There are many organizations for dogs, such as the Soi Dog Foundation and even PEDIGREE foundation. However, recently (as in like 2 months ago), it’s come to my attention that there are not many organizations for “pit bulls”, an “umbrella” term for dogs who are full-blooded or mixed with some of the following: Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, and American Pit Bull Terrier. If you look these dogs up, you’ll see that they all are typically labeled as “pit bulls”. In January, I finished my thesis, which was about “pit bulls” and how their adoptability rates are effected by their negative stigma. After completing it, I wanted to know if there were people out there who also genuinely wanted to educate people about “pit bulls” and how they are not “naturally aggressive”. It was when I stumbled upon Stand Up For Pits, a non-profit organization. It was founded by Rebecca Corry, who after taking care of and adopting a beautiful pit bull named Angel, decided that she wanted to educate people, question vets about their methods, and holding rescues accountable for their actions. However, it’s all thanks to Angel that Stand Up For Pits was created because she inspired Rebecca Corry after going through abuse, many surgeries, and even discrimination.

Stand Up For Pits donates and supports educational groups and front line rescue efforts. 100% of the funds do, indeed, go to the foundation. This organization believes that “pit bulls” are inherently good and humans should be accountable for abusive and negligent behavior towards dogs. Additionally, they fight the discrimination and abuse towards animals, mainly “pit bulls”, because it is intolerable and it is not what the country was built on. The main abuse that still goes on today that they fight is dog fighting. Dog fighting is rarely heard of on the news but it’s definitely a crime. Recently they shared a post about a dog fighting case in Aynor, South Carolina that happened in March. 18 dogs were seized from the dog fighting operation.

The media typically portrays “pit bulls” as aggressive because that’s what people mainly believe and it attracts attention. Instead of saying “pit bulls”, Stand Up For Pits say pibbles because “pit bulls” has such a negative connotation that causes people to feel immediate fear. I personally like Stand Up For Pits because they also understand that it is not just a problem for those who own and love “pit bulls”, it’s everyone’s problem. It is everyone’s problem because the treatment of “pit bulls” is not only an animal issue, it is “a direct reflection of a broken society”. The organizations feels this way simply because it is their job as members of society to not tolerate hate and discrimination.

In order to fight the hate and discrimination, the organization marches. This march is called the One Million PIBBLE March. They march to give a voice to the voiceless. According to research, people who abuse animals most often times commit violent crimes against humanity. To Stand Up For Pits and to me, ignoring the treatment of “pit bulls” is not the route to go. Educating the public, the broken society can be fixed again.