basically, any dog attack where the breed is unknown is often called a pitbull attack by the news if the dog looks remotely like a Pitbull, stocky, medium size, short-hair, etc... Also, Pitbulls are one of the most popular breeds in America, those statistics you used only show the number of registered Pitbulls in America. As Pitbulls are a breed that is often owned by poorer demographics, many Pitbulls are unregistered. For example, when we got our dog from the shelter, she was registered as a boxer, despite being a Pitbull/Boxer mix. If you take into account the actual amount of Pitbulls in America, registered and unregistered, they are one of the top 3 most popular breeds in the country. The percentage of attacks they account for are actually lower than many other dog breeds when these two factors are taken into account.