KC DOG BLOG

Another tragic fatal attack

A 2 year old Prescott, AR toddler died yesterday morning after being attacked by a dog. The toddler and his three-year-old brother were staying at their babysitter's house -- and the two boys got out of the house and wandered four blocks away. Apparently the younger child followed a little puppy into the back yard and climbed into a dog house to get the puppy. However, also in the dog house happened to be a chained adult dog that attacked and killed the boy.

The dog is being described as a "pit bull" -- and unfortunately that's where a lot of the emphasis has been. But there is so much blame to be had here -- with two toddlers being able to wander 4 blocks from home, chained dogs in the back yard, and a toddler climbing into a dog house.

But a child is tragically dead.

Prescott is in a remote part of Southwestern Arkansas and has a population of about 4,300 people -- 1/3 of whom (32.5%) live below the poverty line -- which is double the state average.  The link between income/education level and how people care for dogs continues to be overlooked when it comes to these stories -- and how many of these attacks could be prevented through educating people on better was to contain their dogs (and watch their children).

This is the second attack in less than a week that involved a babysitter who let the child alone and ended up dead by a dog attack.

As more details emerge, I will update any relevant information.

California Toddler Dead After Dog Attack

Update: 10/28/09 - It turns out that the dog did not actually belong to the babysitter -- and that it actually belonged to the sitter's inlaws and she was watching the dog for them while they were in the process of moving.  As more information comes out about the attack, it becomes even more clear what a tragedy of errors that occurred to create this fatal attack. A large breed dog that was in a strange envirnoment, with a different handler who was not terribly familiar with the dog's behavior. A child, left unattended in the back yard with the dog. And a sitter who was not watching the child closely enough.

These events are tragic and very preventable. But until we focus on the events that led up to the attack and focus on preventing those -- and not the breed of dog involved (which is still being widely mis-reported), we will make no progress in preventing these tragedies.

This story has now been picked up in over 400 media outlets.

UPDATE:  According to a report by KMPH news in Californina, the babysitter left the child alone "for a few moments" and then ran outside when she heard the commotion.  I can't stress enough that young kids have a way of poking, pushing, tugging, grabbing, etc dogs and usually don't recognize dog's subtle signals to "get away". Because of this, I don't recommend leaving toddlers alone with any dog, regardless of breed, for any amount of time.

The victim of the attack was named Colton Smith.

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A 17 month old toddler was killed yesterday in Merced County, CA -- a victim of a fatal dog attack.

The child was with the babysitter when the 65 lbs 'pit bull'/Akita mix attacked the child in the throat. The babysitter could not get the dog to let go of the child until she stabbed it with a fork.

The circumstances surrounding the attack remain unclear -- whether the dog knew the child well, whether the child and dog were closely supervised, etc. Hopefully some of that information will come out in the coming days.

The child was taken to the Hospital where he died a short time later.

When the media report came out, the dog was originally just called a 'pit bull' (Not a mix like the local media reported)-- which is what the Associated Press called the dog. The article has run in over 260 newspapers around the country (already) with most of the reports not recognizing the dog as a mixed breed.  (Update: the number of media outlets that covered this is now over 300).

I'll post more details as they become available -- but my heart goes out to the family and the babysitter as they deal with the tragedy.  And it is my hope that the coming days bring conversations about the actual causes of the attack (not focusing on the breed) so people can become more educated about how and why attacks like this happen so future tragedies can be avoided.

Tragic Fatal Attack in Orange, VA

Update 10/1/09:

The little girl has been identified as Jasmine Deane.  And according to one report, there has been apparently "conflicting information" on the attack -- which is probably why information has been so slow to trickle out with more details.  Sheriff Mark Amos noted in multiple articles that the girl's mother told deputies that she had been preoccupied for a short period of time and then noticed the child was not in the house.  Officials could not specificy how long the girl had been gone.

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I'm going to go ahead and post this even though very little information is known about the attack at this point -- but the story has already been picked up by the Associated Press and is spreading like wild fire across the news media this morning.

