Update 3/7: The young victim has been identified as Vanessa Elizabeth Husmann.
On Saturday, a 3 year old Hopkinton, IA girl was fatally attacked by two Rottweilers in the backyard of her grandparent's home. The girl was being babysat by her 18 year old half brother when the girl went outside without him noticing and was fatally attacked by the two dogs owned by her grandparents. The girl was taken to the hospital and was declared dead upon arrival.
The family apparently breeds Rottweilers.
Hopkinton is a small community of just over 600 people and the story has been picked up by 30+ media outlets.
The attack is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to the family.
The follow up to the story by the media and politicians is also painful. Instead of focusing on the real issue here -- which was very clearly the reality that there was an 18 year old boy who was not adequately watching the toddler, when the toddler wandered outside among two dogs that clearly had not been socialized with the child, the media, and the mayor seem content to focus on 'breed' instead of the circumstances.
Nope, less than 24 hours after the fatility, the Mayor of the city is discussing banning Rottweilers from the city. The city already bans 'pit bulls' in the community (and how's that working for you?).
Yeah, this is exactly what they mean by Panic Policy Making.
Meanwhile, where in the world is the Des Moines Register getting their statistical data? According to their report, they said that 'pit bulls' were responsible for 22 fatalities last year and two of the attacks involved small children -- one 4 years old and one 8 months old. For the record, if 4 years old is their definition of a "small child" -- then according to my data 15 of last year's fatal attacks had victims under the age of 4....and the number of 'pit bulls' involved was closer to 15 than 22 (the actual number varies depending on how you count the various mixed breeds and multiple dog incidents.
No, sadly instead of focusing on the tragedy for what it is...a tragic, isolated incident involving a teenage boy not supervising his toddler half-sister as she roamed into the backyard with 2 large dogs that were not socialized with her, the media continues to mis-inform people of the reasons behind the attacks, misreresents the data behind fatal attacks, and the mayor announces his plan to add another breed to the city's breed ban as if that is going to be the solution to the problem.
It's not.
And the media and our civic leaders need to do better....and listen to the experts in animal welfare and adopt behavior-based ordinances that have proven effective at improving public safety.
I can't imagine why a 3 year old would wonder out to play with dogs...And if they were breeders they could have had puppies that are even more tempting for a kid and more likely the dogs would have been to defend their offspring. Sorry, I don't want to click thru the links to add to the hysteria.
Posted by: MichelleD | March 07, 2011 at 05:31 PM
This is heartwrenching, poor little baby. Three yr olds can be very busy and this child could have simply got out of the door and got attacked. I can not even imagine trying to or hearing someone making an excuse for any animal taking a childs life in such a horrific way. God bless this little angel <3
Posted by: Tammy | March 10, 2011 at 11:33 PM