Maui Pitbulls

The first night we got to Maui we went to a park and I noticed something- it was full of pitbulls. Day after day and beach after beach it was the same story. Pitbulls running around off leash greeting everyone barbecuing, pitbulls swimming in the ocean, and a pitbull wearing kids floaty inner tube around his waist (presumably not a good swimmer). We even took a wrong turn while out driving and ended up at the Maui humane society which had about 30 pitbulls in it.

I couldn't quite figure it out until one night when I was taking pictures of a little bluenose pup. The owners were sitting at a table nearby and proceeded to tell me the history of pitbulls in Hawaii. From what I could gather they have always been the breed of choice there. One of the ladies said, "we have dog shows in Hawaii... but they are only for pitbulls". The grey puppy below is the daughter of the current best in show for Maui.

The only apparent hiccup in the history of the breeds reign on the islands happened a few years ago. Apparently a few years ago someone set his pit mix on a police officer attempting to arrest him and in the wake of the event a bill was proposed to ban the breed. According to the family reciting the story to me, the backlash that the proposed bill drew was "the biggest uprising in Hawaiian history". I suspect that this may have been a bit of an exaggeration but it must have been fairly strong opposition because the thing was thrown out immediately and I was lucky enough to meet these little rascals.