that, the first thing you think is, where is Kristi Noem when you need her?
00:51:51.900Fortunately, I will say the man did survive that attack.
00:51:54.680It was an attack that happened to occur on the same week that a nine-year-old girl in Iowa was mauled by a pit bull and sustained severe injuries.
00:52:03.460The owner of the dog in that case was arrested.
00:52:06.100And also the same week, two pit bulls had to be euthanized after attacking a 58-year-old man in Baltimore.
00:52:11.140All three of these incidents happened only a few weeks after a three-month-old baby was mauled and killed by the family pit bull in New Jersey.
00:52:18.720And a few weeks before that, a 35-year-old man in California was attacked by his pit bull, and he did not survive the attack either.
00:52:25.680Now, it's not especially surprising, of course, that pit bulls are responsible for all these attacks.
00:52:29.680After all, pit bulls and rottweilers together account for nearly 80% of fatal dog attacks, even though they comprise less than 10% of the dog population.
00:52:36.820And as you can see from this chart, the vast majority of those are pit bulls, with rottweilers coming in a very distant second place.
00:52:42.960Now, pit bulls account for 60% of all dog bite injuries, and the injuries they cause are much more likely to be severe.
00:52:49.840Overall, pit bulls are far more likely to attack and far more likely to cause serious death or injury when they do attack.
00:52:56.480They are both the most aggressive breed and the breed most capable of inflicting maximum damage.
00:53:01.880And that's the reason why I have been, in the past, a very vocal proponent of banning pit bulls.
00:53:08.520There's no disputing the fact that these dogs are uniquely dangerous.
00:53:11.280They are, the statistics clearly show, by far and away, the most dangerous breed of dog, a breed that is genetically predisposed to aggression.
00:53:20.900There's a reason why every single one of us, if we see a stray pit bull running down the street, we will be extremely worried if the dog approaches us.
00:53:30.280But if we see a stray golden retriever or lab or beagle or any of dozens of other breeds, we will not be nearly so concerned.
00:53:39.360I made this argument again on Twitter yesterday in response to that video we just played, and I got 6,000 responses, and many of them quite angry.
00:53:52.320Not angry about the pack of dogs mauling that guy.
00:53:56.100Instead, no, they were angry at me, so a rabid pack of pit bull owners descended on my comment section, accusing me of anti-pit bull bigotry.
00:54:04.360And they made all the familiar arguments.
00:54:06.560They said that it's not about the breed, it's about the owner.
00:54:09.820They said that their own pit bulls are the sweetest little darlings in the world.
00:54:44.180I just, I realized the error of my ways.
00:54:46.360Pit bulls might be disproportionately dangerous and far more likely to kill or maim than almost any other breed.
00:54:53.760But I realized that you pit bull defenders are right.
00:54:57.420Like, why should that stop you from bringing them into the community?
00:55:00.980Yes, they might try to eat your neighbor's child, but frankly, that's none of your neighbor's business.
00:55:06.120And sure, yes, there are plenty of other breeds that are much, much less likely to attack.
00:55:09.920And even if they do attack, are much, much less likely to do any significant damage.
00:55:13.400But why shouldn't you skip over all of those significantly safer breeds and specifically choose the one that poses the greatest statistical risk to everyone around you, including your family and yourself?
00:55:52.720In fact, I'm so persuaded that I've decided to take these arguments and apply them to my own life.
00:55:58.160After all, every pro-pit bull argument could be used to justify the ownership of literally any dangerous animal.
00:56:03.840And that's why I've decided to go out, and it's a little bit unique, but I've decided to go out and adopt a hippopotamus and keep it at my house with my children in my neighborhood where other people live.
00:56:14.240Now, look, I know what the anti-hippo bigots might say.
00:56:16.940They'll say that hippos are massive animals that are extremely aggressive and very dangerous and totally insane to keep at your house.
00:56:25.500They'll claim that it's far too risky to own an animal like that.
00:56:29.000They'll point out that hippos are the deadliest large land mammal on the planet responsible for killing 500 human beings a year.