KC DOG BLOG

2008 Dog Bite Fatalities

I really hate to do this post. I think the idea of basing much about public safety on the very few dog bite fatalities is pretty absurd.  The number of fatalities is such a statistically insignificant number of the total dog bites out there - and even serious bites - that the data isn't all that valuable. Dog bite fatalities are so rare that it would be almost impossible to create one even if you tried.

I also confess that because I don't do actual on-site research on these cases, and all of my 'research' on this comes from media articles I know that a) it may not be a comprehensive list of fatalities and b) that it comes with the inaccuracies that come from any research done solely based on media articles because the media is often innaccurate.

However, I think it's important to do this list because I think there are a lot of people who make assumptions based on dog bite fatality statistics.  Most reliable sources sources don't publish their information regularly  (unless Jim Crosby posts his analysis again, which is always far better than mine, and Karen Delise seldom publishes her information -- both have on-site, interview information).  Most others want to publish statistics without paying any attention to the circumstances that actually led to the fatal attack.   They think you can draw conclusions based on numbers, not events.

It is my hope that when people read this, they will note the circumstances that led to the attacks -- so that more of these tragic attacks can be avoided in the future.  I certainly think you'll see some major trends as you read through these.  Each link links back to my original coverage of the attack earlier this year -- with one exception -- an attack that had almost no information attached to it that I never covered it assuming that more info would come out about it. 

I've also noted the amount of media reporting surrounded most of the attacks (when I remembered to put it in my original posts).  I think you'll notice a major difference depending on the breeds involved in the attacks.

 Here's the list:

Andrew Stein - 8 months old - Doberman Pincher - the child was being watched by his grandmother and may have startled the dog when he touched his paw.

6 week old child - Jack Russell Terrier -- Louisville, KY the child and the smallish dog were left alone together and at some point, the dog attacked and killed the child.

Kelli Chapman - 24 years old - two pit bulls - Longville, LA -  this is a really odd story. Chapman was prone to having seizures, and may or may not have had a seizure at the time of the attack.  The Chapman's had also previously had a Narcotics SWAT team invade their home for methamphetamines and other drug items and the Chapman's had a dog killed during that raid.  This is a very odd story, and since Kelli was alone at the time of the attack, no true details were ever uncovered.

Two year old boy - Husky  Mix- Ft Yukon, AK - The young boy wandered into the neighbor's back yard unsupervised. The attacking dog was among a group of chained dogs that were still eating -- the dog was apparently protecting its food. The boy was fond of dogs and just walked up to them without any thought he could be in danger. Was covered by 1 media outlet.

Julian Slack, - 3 years old - Pit bull - Camp Lejeunne, NC - The boy was staying with a babysitter, and a friend of the babysitter came over with his dog (that was apparently unfamiliar with the boy). The dog became startled by something the boy may have done (read: the child was alone with the dog, and we don't know what happened) and atacked the young boy. Made dozens of news sources, including MSNBC.

Tanner Joshua Monk - 7 - Pit bull - Abilene, TX - The dogs were off-leash and apparently attacked and killed the young boy. No one witnessed the attack .  Picked up by over 250 media outlets.

Five year old boy -  2 Pit bulls - Weslaco, TX - The dogs belonged to the boy's uncle (who the boy lived with). The family lived in a tough neighborhood, where there had been several robberies in the neighborhood, and yet, police weren't controlling the situation. The uncle got the two dogs to protect his property, and left them chained up most of the time -- letting them lose only late at night. The dogs became aggressive toward a man and another dog and the young boy went out to check on the dogs and was fatally attacked. Picked up by 140 media outlets including national media outlets like CNN and MSNBC.

Loraine May - 74 years old - Golden Retriever/Lab mix and an Austrailian Shepherd Mix -Titusville, FL - The dogs apparently did not get along very well and were prone to fighting. It is believed that the woman was killed when trying to break up the fight.  The story was picke up by 20 news outlets, all in the state of Florida.

