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Sep. 13, 2008 Pet pit bulls maul NLV 4-month-old to death Grandmother baby-sitting child hospitalized By LAWRENCE MOWER REVIEW-JOURNAL A 4-month-old girl was fatally mauled by her family's two pit bulls Friday at their North Las Vegas home. The baby's grandmother, who was watching the baby while her parents were at work, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries sustained as she tried to protect her granddaughter. North Las Vegas police Chief Joseph Forti said the dogs were in the backyard of the home, near Cheyenne Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, prior to the attack. The dogs managed to enter...

"A South African Rottweiler has helped rescue a two-year-old boy who was being mauled by a pit bull terrier. The pit bull attacked Tshepang Taeli as he was walking with his grandmother in Oakdene, south of Johannesburg." "The dog was dragging the toddler down the road and would not let go, despite being kicked and beaten by residents. One of the neighbours, Ricky Veludo, came to help and then went to fetch his dog, Blade. "He fought the other dog to free the child," he told a local paper."

A 36-year-old Boulder man is recovering after a pit bull bit his ear off near the Boulder Creek Path, according to police. Witnesses told officers that Edward Valdez was being aggressive with a friend’s 4-year-old female dog, Freya, when the attack occurred at about 7:05 p.m. Tuesday in the 1000 block of Canyon Blvd., just west of Boulder High School, said police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley. Valdez was wrestling with the dog before being bitten, witnesses told police. “A couple of people said he was pulling the dog by its ears and head-butting the animal,” Huntley said. “After a short period...

" Police say daycare workers didn't know the toddler went outside into a backyard after going through a rear door. The home of the daycare provider, Anita Brunke, is in the 800-block of Edmund Street. She says the boy, 18-month-old Demetrius Allen, was the only one home at the time of the mauling. The pit bull was fenced in the backyard, but in an instance, the dog had the child in his mouth. "The dog had the little boy, bouncing him up and down like a rag doll," said a neighbor. Brunke says the dog attack happened when she was...

SAN FRANCISCO — One of two brothers who survived a tiger attack at San Francisco Zoo has been sentenced to 16 months in state prison for violating probation in a felony reckless driving case. In December, Paul Dhaliwal was sentenced to 30 days in Santa Clara County jail and three years of probation for leading police on a high-speed chase through San Jose last year. But three days after sentencing he was cited for marijuana possession, and in March he was also arrested on suspicion of shoplifting. Prosecutors say the 20-year-old Dhaliwal received the 16-month-prison sentence last week in Santa...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska-- A 6-year-old girl remains in critical condition Tuesday after a pit bull attacked her and a baby sitter. Two neighbors came to the rescue and one of them shot the dog to save the victims. The attack happened a little before 3 p.m. at an East Anchorage trailer park, the Riviera Terrace, near 32nd Avenue and Lee Street. "The report was a pit bull had attacked a 6-year-old girl and she was severely injured. In fact the original report thought the girl was dead," said APD Lt. Paul Honeman. John Kersbergen and Shawnee Hart witnessed some of the...

The child who was attacked by a pit bull this week remained hospitalized in critical condition as her father was making his way home from Iraq to be with her late this week, according to the girl's family. The fate of 6-year-old Isis Krieger, in critical care(snip) "They're still giving her all her fluids and she's been twitching and stuff like that," said Wanda Injasoulian, Isis' great-grandmother. "Her little heart's beating really good, so there's no telling...(snip) The attack by Dozer on Tuesday at Isis' East Anchorage home was not the dog's first, but it was the worst --

One of two brothers wounded in a Christmas Day tiger attack in San Francisco has been sentenced to 16 months in state prison, after a judge ruled he violated his probation in connection to an April 2007 incident in San Jose which he fled from police in a high speed chase. Last week, Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal was sentenced in Santa Clara County's felony violation court. The prison sentence comes after a series of probation violations. Not only did the underage Dhaliwal admit to having alcohol and marijuana, he was booked on several counts of felony shoplifting in Alameda County, said...

The pit bull that critically injured a young girl during a vicious attack in her East Anchorage home was put to death Wednesday at the request of its owner, according to Anchorage Animal Care and Control. The family pet, Dozer, was also responsible for attacking the girl's baby sitter Tuesday afternoon. A neighbor shot the dog in the leg while trying to get it off the baby sitter. The owner surrendered Dozer to animal control officials later that night, and the dog was killed by lethal injection Wednesday evening. "He was owner-surrendered for euthanasia by his owners," said animal control...

