New Mexico Woman killed by pack of dogs

It had been pretty quiet on this front for the past couple of months, but this is the second fatality story in as many days.

On Sunday afternoon, 48 year old Margaret Salcedo was fatally attacked by four dogs -- described by the media as "mixed breed pit bulls". The attack occurred in Truth or Consequences, NM.

The four dogs were apparently roaming at large while the owners were out of town and attacked Ms. Salcedo. One onlooker called 911 for help, but help arrived too late (although response time was pretty quick by most standards).

When a healthy adult is killed in an incident like this, it is often a group of dogs involved vs a singular dog -- and large groups of dogs roaming at large can obviously be a problem - as it clearly was in this case.

I also often point out that incidents like this often occur in poverty-stricken areas -- where there are some dog owners who do not have the same standards of care for their dogs as I think most of us would prefer (this is not to imply that low-income pet owners can't be good owners, only to note that irresponsibe ownership is more common in these areas than in affluent ones). In this case, Truth or Consequences has 23% of their population living below the poverty line -- which is nearly double the national average.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Ms. Solcedo.

This story has been picked up by nearly 200 media outlets across the country and in the UK and Canada.

Comments

[Karleencalmdoglindsey]

It is always disturbing to hear of dogs attacking and killing someone, but as you stated, it does seem to happen more in poverty stricken areas. I think it could possibly have to do with the fact that a lot of people who live in poverty are also sometimes involved with drugs, have alcohol problems, and domestic problems. Unfortunately, their pets sometimes take the brunt of these conditions, being abused, neglected or abandoned, non-socialized and not trained and a lot of times the owners can't afford proper fencing. And like you said, when they join together as a pack, any attack can turn into a killing frenzy. One person cannot fend off 4 attacking dogs as they might be able to fend off one.

It was a horrible tragedy that could have been prevented. That's the difficult part of something like this. My heart also goes out to the friends and relatives of Ms. Solcedo.