Last night,a 23 month old girl in Orange County, VA wondered outside her home unattended and up to a dog owned by the family that was chained up in the back yard.  The child was fatally attacked by the dog.  Because there were no adults present, the specific events that led up to the attack are unknown at this time.  Even though the media reports indicate that the dog had "lived with the family for 10 years" -- there is little indication here that the dog was anything more than a resident dog.  Initial media reports are calling the dog a "pit bull".

This attack represents the 22nd fatality of the year -- the 7th involving a young child.  There have been three nearly identical attacks as this this year, where a toddler has wandered outside of the home unattended and up to a chained dog that was in the back yard. 

The attack occurred in a rural area not far from Orange, VA. The community of Orange has a population of about 4,500 people -- over 21% of which live below the nation's poverty line (the VA state % is 9.6%).  Over 10% of the community lives at an income 50% below the poverty line (compared to 4.3% of the entire state).  Income and education continue to be contributing factors in the knowledge people have about how to care for dogs and thus the safety of their children when it comes to those same dogs.

I'll post more about this as information becomes available.

Dog Attack Fatality in Phoenix

I've been holding onto this one for awhile trying to figure out if more information will come to light, but at this point, it doesn't look like it will.

A 90 year old Phoenix woman, Kathleen Doyle, died on July 26th after complications that followed after a dog bite. The woman was apparently bitten on July 20th by an American Bulldog that got loose from its yard when the wind blew the fence gate open. The woman needed surgery following the bite and her health declined quickly afterward.

I can't find any records of the story being  published after the original bite...and only one media outlet covered the woman's tragic death.

Dog fatally attacks 3 day old infant

It feels like doom and despair week this week with yet another tragic story.

In Rio, West Virginia, a 3 day old boy was fatally killed by one of the family dogs.  Apparently the mother was at home feeding the child when the phone rang. The women set the infant on her bed to go get the phone and when she returned, she found her two dogs, one German Shepherd and one 'pit bull', surrounding the child, "acting strangely".  The woman tried to get the two dogs away from the child -- focused first on the German Shepherd -- and the pit bull grabbed the child off the bed. The newborn died from the attack.

This is the third infant under 3 weeks of age to be killed by a dog this year -- all three by different breeds (Chow Chow, Husky, Pit Bull).  Last year, there were 5 infants under 2 months of age that were killed by 4 different breeds (Shar Pei/Pit bull mix, Siberian Husky, Husky, Labrador Retriever, Jack Russell Terrier).

While many are using the case as more fuel to the fire to try to "ban pit bulls", the reality is that the real data indicates a dramatic need for programs like the one put on by Dogs & Storks that really educates people on how to introduce new infants into homes with dogs -- here is an interview I did with the Dogs & Storks founder earlier this year.

Owner negligence and lack of owner education continue to be driving factors in major dog attacks.  Leaving a newborn child unattended around two large dogs is a recipe for a problem, even if in most cases the dogs are fine.  It is time to really focus on education...because owner education (or lack thereof) is the main driving force in these tragedies.

Fatal Attack in Georgia kills elderly couple

An elderly couple were apparently killed this weekend by a pack of dogs. The couple, retired University of Georgia professor Lothar Karl Schweder (77) and his wife, Sherri Schweder (65) who worked at the school's main library, were apparently out looking for their dog that had gotten loose.  The couple was found along a country road where they often walked their dog.

However, the couple never found their dog, and were instead, attacked by 11-14 dogs that are being described by officials as "mongrels" -- and from the looks of them, that's the best description possible.  While the dogs were not aggressive toward authorities, they were found surrounding the couple and the coronery concluded that the victims did die of dog bite wounds. Neighbors report that the dogs have been around for years and never caused a problem in the community.

The dogs belong to a man who used to live in the area but had to move due to medical reasons. However, supposedly a friend was taking the former owner to the property to feed the dogs regularly.

This is a tragic fatality.  The county doesn't have a leash law so the dogs were allowed to roam free with no consequence. This is  the third incident this year that has involved a pack of roaming dogs (6+ dogs) that have been involved in a fatal attack, including an attack last month on Israel Pope Jr, and this past April to Gordon Lykins of Winterhave, AZ.