A pit bull that severely mauled a young girl inside her East Anchorage home Tuesday afternoon was shot by a neighbor who followed screams to the scene to find the girl's baby sitter fighting the dog in the front yard. The girl's injuries were so severe that witnesses at first told police the 6-year-old was dead, killed in the attack by one of her family's pets. The girl, however, was still alive and was rushed to Alaska Native Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Tuesday afternoon for what police called life-threatening injuries to her neck and head. Her mother was...

SAO PAULO, Brazil — An 11-year old boy is in Brazil's media spotlight after sinking his teeth into the neck of a dog that attacked him. Local newspapers reported on Thursday that Gabriel Almeida was playing in his uncle's backyard in the city of Belo Horizonte when a pit bull named Tita lunged at him and bit him in the left arm.

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The co-workers at the compound in the Olyotorsky district are trapped and frightened: the gruesome discovery has left them too scared to venture out. A team of snipers, with orders to shoot...

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The Kamchatka brown bear is one of the world's largest, with males growing to around 10 feet and weighing up to 1,540 pounds. They can also reach speeds of up to 30...

The woman, identified by police as Loraine May, was found by her son Thursday evening inside her home on Elliot Avenue (see map). He called 911 and officers responded around 5:00pm. The two dogs suspected by police in the attack, a golden lab mix and an Australian Shepherd mix, were taken into custody by Brevard County Animal Control. Police said they don't believe her third dog, a cocker spaniel, was involved. Read entire post at link.

People in the Silver City/Pinos Altos, New Mexico, vicinity are nervously looking over their shoulders these days, fearing they may be the next meal for a mountain lion prowling the area... On Friday, the body of Robert Nowojski, 55, was found about 75 yards from his Pinos Altos home, severely mauled and partly fed upon. The animal would not leave until Game and Fish officers shot at it. Although not yet confirmed with an autopsy, authorities suspect the lion is responsible for the fatal attack. Hunters with hounds are now tracking the animal. Several people reported sightings of the mountain...

A man from B.C.'s Interior not only survived being mauled by a grizzly — he killed the bear as well. John Shorter, 38, was hiking near Dease Lake in Northern B.C. Tuesday when he said he smelled a bear in the area. "I heard a woofing sound, turned, seen a grizz coming at me. I managed to get my rifle up and get one round into the chest.… At that point he got on top of me, obviously, and took me down," Shorter said. "He proceeded to try to maul me in the back of the scalp and on the...

The husband of a 70-year-old grandmother who was killed by a bear in northern Quebec ... Conservation experts set traps after Friday evening's attack, but ... the bear was still at large in the wilds of northern Quebec. As she scouted a fishing hole for walleye, Ms. Lavoie became separated from her husband. Barely 10 minutes later, Mr. Lavoie felt something was amiss and went searching for his wife of 51 years. Metres away he came upon the nightmarish scene of her body being dragged into the forest by a bear. Mr. Lavoie chased the predator for nearly 200 metres...

KRASNODAR, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - A drunken Russian zookeeper, who was mauled by a lion after climbing into its pen May 1 at a zoo in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, died in hospital Tuesday, investigators said. The man, who had been suspended from work for being drunk, entered the animal's enclosure while the lion slept and was attacked by the big cat as he tried to tap it on the nose. Following the attack the zookeeper was hospitalized in a critical condition undergoing surgery to amputate his hand but died from his injuries. A criminal investigation...

Wildlife officials are still trying to figure out what kind of animal attacked Jose Salazar Jr. in the Sandia Mountains Saturday evening. The 5-year-old suffered a torn scalp and puncture wounds around his neck and arms. He underwent surgery at the University of New Mexico Hospital and is expected to fully recover. Now officials want to know if he was attacked by a mountain lion, bobcat, or bear. Rio Grande Zoo mammal curator Lynn Tupa has a few ideas about what could have mauled Salazar. She said it was most likely a mountain lion. "It was probably an immature cub...

CHINO HILLS, Calif. — A nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote when the animal attacked the toddler and tried to carry her away in its mouth, officials said. The girl was playing Friday in a sandbox at Alterra Park in Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. Around 10:30 a.m., the caretaker heard screaming and saw a coyote trying to carry the child off in its mouth, officials said. The babysitter grabbed the child and pulled her from the coyote's grasp, the sheriff's department said in a statement. The coyote then ran off into nearby brush....