Tony Evans Jr - 3 years old - pit bull - Jackson, MS - The dog was purchased by the dog's owner to protect his garage that had been broken into on several occassions. The dog was kept chained to the carport and was strictly used as a guard dog. Even the owner said "Believe me, this was no pet". The young boy was left alone unsupervised after 9 pm that night and wandered up to the dog and was attacked and killed. The attack was picked up by dozens of media outlets including nationally on Fox News.

Addison Sonney - 14 months old - Old English Sheepdog - Millcreek Township, PA - Not a lot of details on this attac -- but the infant was killed by the dog -- and the mother appeared to be present.

Two month old boy - Labrador Retriever - Tulsa, OK - The true perfect storm of a fatal dog attack. The mother was a 17 year old single mother with a history of drug addiction. The dog was left unfed for quite a length of time (possibly for up to 3 days). The child was left alone with the dog while the rest of the family slept in a different part of the house.

Isis Krieger - six years old - pit bull -- Alaska  - The dog had previously shown several signs of aggression - killing a neighbor's cat, biting two different family members. The dog had been taken from the family before for aggression, but later returned. The child was with her babysitter when the attack occurred.

Alexis Hennessy - five days old - Husky - Hopatcong, NJ - Not a lot of details on this one either but the child was obviously brand newly added to the home.

Robert Howard - Adult male - pit bull - Detroit - Again, a bit of an odd story that didn't make many headlines. But apparently a stray dog attacked a woman and her dogs.  A man came to her aid to break up the fight, and the dog bit the man in the leg, severing one of his major artiries and the man died. The dog was described as a "pit bull" - but was never found by authorities so was identified by only the woman at the scene.

Henry Piotrowski - 90 years old - 2 pit bulls - The dogs had a history of aggression  - and 911 had received at least 8 phone calls about the dogs roaming off-leash and being aggressive, but authorities never came out to check on the dogs. Piotrowski was attacked and eventually died from the attack.

83 year old woman - 3 pit bulls - Ville Platte, LA - The dogs were running at large and attacked the woman while she was out picking up cans for recycling.

Cendi Kia Carey - 4 months old - pit bull - Las Vegas, NV - New infant had come into the family and neighbors reported that the dog had become increasingly aggressive toward the child over the past four months.  The child was left with the grandmother while the parents were away and the dog attacked. Covered in multiple media outlets across the country, from San Francisco to Illinois and in national media like MSNBC.

Three day old infant - Siberian Husky - Leavittsburg, OH -- the dog went into the child's room and attacked the infant while the parents were in another room.

Katya Todesco - 5 years old - pit bull - Simi Valley, CA - The girls was playing with the dog in the back yard with her 13 year old sister. The child and the dog were not familiar with each other. The child "fell into" the dog and the dog lashed out at the child.

Lokepa Liptak - 2 months old - "mixed breed" - Hawaii - No details on how the attack occurred -- but neighbors report that the dog was aggressive and had lived most of its life confine din a small outdoor kennel.

Chester Jordan - 62 years old - 'pit bulls' - Muncie, IN - Jordan lived in the basement of the family home with three adult dogs and six puppies.  The man had dementia, and authorities are concerned about the living conditions of the man.  The dogs were called 'pit bulls' by the media, so that's what I went with here -- but the dog in the media pictures did not look like it was one of the 'pit bull' breeds.  Coroner's reports indicate that the man had old bite wounds that appeared to be from previous bites by the dogs.

Alexander Adams - 2 years old - "terrier mixes" - Las Vegas, NV - The grandmother fed both dogs and left the room -- meanwhile, the 2 year old wandered up to the feeding dogs. When the grandmother returned, the child was dead.

60 year old man - "Mastiff/pit bull mix, 'pit bull' - Riveside, CA -- not much for details on this story. The man went outside to smoke and the two dogs attacked and killed the man (there were also 9 puppies found at the home). No word on what may have caused the attack. The larger dog is being called a Mastiff/pit bull mix - so again, we'll go with that -- but most likely that was one of the Molossar breeds.  The story was picked up by over 270 media outlets -- inlcuding national media like USA Today and Fox News -- and all of them reported the attack as being by two 'pit bulls'. Only the local media made the distinction.

