There were 3 significant dog bites/attacks this weekend in Omaha.
One involved a 'pit bull' that "attacked" a 48 year old woman.
One involved a Siberian Husky that "bit" a 2 month old infant, fracturing the baby's ribs.
A third incident involved a rat terrier that bit a child in the face as it was being 'punished for digging".
At some point you have to educate owners on keeping dogs vs insisting on just passing laws with the hopes of punishing them.
Guess which of the three bites which one got picked up by 33 different news sources including MSNBC, and which two were ignored by all but one media outlet.
Do you think the other two dog bites would have even made the local news if this incident involving a "pit bull" happened? Of course not. Last summer during the previous height of pit bull mania here in Omaha, OWH and other local outlets even ran stories when a scratch involved a pit bull. Here you have an infant whose ribs get fractured, and a child who required stitches to a face bite, and they get a few seconds mention on the local evening news after a 5 minute segment on the pit bull attack, even including 911 call tapes. The Media continues to do a great job at building the fear.
Posted by: Chris | February 10, 2009 at 08:01 AM
I would like to urge everyone to write these news stations and complain.
Posted by: MichelleD | February 10, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Michelle, please tell me how you might respond. Please see the dog's photo in the link. I have pasted my email and the reply that I received below. Just so you'll know, I feel as if I have been literally slapped up side the head, as I have been treated like a useless idiot by this 'journalist'. I intentionally left her address in this post. I'm good at complaining, but I really wanna BITE this one.
My email in its entirety (altho I also commented online) :
QUOTE: "Please print a retraction, or written correction. You have published false information."
Reply. QUOTE:
"Thank you for your recent email.
While I appreciate your concern about the recent article in the Jackson Sun, we printed the story based on the information we were given. The police, the dog's owner and rabies control director had all identified the dog in question as a pit bull.
The article certainly was not intended to malign pit bulls or to wrongfully blame a pit bull for the attack. Under the circumstances, we were simply using the information we had been given from multiple sources.
Sincerely,
Mariann Martin
Reporter
The Jackson Sun
731-425-9782
(fax) 425-9639
[email protected]"
END QUOTE
I find this LIE very hard to believe.
See dog's photo
http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200901280520/NEWS01/901280308
Posted by: Becky | February 10, 2009 at 01:24 PM