merrit oh merrit Girl, 12, mauled by three pit bulls in Oak Harbor | Corrected

Wallace said the incident is still under investigation, but the owner of the dogs could possibly face a civil infraction or even a misdemeanor criminal charge for failing to secure the dogs. He said there were no previous problems with the dogs reported to police.

The city of Oak Harbor abandoned its pit bull-related ordinance just over two years ago, but it appears unlikely that the controversial breed-specific ordinance would have prevented the attack. It required people to house pit bulls in a secure pen and muzzle the animals while on leash; the rule probably wouldn’t have prevented someone from having pit bulls in their home.

Yet South Whidbey resident Merritt Clifton, the editor of an animal-protection periodical called Animal People, took the opportunity to send the city administrator information about the prevalence of pit bull attacks. He said he’s been collating breed-specific dog attack data since 1982. He said his data clearly shows that pit bulls are consistently and disproportionately involved in fatal and disfiguring attacks, though critics have argued that such statistics are questionable because of the difficulty in identifying breeds.

“Pit bulls and close pit mixes have, since 1982, accounted for 45 percent of all U.S. and Canadian fatalities from dog attacks on humans, a total of at least 207; 51 percent of all dog attack disfigurements of children, a total of more than 850; and 66 percent of all dog attack disfigurements of adults, a total of more than 700,” he wrote in an editorial in his publication. “Since 2005, pit bulls have also accounted for 51 percent of all reported fatal dog attacks and disfigurements of pets and livestock.”

Clifton noted that Rottweilers also account for a disproportionate number of dog attacks.

Clifton said that the reason behind the prevalence of pit bull attacks is largely due to the dog’s breeding. The pit bull’s ancestors were bred to lack inhibitions in attacking larger animals, to attack silently and shake their victims.

“They were created in the first place to be dangerous,” he said. “They were created to fight.”

Clifton suggested that the city of Oak Harbor could look at Army and Marine Corps policies that certain breeds of dogs — including pit bulls and Rottweilers — are banned from military housing.

“The Army wanted to make sure that soldiers’ families were safe,” Clifton said.