Update 12/3: It sounds as if the owner of the dog will be going in front of a grand jury where he will face penalties of between $500 and a year in prison. Also, Hardin County Animal Control Supervisor Jerry Foley has declared the dog to be a White Boxer mix -- however acknowledges that no DNA tests were administered to determine the exact breed of dog.
On Wednesday night, 53 year old Karen Gillespie, a retired librarian, went out for a walk to go take pictures of an old one-room school house in the area, but she never came home. When she wasn't home after dark, her husband called the authorities and her body was found the next morning. According to the official coroner's report, Gillespie died of head injuries suffered from a dog attack.
Authorities have found the dog they believe is responsible for the attack. The dog is owned by Howard Miller -- and this isn't the dog's first run-in with a biting incident.
Apparently the dog had previously bitten a US Census Worker who came up to home. Authorities were notified of the attack, but did nothing. Incidentally, the dog -- described as an "American Bulldog" (although it looks like a white Boxer to me) also bit a firefighter who was involved in the search for Gillespie.
This is obviously a horrible tragedy - -but what makes it even worse, in my mind, is that the dog was KNOWN to be aggressive and yet no restrictions were put on the dog or its owner. The attack was entirely preventable, but even basic steps were not taken to insure public safety. As Karen Delise of the National Canine Research Council likes to say, "a major act of violence by a dog is never its first sign of aggression, it is its last."
This story has been covered by only eight news outlets thus far.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Gillespie family.
I agree, it looks like a white Boxer. And the owner of the dog apparently stated in the news article that the dog is a stray he's been feeding? So it's not like the owner could say what breed the dog is, either. Not that it's stopping any of the commenters on the message boards from calling the dog a "pit bull."
Everyone seems to be completely overlooking the fact that the dog was a known biter, yet nothing was ever done about it until now. It's a critical point, so thanks for pointing that out.
Posted by: Jennifer | November 28, 2009 at 09:26 AM
Time and time again it seems that many of the folks on the message boards continue to want to blame a 'pit bull' for everything...and don't let facts get in the way of a good argument.
Yeah, the fact that authorities knew the dog was dangerous and did nothing, should be everyone's focus on this IMO.
Posted by: Brent | November 28, 2009 at 10:38 AM
"American Bulldog kills woman"=8 news outlets
"Pitbull kills woman"=8000 news outlets
Cue the badly thought out anti-dog legislation proposal w/no mention of the fact that authorities failed miserably on this case.
Posted by: YesBiscuit! | November 28, 2009 at 01:13 PM
YesBiscuit are you saying ""this attack was reported in 8000 news outlets as a "pit bull attack"? Please tell me this is NOT so?
Posted by: Fran | November 29, 2009 at 02:14 AM
As a long-time owner of Boxers, I can tell you, sometimes even I have a hard time telling the difference between some white Boxers and some all white American Bulldogs.
But, that said, there is little doubt in my mind that this dog is a Boxer.
But, of course, like others have said, the "pit bull / bulldog" breed is probably going to take the hit for this fatality.
Just goes to show you that 99 percent of people don't know how to accurately identify breeds of dogs unless the dog is a textbook (color and confirmation) example of a breed.
This dog appears to be a good physical representative of the Boxer breed, yet the coloration (white) seems to be all it takes to confuse almost everyone--- and to lead to yet another misidentification of breeds involved in attacks....
which is exactly why clueless people like reporters, dogsbite.org and dogbitelaw should not be "identifying breeds" of dogs or taking the word of idiot "owners" who just happened to slap a breed label on a stray dog!
Posted by: Javadel | November 29, 2009 at 07:20 AM
One tiny good thing here...it looks in the photo that the police are actually - gasp - taking swabs from the dog for DNA testing as they should! Holy Moley someone was actually listening when I taught my class on how to investigate these horrible attacks! Miracles never cease - I'm going to have to sit down now.
Posted by: Jim Crosby | November 29, 2009 at 08:43 AM
Fran, I don't think that's what YB! is saying. I think she's referring to the reality that if it HAD been a pit bull, it would have been more widely reported. I've only found 8 articles about this story -- 7 of them had no breed listed at all, and 1 had it mentioned as an "american bulldog" (which most people don't think is an accurate breed ID - -see Javadel's comment).
Jim, don't get too excited. I think they were just taking the DNA test to confirm that it was the same dog that bit the woman and compare to DNA in her bite wounds -- I don't think they intend to breed ID the dog with it.
Posted by: Brent | November 29, 2009 at 09:00 AM
Yes, Brent, I also believe the detectives were testing the DNA only to confirm it matched with the DNA of the victim--
It has been routine for many years now for detectives to take DNA (not for breed identification - but to match saliva found on the victim to the dog.
This is nothing new, it is done on most cases--- this is just the first photo shown of it in the media.
Posted by: Javadel | November 29, 2009 at 10:47 AM
The DNA test was to identify that dog as the dog who made the attack. There has been no testing to identify the breed. This incedent is not about breed of animal but the lack of response by the autorities to prior bites and to the lack of responsibility as a dog owner to prevent this type of event from occuring. It is being reported that this man's dogs have bitten or "attacked" up to 5 people within the past year. I don't know the accuracy but it is coming from local news agencies. There is something going on at this person's residence. Abuse...training...i don't know.....and oh by the way, it is the middle of the Kentucky country side so who knows what might be "growing" there...just saying.
Posted by: Ric | December 07, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Ric,
It does appear as if there is a real problem with this particular owner in Kentucky. The fact that officials knew about a problem and did nothing is a real problem that should be addressed. It is interesting that there appear to have been multiple attacks - -and not just the one that was widely reported.
Posted by: Brent | December 07, 2009 at 02:44 PM