LIVINGSTON - Bob Johnson, the mountain man mauled by a grizzly bear last week, has decided to tell the rest of the story. He shot the bear dead, he said Wednesday, plugging it with a .41-caliber Magnum pistol after it had mauled him once and was returning for a second attack. Johnson, 55, maintained last week that the details of the attack were hazy. On Wednesday, he said he had been reluctant to tell the whole story because of legal concerns. He was convicted of a federal poaching charge in the early 1980s and was unsure if carrying a handgun...

A Montana man was mauled and severely injured in a run-in with a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park's Hayden Valley Wednesday, park officials confirmed Wednesday evening. The man, in his late 50s, was apparently taking photographs of a female grizzly and her cub along Trout Creek when he was attacked, park spokesman Al Nash said. Despite “severe facial injuries,” he was able to walk two or three miles to the Grand Loop Road, where visitors found him and alerted rangers. The man, whose name and hometown were not released pending notification of relatives, was taken by ambulance to West...

WELLINGTON, Fla. - The owner of a wildlife sanctuary was attacked by two cheetahs Saturday and hospitalized with about 40 puncture wounds to her extremities and back, authorities said. Judy Berens was airlifted to Delray Medical Center, but it appears she has non-life threatening injuries, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said. Berens owns and operates Panther Ridge Conservation Center, which provides homes for exotic cats, authorities said. She was conducting an exhibition with two male cheetahs in an enclosure when one became distracted by a ball being bounced outside, the sheriff's office said. The cheetah moved toward the ball...

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (AP) A man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for having his pit bull maul a man who tried to recover a stolen bicycle. Fermin Monterroso blinked away tears Friday in a Rancho Cucamonga courtroom after pleading guilty to robbery and agreeing to give up his dog, Trouble. The pit bull will be destroyed. Prosecutors said Monterroso, 19, and a friend stole a bicycle from a man in Ontario last July. The man went home and told his roommate, Jeffrey Cross, who confronted the thieves a couple of blocks away. Police said Monterroso unleashed Trouble...

The parents of the 11-year-old boy killed by a black bear last summer in American Fork Canyon are suing the U.S. Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. They say more should have been done to prevent their son's death. Step-father Tim Mulvey, his wife Rebecca Ives and Sam’s father say they have lived with the horror of that father's day weekend every day since and now they want to make sure it never happens to anyone else's family. It is grief beyond comprehension for most of us; a child ripped away from his family in the middle of...

PHOENIX -- A rabid mountain lion like the one pictured attacked a 10-year-old boy north of Phoenix on Saturday, before being shot to death by a family member, said Randy Babb of the Arizona Department Game and Fish. "The family was riding all-terrain vehicles, took a break and while relaxing, an adult female mountain lion attacked the boy," Babb said. The boy was lucky to have suffered only minor scratches to his back, Babb said. The incident occurred in the Tonto National Forest in an area called Sheep Bridge in the extreme southeast corner of Yavapai County. The region is...

Kate Drew with bandaged head puts on a brave face after the attack A British teacher's trip to Africa turned to horror - when a lion leapt on her from behind and clamped its jaws round her head. As she was dragged to the ground, Kate Drew screamed in pain as the animal's teeth sank into her. To add to her terror, two other lions were prowling not far away, waiting to pounce. Luckily, tour guides were nearby and they tackled the 400lb animal, wrestling it away from her and saving her from more serious injury or death. She was...

S.F. police investigation into tiger attack "suspended" due to lack of evidence of taunting Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (01-29) 16:16 PST San Francisco - -- The San Francisco police investigation into the tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo has been "suspended" after a search earlier this month failed to turn up evidence that the victims taunted the animal or committed other crimes, police said Tuesday. The case is being shelved "pending new witnesses being interviewed and/or new evidence being produced," according to a Police Department statement about the Christmas Day mauling that killed...

One of the three victims of San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted to yelling and waving at the animal while standing atop the railing of the big cat enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday. Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, who was killed, that the three yelled and waved at the tiger but insisted they never threw anything into its pen to provoke the cat, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. "As a result of this investigation, (police believe) that the tiger may have...

S.F. Zoo mauling investigation winding down Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Saturday, January 19, 2008 The police investigation into the tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo will soon be reclassified as "inactive" after a search failed to turn up evidence that the victims taunted the animal or committed other crimes, authorities said Friday. Sources close to the case said the investigation into the Christmas Day attack could be shelved as soon as next week and will not be reopened unless new information comes to light. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to...

