Another fatality?

Ok, this year is just nuts. We're now on our 14th fatality of the year -- which should come in about June, not early April.

Details on one are a little fuzzy on this one. But a coroner has confirmed that David Whiteneck, Jr is dead following an attack by 3 mixed breed dogs. The dogs were shot at the scene for being aggressive toward sheriff's deputies.

Whiteneck was found dead inside a camper that he was using for a home in Dwight Township, near the community of Kinde, MI. No word on why the man was living in a camper, or how the dogs got inside. The ownerof the dogs is apparently an older man who is in ill health and charges are not going to be filed.

More details as they emerge (if they indeed do).  My heart goes out to Mr. Whiteneck's family and friends.

Update:  Not a lot of new news here, but the dogs are being identified as "a mix of Australian Shepherd and Blue Heeler".

Comments

[Donna]

Oh Brent! As sad as your focus is, thank you for keeping us up to date on these stories. I'm afraid most of them would be buried in a quick minute if you weren't watching.

[Carianne]

Another sad story... I have to question if dog bite fatalities in past years were only tracked through easily picked up media sources. Which would mean that these dogs attacks by many other breeds were taking place but not reported in a place that anybody other than Brent Toellner could find.

[MichelleD]

Car crashes are almost double for the year in KCMO as well...don't know if that is a national trend but wonder if its related in some weird way - maybe to the economy having some odd unforseen consequences.

[TEH]

If you read the comments to the article on the attack, while no mention was made earlier of breed of dog other than mix, readers pretty much had already condemned the dogs as "pitbulls". Going back to look at the incident in AZ, of the 11 dogs that killed the man. Again....the ass-umption that the dogs are pitbull. Yet, what is telling is a comment made by one: "Why hasn't more attention been brought to this story?".......hummm....May be it is because the dogs involved were NOT PITBULLS!!! Could that be why?? People will insist that no other dogs can do this type of damage.
As one commenter wrote, these certainly were not a pack of chihuahuas........well....

The only study that has been done on predation by a pack of dogs, the one we see quoted often, authored by Borchelt et al. The "pack" of dogs that killed the elderly woman mentioned in the article are all mixed breed, chihuahua, doxie sized dogs, more terrier mixed. Not a pitbull in sight.

So it still goes back to the fact that dog can cause severe damage. And it shows how much we still have to go to educate people about dogs, dog behavior.....and a good healthy dose of human behavior.

TEH