I do applaoud that a lot of the articles on this story note just how rare attacks like this really are.

I'll update this if anything new comes of it. The story has been widely reported in more than 250 media outlets.

RIP.

Update 8/19/09: Thanks Rinalia for the update. But it seems as if there are quite a few differences in the media reporting on this. But from the more updated reports, it sounds like the dogs were essentially feral dogs.  Susan Fornash, the Director of Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter said that the dogs were malnourished and had a range of healt problems including fly bites on their ears, bite marks on their bodies, etc. She thinks the pack of dogs likely killed the couple because they were hungry and in search of food.  She also described the dogs as "Very Aggressive" toward humans -- which contradicts earlier reports. All 16 dogs have been euthanized.

Fatal Dog Attack in Leesburg, VA

Reports from out of Leesburg, VA are confirming that a 20 year old man, Carter Ridge Delaney died after being attacked by two dogs in his home.

The dogs, described, as 'pit bull type', belonged to Delaney's brother.  According to reports, the dogs were usually outside dogs, however, were found inside the home.

The circumstances surrounding the attack are unknown at this point, however, it is believed that the dogs may have attacked Delaney's mother's dog, a Pug mix, that was found dead inside the home, and it is believed that Delaney may have been trying to protect the smaller dog and gotten in the middle of the dog fight and was fatally mauled.

Of course the Washington Post is running a poll currently asking if people think pit bull type dogs (whatever that is) should be banned.  I've never seen that poll when any other breed of dog is involved in an attack.

As rare as it is for dogs to kill humans, it is even more rare for them to kill an adult.  So far this year, five of the six fatal attacks (including this one) involved multiple dogs...and this is the first of the six to involve a 'pit bull-type' dog. In 2008, every incident of a fatal attack on an adult (7 total) involved multiple dogs.

Of these 13 total attacks, there have been nine different breeds of dogs involved.  So while there are a few people out there continue to try to make this a breed issue (ie, the Post's poll), it is far from it. We must change the conversations away from "breeds" and onto dog behaviors.

I'll post more details here as they emerge.

This story was reported in 54 different media outlets.

Another potential fatal dog attack

96 year old Israel Pope, Jr. was found dead in Pickensville, AL. How he came to be that way is a bit unclear -- but a pack of wild dogs seem like the most likely culprit.

There was a pack of seven wild dogs that lived under an abandoned, ramshackle trailer that was only about 1/2 mile from Pope's home. The dogs were described as complete feral (neighbors reported that no one was able to pet the dogs), were underfed, and got most of their water from a stagnant ditch nearby.

Pope's remains were found near and under that trailer where the dogs lived. It is unclear whether Pope had died before the dogs found him, or the dogs caused his death -- and authorities think it is unlikely that they will ever be able to officially determine.  Authorities described several of the dogs as "big dogs" that easily could have overpowered the man.

Either way, this is a tragic end to a very long life for Mr. Pope.

Pickensville is a very small town in rural Alabama.  It has a population of just over 600 people -- has a declining population, and 34% of the community lives below the poverty level.

The fact that there was a pack of large dogs living under an abandoned trailer in a poor, rural community is probably not all that surprising.  The fact that the dogs had become feral and aggressive, probably isn't that surprising either. But the fact that no one called the authorities about the dogs, or if they did, nothing was done to the dogs to remove the potential threat, is pretty inexcusable.

And it's because of incidences like this that it makes me so angry when people talk about idiocy like breed bans -- because it only serves as a distraction from real issues that cause major dog attacks...including packs of dogs allowed to run at large and allowed to live in situations without owners. 

For this, I'm not sure how this one will be officially classified at the end of the year. I do find it unlikely that these dogs which were fearful of people would have attacked the man -- so it seems more likely (to me) that the man died prior to the dogs getting to him. We may never know.

This story was covered by about 20 media outlets, all directly in the Alabama/Mississippi area.

RIP. Israel Pope.

Three Year Old S. Illinois Toddler Dead from apparent dog attack

On Saturday night, three year old Gabrial Mandrell was found dead outside of his Johnson City, IL home -- dead from an apparent dog attack.