In total, there were 23 fatal dog attacks that were reported in 2008 - -which is a more normal number after having a lot in 2007.

Of the 23 fatal dog attacks:

11 different breeds of dogs represented

15 of the victims were six years of age or younger. 

Of the 8 attacks involving victims over the age of 6, all included multiple dogs, and three were by stray/off-leash dogs.

8 of the victims were under 14 months of age  -- attacked by a wide array of family dogs that were either left alone with the child or where the dog was not adequately socialized with the infants

        --5 of these victims were less than 2 months old. 

        -- There were six different breeds of dogs involved in these attacks

8 of the victims were between the ages of 2 and 7 -- 3 different breeds of dogs involved

           -- In none of the cases were the parents present. In 7 of the 8 cases, there was no adult supervision

        -- Two of the incidents involved 2 year olds that walked up to animals while eating -- in one of these cases, the dog was also chained.

         --  Two of the cases involved dogs that were gotten with the intent of them being guard dogs  -- in both cases, the dogs were either chained, or were usually chained.

        -- In two of the cases, the dogs had previously show major signs of aggression previously

        -- One case involved  two dogs that were left to roam free (this was the oldest of the children that was attacked)

-- 7 of the cases involved adults --  5 different breeds involved

        -- 5 of these victims were over the age of 60, 3 over 70

        -- All of these attacks involved more than one dog

        -- The two oldest victims (83, 93) were attacked by packs of roaming dogs -- one group had been called into authorities on numerous occassions

       --  Two of the cases involved cases where dogs got in fights with other dogs and the human got in the middle of the fight. One was on the street, one was betwen dogs in the same family with a history of aggression toward each other.

       -- Two had unusual circumstances, either with a man with dementia and another that possibly involved an epileptic seizure

       -- In one case, the cause is unknown.

I would also be neglegent if I didn't mention the correlation between poverty and these fatal attacks.  Of the attacks involving adults:

Longville, LA has a poverty rate of 16%, which is above the national poverty level of about 12%. We also know there were drugs previously at this residence, and possibly next door also, so this may not be the best of areas on Longville.

Port Richmond, Staten Island, NY (zip code 10302) has a poverty rate of 18% (and we know that in this case, authorities were non-responsive on multiple occassions to calls about these dogs.

The 47303 zip code in Muncie, IN, where the attack took place, has a poverty rate of 23%.

The 48224 zip code in Detroit has a poverty rate of 16% -- the city of Detroit as a whole has a huge poverty problem with acity-wide poverty rate of 34% -- which is more than twice the state average.

Ville Platte, LA, where the woman was killed by roaming dogs, has a Poverty Rate of 47% - indicating a community with some major social problems beyond just dogs.

The 92509 zip code of Riverside has a poverty rate of 18%.

Combine this with the dogs that were "necessary for protection" in Weslaco (poverty rate 31% - -and one of the poorest counties in the country), and Jackson, MS (the zip code has a poverty rate of 13%) along with the Ft Yukon, AK having a poverty rate of 18% -- covering most of the older children.  I didn't pull this for the exceptionally young children.  So that's virtually every attack happening in a zip code with high levels of poverty (where lower education, higher crime also follow).

If we want to stop fatal dog attacks, here are some helpful tips:

1) Educate parents with very young children on the best ways to introduce the dogs/children into the family and educate parents on the importance of supervising the children with the dogs.

2) Prevent the use of dogs for guarding (and the social reasons people feel it is necessary).

3) Educate people that dogs that show aggression either a) should be euthanized or b) worked with with a trainer to cure the aggression issues

4) Enforce leash laws and vigilently pick up stray/roaming dogs.

5) Prohibit unsupervised tethering of dogs - -ie tethering as the primary form of containment.

6) Deal with the societal problems that plague low-educated, low income neighborhoods - -including educating them on the proper ways of caring for and maintaining canines.

