Yesterday, 83 year old William Donald Thomas died as a result of being attacked by two dogs.
Apparently, Thomas went out to check the mail when two free-roaming dogs that belonged to a neighbor attacked him. The dogs were described as Rottweilers.
Authorities had to kill the two attacking dogs because they were so aggressive -- and then removed 33 additional dogs, all Rottweilers, from the neighbor's property. According to police chief Byron Jackson: "We don't know if we have a breeding operation, but all the dogs appear to be vicious and the cages are not substantial enough to hold them."
Attacks like this are extremely rare - -and when they happen, it is easy to people to just chalk the incident up to the breed of dog involved in the attack. But this isn't the right way to do it. The right way is to look at the circumstances involved in the attack and try to cure those circumstances as a variety of different breeds are involved in fatal dog bite incidents.
In this case, it appears that we have someone who was intentionally breeding aggressive dogs and keeping them in pens that were not suitable for dogs the size that these were. Leeds also has a poverty level above 20% -- so about 1.5x higher than the national average. Leeds also has a significantly higher incident of violent crimes than the national average -- which may have increased the demand for "guard dogs" -- which may or may not have been what this man was breeding for.
I will share more information about this tragedy when and if it becomes available. Right now the story has only been picked up in about 3 media outlets.
My heart goes out to the Thomas family...
Absolutely insane.
Posted by: John Richardson | September 21, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Heading that way today...will let you know. Jim
Posted by: Jim Crosby | September 21, 2012 at 12:14 PM
What a horror. I'm glad that the dogs were removed from the neighbor's home; obviously he/she/they are not fit owners of any dog. I feel bad for the Rottweilers who did not attack; they did not ask to be bred and raised in a way that would make them vicious, and I would assume that the chances for them to even be put up for adoption are not good. (I'm hoping maybe one or two of them, maybe young ones, might be salvageable) And poor Mr. Thomas...That neighbor has a lot to answer for!
Posted by: Pat | September 21, 2012 at 12:16 PM
Agreed Pat. I do hope the dogs not involved in the incident are given an opportunity to show whether or not they can be rehabilitated in a better environment -- but clearly their environment before was not good.
Jim, looking forward to hearing what you find out.
Posted by: Brent | September 21, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Oh that poor man!!! My heart goes out to his family. Sounds like a bad situation all the way around. Hoping that some charges come out of this and not just for animal cruelty. I'd like to see him held accountable for the life that was taken. I just don't think we're going to see any changes in dog ownership until people start having to pay the price with some jail time for their dog's actions. Too harsh?
Posted by: Jenn | September 21, 2012 at 01:44 PM
Not too harsh by my standards Jenn
Posted by: Brent | September 21, 2012 at 01:53 PM