Mandrell's parents apparently put him to bed and checked on him around 7:30 on Saturday night. According to official reports, the boy apparently got up shortly after that, pushed the screen out of his bedroom window, and crawled out the window.  At that point, he was apparently attacked by at least one of the three mixed-breed dogs owned by the family that were out in the yard at the time.

The death is being ruled an accident.

Three year old kids are incredibly mobile, and are prone to finding ways out of the house and finding trouble once they do.  In this case it was tragically the dogs owned by the family.

I'll post more details as they emerge. This is starting to get picked up in a lot of newspapers this morning so I wanted to comment before it hit too many media outlets.

My heart and sympathies go out to the Mandrell family.

The three dogs owned by Mandrell's family are officially now being called a collie mix and two pit bull mixes. Officials are unsure which dog or dogs are responsible for the attack. 

Update #1: 6/30/09 - It sounds like the local Sheriff's office has all but concluded their investigation, and had ruled this to be a no-fault accident.  This just appears to be the perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances that led up to this unfortunate death.  According to the report:

-- None of the three family dogs had ever shown aggression to any family member

-- It is unknown which dog started the incident or which ones were involved in biting the child, but it appears that more than one dog was involved in attacking the child.

-- Apparently the young boy crawled out the window with a stuffed animal in tow -- and it is believed that the incident likely began over the stuffed animal.

-- The residence had no air conditioning and had numerous box fans on at the time that would have made it more difficult for the adults in the house to hear anything.

-- The adults were at the opposite side of the house to where the child's bedroom was and where the incident occurred. The boy was injured in such a way that would have made yelling impossible

-- The home appears to be in a very rural and wooded area, so there would have been no neighbors around to hear the commotion either.

This just truly looks like a terrible situation where a very mobile child got away when he should have been asleep, and ended up in the middle of a group of dogs with one or multiple members being toy motivated and caused a bad attack.  Again, my sincerest condolences to the family.

In total, this story was picked up by 27 news sources -- almost all in Southern Illinois.

Dog bite fatality story -- and a case for media bias

A few weeks ago, I posted a brief in the Weekly Roundup about a story where a woman was attacked by her dog in the back yard of her home.  It turns out that the woman, Barbara Chambers, has died following the attack due to complications from the injuries she sustained.

There are no media reports about her death. There is a mention of it left in the comments section of the original story, and I was able to confirm the story with someone who knows Barbara well -- as well as find her obituary in last week's Dallas Morning News -- but there have been no news reports of her death.

Two things about this story have really stood out to me.

First, this attack really is sad for so many reasons. Ms. Chambers dedicated her life to working with dogs, and there is a sad irony that her life would end this way. Meanwhile, the attack itself doesn't fit the typical profile of a fatal dog attack. Most fatal dog attacks fit into convenient profiles -- children left alone with dogs, dogs that are used for guarding purposes, or dogs that are completely abandoned or mistreated -- or poorly trained where the owner has disregarded past aggressive behavior.

But none of those fit here. The dog was a show dog. A well trained, well bred, well cared-for, awared winning show dog.  And for reasons unknown to anyone, the dog, a Great Dane, attacked his owner.  It's tragic.  And is certainly the outlier for how these attacks usually happen.

The second part that strikes me is the complete lack of media exposure on this. While the initial attack received a few short stories, there has been no follow up...and no stories about this woman's death.  While a couple of other 'pit bull' attacks in Texas earlier this year generated 300+ news reports apiece, a fatal attack by a Great Dane is apparently considered completely unnewsworthy.

I've stated numerous times before that the media has been majorly responsible for how we view dogs and dog attacks. For too long, they have been reporting stories as if breed is determining factor (it's not) and been over-reporting the misdeeds by some breeds of dogs (often incorrectly) and completely not reporting the misdeeds by other breeds that are deemed "less newsworthy".  It is cases like this that showcase the reality that anyone who bases their statistics and point of view on dogs based solely on media reports is going to have a completely skewed point of view on dogs and dog bites -- and will have completely skewed data if they are simply compiling news reports and trying to pass them off as "statistical" information.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Ms. Chambers as they deal with this tragedy.