This would have solved all but a couple of the stranger attacks over the past year -- and in most years. When we focus the discussions on "breed", we continue to do ourselves a disservice by not focusing on these primary issues. For everyone's benefit, we must begin to focus on the circumstances of these attacks. 

A fatal dog attack, bad reporting, and the media

A 60-year old man was mauled and killed by yesterday near Riverside, Ca -- apparently by his two dogs.

The man went outside to have a cigarette and was found tragically killed.  The dogs involved in the attack are being described as a 107 pound, unaltered male mastiff/pit bull mix, and a 52 point, unaltered female pit bull.

No reason for the attack has been given. I'm hopeful that more information will come out about in the coming days (and I'll update this thread when more is announced).

There were 9 puppies also found at the home.  Reports from neighbors appear to be varied, with some saying that the dogs were always very friendly, and a couple reporting that the larger, male dog, was aggressive -- and had become more so since the other dog had arrived at the home.

It's a sad time for this family -- and I wish them the best as they deal with the tragedy.

What I think is interesting about this tragedy is that I think it has highlighted a journalism problem we're having in this country -- that is quickly getting worse. 

Just this week, the jointly operated Detroit daily newspapers announced that due to budget cuts, the newspapers will only do home delivery 3 days a week. That's right. In our country's 11th largest metropolitan area will no longer have daily newspaper delivery. This is a strong signal of the writing that has been on the wall for the newspaper industry for quite some time.  Two months ago, the McClatchy Company -- the second largest newspaper ownership company, announced it would lay off 1,150 people.  McClatchy's problems have led my local newspaper, the Kansas City Star, to lay off around 75 employees this year. 

When newspapers (and this has been the case in TV news also) lay off dozens of reporters -- the ability to cover local news is dramatically reduced; which puts further reliance from wire stories for filler news. 

So when the AP picked up the story today about the attack, EVERYONE picked up the story. Within 15 hours of the first story about the attack coming out, over 270 media outlets picked up the story -- including the USA Today andFox News and even my local KMBC News.

Unfortunately, the AP story has a few errors:  That both dogs were 'pit bulls'. Anyone who knows anything at all about dogs knows the 107 lb dog is not a 'pit bull'....and that neither the male nor the female dog had been spayed (this reinforces that reporters know very little about dogs). There was also no mention of the 9 puppies on the property that may or may not have played a role in the attack.

But what everyone will see is that two pit bulls killed a man. In nearly every state in the country, they will read that story. They won't read the follow up that one of the dogs was a Mastiff/pit bull mix (and I'd be stunned if some expert goes in there they don't have a real breed to attach to that dog).  Or the events that led up to the man being killed. 

And then, someone will wonder, why do I only see attacks by pit bulls on the news? 

This is why.  I can't remember a single fatality story that has been circulated as widely as this one. Pretty crazy.

More to come on this story, I'm sure.

Unsupervised dog kills 2 year old child

On Wednesday, right before the holiday weekend, a Las Vegas family met with tragedy as their dog attacked and killed their two year old son.

The child was at home with his grandmother and his newborn infant brother.  There were two dogs in the home (both are officially described as 40 lbs terrier mixes), and it remains unclear whether one or both of the dogs were involved in the attack. 

The police in Las Vegas seem to offer some pretty solid bits of advice to avoid horrific tragedies like this:

"The kids really want to play with the aimals.  The animals are not quite so sure and some times they get a little defensive, especially of their territory," said metro officer Bill Cassell.  Cassell also recommended that parents introduce children and dogs slowly. "For awhile, keep the children and the animals separated. Let the dogs gradually get used to the fact the children are in the house." 

Cassell also recommended against having children feed the dogs during the holidays. 

This is a horrible tragedy -- but one that is completely avoidable.   People MUST supervise their dogs around their young children. Fatal attacks are very rare and usually completely avoidable.

Here's a link to the story from CBS in Las Vegas.

And then this one from the Las Vegas Review Journal.

