They’re the pits.
Pit bulls chomp on more New Yorkers than any other breed of pooch in the Big Apple, troubling city data show.
American Pit Bull Terriers and mixes accounted for 2,610 bites between 2015 and 2017 — 30 percent of all dog-bite victims, according to the most recent city Department of Health stats.
The disturbing tally is more than seven times any other breed — despite pit bulls being just the sixth most common breed of licensed dogs in New York City. (Yorkshire Terriers are first.)
Shih Tzus were the second worst NYC biters with 364 attacks, followed by Chihuahuas, with 344.
Pit bulls are known for their square heads, large shoulders and muscular bodies. They’re a descendant breed of the English bull and terrier, which was bred for bull-baiting and other animal blood sport.
Most pits “exhibit some level of dog aggression,” according to the United Kennel Club‘s profile.
Earlier this month a Wisconsin mother had her arms ripped off while defending her 4-year-old from a raging pit bull.
The New York City Housing Authority has banned residents from keeping pit bulls since 2010.
Bites by the breed were most common in the Bronx, Far Rockaway and East Harlem, according to the data. — all areas with a higher-than-average concentration of public housing.
The NYPD still breaks up dog-fighting rings across the city, often involving pit bulls.
Mia Johnson, a co-founding member of National Pit Bull Victim Awareness, said the figures were “not surprising.” She recalled taking her two “little dogs” out for a walk, when “out of nowhere” a pit bull approached and “ripped apart and killed” one.
“The teeth are large. They have a way of gripping and trying to tear when they bite,” she said.
New York City had a short-lived ban on the breed, under a 1989 measure signed by Mayor Ed Koch after a string of brutal attacks by pit bulls. The ban was repealed in 1991.
“The pit bull fancier may have won the day, but the children and adults of New York will suffer the consequences,” the late mayor said then.
Pit bulls are commonly adopted from non-profit rescues like Hearts & Bones, which import the dogs from kill shelters in other states.
Michelle Serocki, executive director of Pit Bull Advocates of America, has lived with pit bulls for over 20 years and rehabilitated dogs bred to fight.
She said bite statistics can be misleading, because dogs that decades ago would have been “labeled mutts” now get reflexively recorded as “misunderstood” pit bulls — when a DNA test might show something else entirely.
“Dogs are dogs are dogs are dogs. They’re all individuals. You can have a litter of six puppies, no matter what they are, they’re going to grow up with different personalities,” she said.
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