Cedar Rapids' animal shelter taking in more pit bulls than other breeds

At animal shelters across the country, pit bulls are becoming king of the kennel -- and Cedar Rapids is no exception.

"They're very, very high energy dogs,” said Diane Webber, director of Cedar Rapids Animal Care and Control.

Webber says the pit bull craze started after Hurricane Katrina, when families devastated by the disaster couldn't care for their pets.

"Many of the animals moved out of the south were pit bulls,” she said.

Rescue organizations launched a nationwide effort to find new homes for the dogs. Most of them moved into shelters throughout the Midwest. TV shows brought the dogs into pop culture. Webber says people took them in without doing their research.

"There's too many of them now and not enough homes for them," she said.

Nationally, shelters expect about 33 percent of their dogs to be pit bulls or pit mixes. That percentage is usually a bit higher for larger cities. The Cedar Rapids shelter brought in 293 pit bulls last year - almost a quarter of their total intake.

Currently, the shelter has 14 pit bulls. That's half of their dogs available for adoption.

Adding to the problem is the adoptability of the dogs. Webber says more cities, counties and communities have ordinances banning pit bulls, and some housing developments may ban them as well or require the dogs be a certain size.

"There are more concerns with pit bulls, and fewer people are likely to want to adopt them,” she said.

That puts the burden back on the shelter.

Cedar Rapids says pit bulls don't necessarily require more resources compared to other breeds, however she said they do require more time from volunteers because of their high energy personality.

Time and an extra set of hands is a luxury not all small shelters are able to give.