Lawyers say city, zoo on shaky legal ground if tiger victims sue Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, January 13, 2008 "Based on the facts that have come out, this is a clear-cut case of negligence," said John Diamond, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He cited the zoo director's admission that the moat wall around the tiger grotto was only 12 1/2 feet high - 4 feet below national safety standards, and 7 1/2 feet shorter than zoo officials had said it was. "There's no excuse for having an enclosure that does not...

Two San Jose brothers mauled by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day have refused to allow police to examine their cell phones for possible text messages or photos believed to be taken the day of a tiger's escape. In a letter sent Friday to the brothers' attorney, celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera asked that Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal preserve "this potentially critical evidence." "The digital content of your clients' cell phones, which we understand are currently in the possession of the police, may help reconstruct what happened at the tiger exhibit...

Tiger attack survivors 'sorry' they couldn't save mauled friend BY TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and SOO YOUN, DAILY NEWS WRITERS Sunday, December 30th 2007, 4:00 AM SAN JOSE, Calif. - The two brothers who survived the attack by maneating tiger Tatiana broke their silence Saturday, calling their dead friend's family to say they did everything they could to save the teen. "They called and said they were sorry, that they did everything to help Carlos [Sousa Jr.]," said the victim's cousin Christina Sousa-Habenicht. Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, and Amritpal (Paul) Dhaliwal, 19, made the call just hours after they left San Francisco General...

The anguished brother of a teen who died trying to save two buddies from a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo struggled Friday to understand why the survivors ran out on their mortally injured friend. "If he stepped in for you, why did you leave him to die?" asked 17-year-old Carlos Sousa's brother, Leo, 21. He said his family has been looking for answers since the 350-pound tiger got loose on Christmas and mauled Carlos. By all accounts, the youth was killed trying to get the big cat away from brothers Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, and Amritpal, 19. But Leo...

SAN FRANCISCO - The deadly tiger escape at the San Francisco Zoo could prove to be a costly blow to an institution that has come under fire repeatedly in just the past few years over the deaths of two elephants and the mauling of a zookeeper.

In the wake of reports that police are investigating whether a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo was taunted before attacking a trio of young men, the father of the teen who was killed doesn't think his son would "do such a foolish thing." "I don't see the proof or the evidence yet," Carlos Sousa Sr. said in a phone interview this morning following a national appearance on "Good Morning America." "But kids are kids and you can't be watching them all the time." Still, Sousa Sr. said he wanted to find out more information later today about what happened...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The big cat exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo was cordoned off as a crime scene Wednesday as investigators tried to determine whether a Siberian tiger that killed a visitor escaped from its high-walled pen on its own or got help from someone, inadvertent or otherwise. Police shot the 300-pound animal to death after a Christmas Day rampage that began when the tiger escaped from an enclosure surrounded by what zoo officials said are an 18-foot wall and a 20-foot moat. Two brothers who also were visiting the zoo were severely mauled. Police Chief Heather Fong...

Bears that barge in on people in the forest have become enough of a nuisance that more of them should be hunted, state wildlife managers have decided. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, responding to a spike in human-bear contacts and an 11-year-old boy's death in June, want to issue 296 black bear hunting permits for Utah's 2008 spring and fall hunts, a 20 percent increase from the 248 permits offered this year. DWR officials say the state's black bear population is high enough to warrant the permit increase. Wildlife managers also say bears and humans clashed too many times...

Juneau man recounts Friday morning bear attack on Admiralty Island . A "crack" in the brush. A split second to turn and see the bear. Another second to click the gun's safety off. That's all the time Dr. John Raster had before the brown bear attacked him. "I screamed and fired a shot into the air," he said. "It was already on me and the gun was still pretty much slung around my shoulder. He bit me and started scratching me and pushed me down into the water." The Juneau doctor had been walking alone Friday morning along a stretch...

A "crack" in the brush. A split second to turn and see the bear. Another second to click the gun's safety off. That's all the time Dr. John Raster had before the brown bear attacked him. "I screamed and fired a shot into the air," he said. "It was already on me and the gun was still pretty much slung around my shoulder. He bit me and started scratching me and pushed me down into the water." The Juneau doctor had been walking alone Friday morning along a stretch of beach on Admiralty Island, just a few hundreds yards from...