UPDATE: Turns out that the grandmother had just fed both of the dogs and then left the room.  The toddler, Alexander Adams,  apparently walked up to the feeding dogs and when the grandmother returned, the child had been killed.  We talk a lot here about supervising toddlers around dogs, and especially being careful with toddlers and dogs while eating.  This is a tragedy -- but a completely avoidable one. All the best to the family as they mourn the loss -- and may others please learn from their misfortune.  I applaud the media in Las Vegas for at least covering this as more details come out.

The Perfect Storm

In Karen Delise's book called "Fatal Dog Attacks", she referes to fatal dog attacks as a "perfect storm".   That is the perfect storm of the irresponsible owner, the problem dog, and the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And as statistically improbable that a dog will fatally attack someone (.00003% of the nation's 75 million dogs are involved in fatal attacks in a given year) it would be virtually impossible to even create such an incident if someone was really trying.

Such is the case in the tragic fatality in Tulsa, OK this summer. In this case, a three month old Labrador Retreiver puppy killed a two month old infant.

The story is tragic. But the further investigation in the case shows a recipe that was brewing.

The mother of the child was a 17 year old single mother -- who had had a past history with drug addiction.  Apparently the dog was found having not been fed in quite some time -- maybe for as long as 3 days prior to the attack. There were no traces of commerical dog food were found in the dog's stomach.  The child was left alone in the living room while the rest of the family slept in a different part of the house...and the baby was killed by the hungry dog.

You can read more of the gruesome details here.

The mother is being charged with 2nd degree manslaughter in the attack.

It was the perfect storm of unfortunate events and family negligence.  It's not hard to see how it all happened.  And even though the dog is now dead, no one is really thinking the dog is to blame for this.

Meanwhile, just think if the media did this type of follow up on every fatal dog attack. How would our opinions be different of what causes them?  Would we start to see the trend in irresponsible dog ownership and a "perfect storm" of bad circumstances?  Or would we really still have people clinging to a false idea that 'breeds' are responsible for attacks? 

Interestingly, all of the people who seriously study dog attack fatalities have determined that its an ownership issue, including Karen Delise, Marjorie, Jim Crosby and the Center for Disease Control.  If only the media would report the circumstances of the attacks in the same way they did for this Lab attack...we'd be a much smart culture.

Fatal Dog Attack in Muncie, IN

62 year old Chester Jordan was killed on Friday in what appears to have been a fatal dog attack.  Jordan suffered from dementia, and lived in the basement of his home with 3 adult dogs (and there were six puppies that lived in the garage) - -and the only things in the basement appeared to be a bed, a chair, a TV and a fenced in area for the dogs.

Authorities are concerned abou tthe living conditions of the man.

The daughter's boyfriend found Jordan dead in the home Friday afternoon with bite wounds to the chest, arms, legs and face.

The dogs are all being called 'pit bulls', but at least one of the dogs in the video appears to NOT be a 'pit bull', but more likely an American Bulldog or a Dogo Argentino based on its size and color.  I highly doubt the authorities will make this correction at any point.

It shouldn't really matter what type of dog was involved -- because the primary focus should be on what would have caused the attack - -and possible problems that would be involved with someone without the mental makeup to care for the dogs being put in a dangerous situation.  However, the hysteria around the the "pit  bulls" will likely keep those conversations from happening.

Hawaii infant killed by family's dog

This is certainly not how you want to start the week.  Two month old Lokepa Liptak is dead following an attack by a dog owned by the family.

Several neighbors were interviewed for the story and it sounds like all of them thought the dog was aggressive. The dog had lived most of its life in a 15 foot pen in the yard - -however, had recently been given full rein of the yard.  No details have been made available as to how the attack occurred.

This story has a lot of information, including an interview with the director of the humane society who focuses on the importance of socializing dogs (this dog clearly wasn't socialized) and how rare attacks like this are.  The Humane Society worker also calls the dog a "mixed breed" dog.  One neighbor called the dog a 'pit bull' -- so of course, one of the news stations ran with that. The reality is that the general public is not very good at breed recognition.   So until something truly official comes out, I'm going with the professional breed declaration which is "mixed breed".

