LANSING, Mich. — From Texas to Florida, many gathered in Lansing to urge lawmakers to create legislation protecting children and families and even animals from another kind of animal - the Pitbull.
Many victims of dog attacks shared their stories including Floridians, Paige Woody and her daughter Zoey.
"Our attack happened two years ago," Woody said.
Zoey was 5 years old.
"Both of us were attacked," Woody said. "I had to throw her in a hole and lay on top of her just to get the dogs to stop attacking her. One bite crushed her jaw into 800 pieces, just one bite."
Zoey was missing the entire part of half of her face. Her experience among many others is the reason why organizers say more needs to be done to protect people from these attacks.
"[There are] 582 dead Americans because of someone else's pet choice, it gave me great concern," said founder of Responsible Citizens for Public Safety, Ann Marie Rogers. "Pitbulls are simply too dangerous to make safe pets."
They're proposing lawmakers pass mandatory spay and neuter rules.
"It helps the Pitbulls themselves that are over-represented in shelters and in cruelty cases so it's a win-win for both the animals, the dogs, and the human beings," Rogers said.
But the Human Society of West Michigan says Pitbulls do get a bad rap.
"The biggest thing that we can do to combat the stigma is responsible dog owners and responsible dog handling," said Humane Society of West Michigan's Amy Stockero.
Protesters say these dogs are bred to fight.
"They're bred to fight each other to the death that's why they call them Pitbulls," Rogers said.
The Humane Society believes it all comes down to each specific dog.
"Every dog is an individual if you're making a blanket statement that no dog of that breed is accepted, you're excluding some really fantastic dogs from being a part of a community," Stockero said.
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