<p>Photo by Ryan McFadden: Reading Eagle Erin Dickinson, 7, was mauled by a pit bull May 24 near her south Reading home.</p> <p>I'm sure you have read the accounts of how a 7-year-old girl, above, was attacked by two dogs near her home on the south side of Reading.</p>

CBS) HAWTHORNE, Calif. Two children menaced by pit bulls in Hawthorne were safe Friday, but a woman running from the dogs broke her leg and a squad car being driven to the scene collided with another vehicle, injuring an officer and a motorist, police said. A report that two pit bulls were menacing a 16-year-old girl and her 6-year-old brother in the 2900 block of 141st Place at El Segundo Boulevard and Prairie Avenue was received by Hawthorne police about 8 a.m., Hawthorne police Lt. Michael Ishii said. An animal-control officer distracted the dogs with a chemical spray, and the...

69-year-old Victim in Critical Condition Three pit bull terriers attacked their owner, inside a Frankford home Wednesday night. 69-Year-Old Margaret Grace is hospitalized in critical but stable condition, after having surgeries to repair injuries to her face, ear, arm, and leg. Philadelphia Police say Grace was mauled by the three dogs in the living room of her home in the 5400 block of Montague Street. Grace lives in the home with her daughter and adult grandson. All three had ownership of the dogs. Right now, it's still unclear what provoked the attack. The victim's daughter says the dogs did not...

LEBANON, Ind. -- Dogs may be natural adversaries of postal carriers, but Joe Luckey couldn't have been prepared for an attack by a police animal. Luckey was working his route when Erik, the Lebanon Police Department's 7-year-old German shepherd, ran for him Tuesday, startling the mailman and the dog's handler. The dog bit his face and neck and barely missed his jugular vein. "I was thinking, 'Boy, this is really going to hurt. I don't know how bad, but this is really going to hurt,'" Luckey told 6News' Ray Cortopassi on Wednesday. The dog was with his longtime, off-duty handler,...

GIG HARBOR, Wash. - Two pit bull terriers broke into a house through a pet door Tuesday and attacked a woman in her bed, mauling her badly, a Pierce County sheriff's spokesman said.The woman was able to grab a gun and try to shoot the dogs, then break away from the attack and lock herself in her car, where she called 911, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.The woman, who was not immediately identified, was taken to a hospital in Tacoma, where she was listed in serious condition.Officers planned to talk to the dogs' owner.The pit bulls also killed a neighbor's...

Woman mauled by home-invading pit bulls 07:45 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 KING5.com Staff Animal control officers say the victim was covered in blood after the dogs attacked PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. - In what deputies describe as the worst mauling they've ever seen, two pit bulls entered a Wauna-area home via the pet door and attacked a woman in her bed. Pierce County Sheriff's Dept. spokesman Ed Troyer said a neighbor's Jack Russell terrier also entered the home in the 10600 block of 132nd St. Court NW through the dog door and the pit bulls attacked the terrier...

A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival. The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it. "There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic said. Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones...

Perhaps, his loved ones can only speculate, young Zachary King Jr. had gone to get a puppy in his family's basement, where their full-grown male pit bull was chained. When the 7-year-old boy's older sister came inside to look for him Thursday afternoon, she found him badly bitten and lying on the basement floor. She ran to get their father, but it was too late. The dog killed Zachary, who was about to enter second grade at Hope Academy, a private Christian school in Minneapolis. The pit bull, which had previously bitten other people, went for the boy's throat, police...

LOS ANGELES -- A man working as a caretaker at a residence owned by actor Ving Rhames was found dead on the property Friday morning after being mauled by two dogs, authorities said. The man died at the scene of the attack, which was reported about 7:15 a.m. in the 12900 block of San Vicente Boulevard, said Los Angeles police Officer Sandra Gonzalez. His name was withheld pending notification of relatives.

LOS ANGELES — A 40-year-old man was mauled to death by as many as four dogs at the home of Ving Rhames on Friday, authorities said. The victim, who hasn't been identified, had worked at the actor's home for about two years and was responsible for caring for the dogs, said Los Angeles Police officer Sandra Gonzalez. Four mastiffs were seized by animal services, she said. Police got a call at 7:15 a.m. from someone reporting a dead body at the home. Gonzalez didn't know who made the call. The victim was found on the front lawn, she said. Rhames,...