Update: In a follow up story, while animal control officers admit that they aren't sure if the dog they captured is the one that killed the young girl, they do plan to euthanize the 'pit bull' that they feel is responsible. Worth noting, officers also claim there were 5 other stray dogs in the area when they arrived. Neighbors in the area had called animal control multiple times about stray dogs in the area but nothing was ever done.
While current Hinds County laws require dogs to be on a leash, behind a fence or inside a house, but because that law isn't being followed, Supervisor George Smith said he wants the law strenthened to include a ban on 'pit bulls'.
Unfortunately, Supervisor Smith continues to reinforce the ignorance to led to this little girl's death in the first place. If animal control cannot enforce the current set of laws - -and can't respond to stray/off-leash dogs even when called - then passing more laws isn't the solution. What's even more tragic, is that they are looking to ban a particular type of dog -- but because there were so many off-leash dogs in the neighborhood when they arrived, they admit they may not even have the right dog. My head is shaking because amist the tragedy, no lessons are apparently being learned.
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Five year old Anastasia Bingham was killed yesterday in what is an apparent dog attack.
The little girl was walking across the street to go get a playmate but apparently got attacked by a loose dog en route and was found dead. No one saw the attack.
Authorities found the dog they believe is responsible for the attack. The dog, being called a 'pit bull' at this point, was one of several 'pit bull's that are living on chains in a wooded area behind the home where the girl was visiting.
Anastasia's grandfather said he had called the Sheriff's Department several times about the dogs but nothing was ever done about them.
The dogs, living on large log chains in a wooded area behind the home, were clearly resident dogs and not pet dogs....and one got loose. The dogs were also apparently a known nuissance in the area but were never delt with by authorities. Poverty appears to be playing a role in this attack as well.
If you watch the video, you can see the conditions of the other dogs on the property.
My prayers go out to the Bingham family...and I hope that through this incident others can be educated on the need to socialize their dogs and that leaving them on log chains in the woods isn't the way we should be caring for dogs.
This story was picked up by 20 local media outlets.
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