Not that the breed matters anyway. The reality is that what you had here was an aggressive dog, that was completely unsocialized. The dog did not live in the home with the new infant and was likely not well introduced to the infant. And now the infant is dead.  If we could focus the discussion on how we keep, train, and socialize dogs we'd certainly have a much safer society.

Dog attacks and kills 5 year old girl in Simi Valley, CA

Five year old Katya Todesco died late last week following an attack of a mixed breed 'pit bull' last week. While early reports touted it as the family dog, it turns out that there is much more to the story.

It appears that the dog belonged to someone not involved in this overall equation.  The dog's owners were out of town and the 35-lbs "pit bull mix" was staying at a friends house. Katya Todesco was visiting the home where the dog was staying and was out in the back yard playing with the dog, supervised only by another 13 year old girl. Katya apparently "fell into" the dog and the dog bit her.  The injuries proved to be fatal.

So here we have a dog that is not with its owners in a strange environment, allowed to play with a 5 year old girl that it didn't know well (if at all) without any supervision. The girl falls onto the dog (possibly hurting it in some way) and the dog retaliates. 

This is a horrible attack, but again one that was easily preventable merely by having adult supervision of the situation. I will never understand why people don't monitor their young children around dogs.

Also interestingly, Ventura County, CA reported 1,185 dog bites during their 2007-2008 fiscal year -- less than 10% of those came from the group of breeds labeled as 'pit bulls'.

Another infant fatality - Leavittsburg, OH

A three day old child was killed by the family dog, a Siberian Husky, on Monday morning in Leavittsburg, OH.  The dog entered the child's room, while the parents were in the kitchen and began biting the newborn. The child died either en route to the hospital or shortly after arriving to the hospital.

There's a lot that could be said about this case, and I'm almost at a loss for words following such a tragedy. But here are a few thoughts:

1) Parents, don't leave your dog alone with a young child. I can't stress this enough.

2) Breed continues to be an irrelevant issue when it comes to dog attacks.  Meanwhile, breed specific laws which cover the entire state of Ohio do the public a diservice by creating a false sense of security with parents that their dog is not capable of such a tragedy.  They can be, if you don't take the proper percautions (although attacks like this continue to be extremely rare, in spite of this being the third similar attack nationally in the past two weeks).

3) I want to point out several things on the media reporting of this attack:

    a) Notice that the breed of dog involved is in the fifth paragraph of this story, never mentioned in this story, and the 2nd paragraph in this story.   This is a far cry from the attack last week where the words 'pit bull' showed up in virtually every headline about the story.

    b) If you go to the headlines in the last sentence, you'll note that the story about the pit bull article was covered by many out-of-state media outlets, including media in San Francisco, Illinois and national media like MSNBC. In all, like 180 some news sources covered the story.  A google search of this Husky attack is drawing five media sources right now. 

    c) You'll also notice that in the Husky attack, they are saying that the Husky was confused and thought the child was a toy -- while the previous story about the pit bull attack they focused on the dogs' aggression, how the baby could not have instigated the attack and that "pit bulls" should never be around children. 

Just a little difference in reporting eh?

The bottom line is that these events are tragic and avoidable...if we focus on what causes these attacks and not focus on the breed of dog involved.  But the media seems content to feed into the 'pit bull' hysteria that leads to the mistaken belief that one type of dog is somehow more dangerous than another type, and that owner responsibility does not play a role in these horrific events.

My heart goes out to this family. I can't imagine the heartbreak they are suffering due to this tragedy.   And it is my sincere hope that other families will learn from this situation and prevent such a thing from happening in their household.  Don't leave your young infants and toddlers in situations where your family dog has access to the child without supervision. It's just smart family management.

Fatal Dog Attack in North Las Vegas, NV

Earlier this week, a four-month old girl, Cendi Kia Carey, was attacked and killed by a "pit bull' that was owned by the family.

The little girl was being watched by her grandmother while the parents were at work and the dogs somehow managed to enter the door through the screen door.

