Updated: Five year old North Carolina dead from dog bite tragedy

Fox News in Charlotte released an interesting interview last night regarding the little girl and her family. The interview is with an unnamed source who is "close to the investigation" that notes says the attack could have been prevented if the young girl had been supervised when she was outside. The unnamed source also notes that the Department of Social Services had been notified "3 or 4 times" about supervision and health issues concerning Makayla. 

This still doesn't excuse the neighbor, Michael Gordon, for allowing his dogs to be aggressive and to allow them to run at large on a regular basis.

The Charlotte Observer also interviewed a neighbor who said that she called authorities back in November about the dogs noting that they looked under-fed and malnourished -- and she feared that the dogs were being neglected or abused. 

There is even more on this situation from the Union County Weekly -- from the woman who said the dogs were skinny and not well-fed. This article also notes that the owner of the dogs, Michael Gordon, was recently released from prison after serving 10 months on felony breakin charges.

I think as more information comes out about this attack,  it starts showing more and more evidence as to the human circumstances that led up to the attack.  A careless dog owner with a history of just allowing his dogs to roam at large...and a family with a potential history of lack of supervision and care for their child.  It can be very easy (and lazy) to point at an event like this as a problem with a particular 'breed' or type of dog -- but as you dive into the details, there become a lot of human circumstances that created the perfect storm of events that led to a little girl's tragic death. But because dogs are such a part of the fabric of our human lives, you cannot rightfully judge the actions of the dogs without first being aware of the actions of the people involved.

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This is a somewhat confusing story because a lot of the information being reported is contradicting each other, but it does appear clear that 5 year old Makayla Woodard of Waxhaw, NC is dead, after being attacked by two dogs.

The story appears to be that the girl was walking across a yard and was trying to climb over a fence to get into a fenced-in yard adjacent to her home (it remains unclear who's yard she was climbing into).  It was at this time that the two dogs, both described as 'pit bulls', ran up and attacked the young girl. The girl died from injuries she sustained and the girl's grandmother was also injured trying to stop the attack.

Both dogs were owned by a neighbor, Michael Gordon. Just last month police had been to Gordon's home to talk to him about letting the dogs run at-large, but it appears the dogs were once again running at large. There has been some mention that the dogs may have either been let loose intentionally -- or had somehow gotten free from their chains -- so I'm not sure whether the dogs were regularly kept chained. 

The story has been picked up by 50+ media outlets at this point.

I'll update this article if any more information becomes clear. My heart goes out to the Woodard family.

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This story has now been picked up by over 100 media outlets...with only two or three picking up the details about the girl's family or the history of the dogs being unfed. Only one noted that the dogs' owner was just released from jail.

Comments

[J.M.]

Were the dogs running at large this time or was this child climbing into the yard where the dogs were when she was attacked?
One of the pieces I read seemed to indicate that.
Terrible tragedy regardless but quite different as far as who is responsible.
Unsupervised child or dogs running loose?

[Brent]

The question of who's yard she was climbing into may be a really important one. Clearly if she was climbing into the yard with the dogs that changes the story considerably -- and yet the reports are pretty varied. Some say she was killed in the neighbor's back yard, some say she was in her own front yard. And it's not clear if the neighbor's yard is also the dog owner's yard..and the media reports are all over the place on it.

[Jennie]

I always feel so angry for the children. The people who are supposed to protect them, fail them. I think it's interesting that the mother had insisted that the dogs involved in the attack had never behaved aggressively before and that Makayla also lived with a family pit and a resident dog without incident with either of those pets regardless of lack of supervision. I'm curious to know if she was climbing into the dog owner's yard. Even with the update, this part has still been unclear. At loose or in his yard? Such a tragic event. That poor little girl.