An Apparent Dog Attack Fatality in Jackson, MS

These stories just kill me to write. They all seem to follow one of a couple of templates. They all seem so avoidable. I just hope people notice how these things happen.

From the stories that have come out, here is the data that is evident (based on news sources):

1) A three year old boy,Tony Evans, Jr. was mauled to death by a pit bull last night

2) The young boy was apparently roaming around at 9 pm last night without supervision

3) The boy wandered into the neighbor's yard, was attacked by a 'pit bull' that was kept chained up to their carport.

4) It appears that the owner of the dogs will not be charged because they violated no city ordinances because the dog was confined on their property at the time of the attack.

5) Neighbor Isaac Stuckly who lives down the street also owns a 'pit bull' and says he does so for safety reasons.  The zip code where this attack occurred has 13% of its population living below the poverty line -- which is higher than the national average. These two things combined lead me to believe this may not have been the safest neighborhood in the world.

6) The story has been picked up already by Fox News -- even though they, and every other national media outlet, failed to picked up the most recent fatal dog attack that was the result of two non-pit bull-type dogs.

I'll post more on the story when updates occur.  It's a sad story -- but one that represents a fair number of the fatal dog attacks that happen.A nearly identical attack happened in Alaska earlier this year with a young, unsupervised child that was killed by a chained Husky.  An unsupervised child with a chained dog is a recipe for disaster...which is exactly what this is.

If we could get past making this a breed issue, maybe we could get to the heart of why these types of attacks happen and prevent them from happening. Let's hope.

Update:  The media was finally able to interview the owner and the victim's family of the dog.  It sounds like the boy was left unsupervised for quite a length of time prior to the attack. I think the dog's owner's, Shannon Reason, quote about the dog is pretty telling.  Reasons said he got the dog to be a guard dog and kept him chained to the carport and was never allowed to roam. "Believe me, this was not pet," he said. "I've had more stuff stolen from this driveway. You wouldn't believe it. The dog worked because it scared people away."

Dogs make for crummy security guards because they have no ability to detect the difference between a good person and a bad one. And ineveitably, they end up taking out a good person, or young child. This is a horrible incident, but we should realize it for what it is. It's a compete failure in our social structure that allows people in neighborhoods to be victims of crimes. That because they are victims, get dogs that that train to be aggressive so they will no longer be victims of crimes. Unfortunately, in this case, the dog created a new victim in the way of a small child that roamed up to the aggressive dog and was killed.

Comments

[Jeni]

This is another example of the "perfect storm". To many wrongs can never get a right. I'm so sad for the boy, and sad for his family. They will always have to know that ultimately their neglect allowed him out in to the night alone. There are many predators out there, sex offenders, gang bangers, a chained dog. We all need to work as communities to protect the children. If nothing else the media attentioned garnished by the word "pit bull" might draw attention to this neighborhoods greater issues.

[Becky]

Agreed, Jeni. Brent points out that unsupervised children and dogs present a recipe for disaster. I think it is most important to point out that unsupervised children this young, present recipes for zillions of other possible disasters and tragedies as well, that do not even involve dogs. The media is, as always, irresponsible here for highlighting the pit bull and not the other serious contributing issues.

[Becky]

Just wanted to add that 2 and 3 yr old children should NEVER be out of their parent's (or caregiver's) sight!

[MichelleD]

:-( Poor little Tony!

I would disagree a bit on dogs being able to tell good people from bad. The problem with this dog seems that it was never socialized to know the difference - sounds like he was practically feral and was encouraged to view everyone as a threat. And imagine the years of pent up anxiety from being chained, literally being "on guard" for its whole life. This poor little kid probably went up to give him hug and the dog thought he was under attack. This dog was doing exactly what was expected of him.

I didn't read the article but it does seem that they are doing a decent job highlighting the "guard dog" issue. I would like to think that the city leaders will come to the conclusion that CRIME is what needs to be addressed in this situation. And that the caregiver needs to be slapped with a child endangerment charge. I also hope for a peaceful ending to the dog's torment.

[MichelleD]

Oh, I do agree that dogs make crummy security systems. Having a dog that barks is fine, putting the responsibility of protecting your stuff on an (unsocialized and encouraged to be viscious in this case) animal is a recipe for disaster.

[Brent]

Jeni,

I certainly hope that the conversation involves what happens when neighborhoods aren't safe, and people are put in the situation to have to protect themselves and their property.

I hope that the conversation will focus on what happens when you train a dog to be aggressive and leave it chained up all the time.

I hope the conversation turns to the risks of letting your 3 year old child roam around the neighborhood unattended.

Of course some will want to focus on the type of dog involved in the attack. But the reality is that it doesn't matter what type of dog was involved...virtually any other type of dog that was put in this type of situation would have caused the same problem. It's tragic...and if we focus on the right things in this attack, we can bring light to these issues and prevent such attacks.

To the media's credit, they are at least covering these aspects of this attack so far.

[Monica Schreiber]

People often talk about whether the breed is to blame. But let's consider for a moment this fact: Pits and other "bully breeds" just so happen to be the types of dogs that appeal to people who think it is appropriate to chain the dog in a carport for years on end, never giving the dog exercise, vet care, relief from biting flies, protection from the elements, etc. In other words, these breeds appeal to people who believe perpetual chaining is an appropriate way to keep a dog, people who DELIBERATELY neglect and their dog and keep in unsocialized so that it WILL BE MEAN. Why oh why do we allow people to keep time bombs at the ends of chains? Why do we allow people to chain up their dogs, and keep it hungry and frustrated, so that it will grow neurotic, aggressive and eventually insane? Check out www.mothersagainstdogchaining.org

[MichelleD]

At this point pit bulls being vicious is a self-fulfilling prophecy. HSUS took what was once a beloved breed, turned it into a "monster" and now everyone that wants a "monster" gets a pit bull and turns it into one and now the media just fuels the fire... after Diane Whipple was killed the demand for Presa's increased. I'd never seen such a dog until the last couple of years, also have a Dogo in the neighborhood.

If we can just convince the bad guys that Labradors are the bad dog de jour... (Good one Caveat!)

[Lindsay]

Very good take on this incident, especially your point about the husky incident that was not covered by the media. What if it had been a yellow lab? It's not the fact that it was a pit bull, but the fact that this dog was kept in an abusive situation, deprived of its needs as a dog. I'm sure it was always rewarded whenever it acted aggressive in the past. Now look what happened.

[Caveat]

Yes, MichelleD, it pays to advertise. 'Pit bulls' have been sold to a niche market.

However, most 'pit bulls' are not mistreated or neglected. It's the anomaly that gets the coverage, not the day-to-day activities that don't cause problems.

I think it's important to remember that the APBT is the most popular registered purebred in the US, way out in front of the Lab retriever. Add in the other bully breeds, lookalikes and the huge and unknown number of mutts who are perceived as 'pit bulls' and you have a large demographic of dog owners.

The more owners of a particular type, the great the likelihood that there will more outstanding owners, average owners and incompetent/negligent owners.

So, just examples here, if I have 3 million purebred APBTs, maybe a total 'pit bull' pop of 8 or 9 million and 6 - 10 of them hit the news over incidents in any particular year, is there a problem with the type?

Not really.

With an estimated 70 million dogs, give or take in the US and a record high in fatalities last year of 32, if memory serves, I really don't think that dogs are much of a problem at all. This does not mean that I approve of nasty or even deadly behaviour by dogs or people.

I'm sick of the hyperbole about dogs, the overregulation of dog owners, the profiteering over negative incidents, and all the rest of it.

We have much bigger problems out there.