There are a lot of signs here of problems -- but the media didn't do a good job of reporting them. The dogs were clearly not "indoor" dogs as they "someohow" got inside. So it appears that no effort was ever made to socialize the dog with the infant.  Meanwhile, according to this article, on neighbor notes that the two dogs had become increasingly aggressive toward the child and anyone who held the child over the past four months.  

This incident isn't all that dissimilar to other attacks that have occured this year. 

Last week, in NJ, a 6 day old girl was attacked a killed by a Husky. 

In July, a 2 month old boy was killed by the family's Labrador in Tulsa.

In PA, a14 month old child was attacked by the family's old English Sheepdog.

In January, a 6 week old infant was attacked and killed by a Jack Russell Terrier.

What's interesting is that the Las Vegas Review Journal, like most media outlets, wanted to focus on the dramatic about the event. They focused on the 'pit bull' part of the story. They repeatedly used a neighbor's quote that said that pit bulls should never be around children. They even used a quote that "sometimes" pit bull bites are "compared to shark attacks."  Not that they're ever ACCURATELY compared to shark attacks...but they sometimes are.

Compare that to the story last week that ran in New Jersey that talks about the unfortunate nature of the fatal attack, and even interviewed a dog behavior consultant, Jennifer Shryock with some tips for parents on how to avoid this type of situation.

My heart goes out to this family in Las Vegas. Hopefully people will learn from this situation and properly socialize their dogs with infants.  It can be done...it just takes a little time and effort on the family's part -- but it is well worth it for the safety of the child, and the well-being of the dog.

Underfunded, inadequate animal controls that spark and influx of bad laws

I'm doing a little housekeeping this morning -- putting some things out there for public record as well as my own record keeping, but doing some trend noting as well.

This morning, it was officially announced that an 83 year old Ville Platte, LA womanhas died from injuries she suffered when attacked by 3 dogs two weeks ago while she was out picking up and recycling cans in the neighborhood. The dogs were identifed as "pit bulls" -- by someone, although I've never heard of a reliable source that identified the breeds.  It really doesn't matter, the woman is dead.  But it certainly changes the face of the hysteria.

Since now the public believes the attacking dogs were all 'pit bulls', the focus will be on the type of dog involved.  They'll forget to note that the dogs were already in violation of running at large and being aggressive -- and that most animal control departments do not have the resources to enforce even the most basic of laws such as leash laws.  Nope. That will get lost.

This is the same thing that happened in New York last month also.  Last month, 90 year old Henry Piotrowski was attacked by two pit bulls on Staton Island in New York.  Piotrowski ended up dying a couple of months after the attack due to complications following his surgeries.   It appears that authorities were called multiple times about the dogs -- a total of 8 calls were placed to 911 about the dogs, and yet authorities didn't do anything about the dogs that eventually attacked Piotrowski and led to his eventual death.

Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr in New York continues to push for a ban on pit bulls in the city -- but unfortunately has failed to realize that if the city were enforcing its current laws adequately, the attack on Staton Island could have been, and SHOULD have been, completely avoided. 

What these cities, and most cities,  don't need is increased laws they need to enforce.  They don't need hard and arbitrary laws to enforce. They don't need laws that punish a whole lot of responsible dog owners based on the actions of just a few people.  Such laws tie up a lot of resouces that are already scarce.  But this is exactly what the proponents of breed specific laws propose.

What the residents in these cities need to be enforcing is their current leash laws....and their current dangerous dog laws. Attacks like both of these could have been completely avoided if the current laws had been enforced. Yet, because many focus on the wrong causes of attacks, they aren't at city hall demanding better, adequate animal control.  It's a shame too...because cities owe their constituents better services.   If only people would begin demanding them.  Instead of focusing on legislation that doesn't solve the problem...and in fact, dilutes the resources even further. 

If we focus on emulating cities who have policies and systems that work we will be much more effective at dealing with our own city's policies, instead of demanding laws that have never worked or been effective anywhere.