Posted on 08/27/2007 8:32:25 PM PDT by Michael_Michaelangelo
TACOMA, Wash. -- Margaret Wingerter is amazed her Shetland pony is still alive after having its face chewed off by pit bulls.
The veterinarian needed to use nearly 300 stitches to repair the injuries.
"His face was just hanging off," Margaret said. "Both sides were literally just hanging open, gaping open."
Over the weekend, two dogs attacked the pony in the middle of the night. Neighbors rushed in with pool cues and beat the dogs away, but not before the damage was done.
Margaret was keenly aware of what happened to Sue Gorman, a Gig Resident, last week when two pit bulls entered her home and severely mauled her.
"You read about someone else like the lady that got attacked and it was like horrific, and you just it makes you sick," she said.
The dogs that attacked Gorman were captured and will likely be destroyed, but the two that attacked Margaret's pony disappeared into the neighborhood along the Puyallup River Road.
"The dogs were soaked with blood dripping off of them from the attack," said Jack Wingerter. "So those dogs went home to some parents or some family and they know something happened. But whether they come forward or not, we don't know."
The couple has grandchildren that are always around and say they now fear for their safety.
The Wingerters say the owners may believe these dogs to be harmless, but now that the pit bulls have attacked they need to be considered extremely dangerous.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is investigation.
I’ll rise in defense of the Pit Bull. I was partial to wolf/malamute crosses for a while, and any one of them would eat a Pit Bull for breakfast. I also know plenty of Junkyard Dobies and Rots and Sheppards that would do the same.
A dog is a dog.
Pool Cues!
They should have used shotguns and 00 buckshot!
Those dogs should have been dead on the scene!
Oh, but this is anti-gun, liberal Coastal Washington.
Uh huh.
So if you had to choose between being bitten by a Rottweiller or a Yorkshire Terrier, you'd have no preference?
That's just silly. Have you ever seen what a pack of wild dogs do to a herd of sheep?
Let me put it to you this way: If both were of equal temperment, If I had to choose between a Pit Bull and a Rot, I would choose to go against the Pit Bull.
The thing is pitbulls were bred to fight and years of improper breeding and abuse have made them violent towards humans.
There are other breeds that bite people more often than the "pit" breeds. Sure, even labs have more bites on record than pits. But that's a big non-sequitur.
Lots of dogs will bite or nip at a threat... in the traditional "fear-bite". But that's not what we're talking about here.
Pit breeds don't just "bite". They attack to kill. They don't nip at a finger. They grip, hold and shake the throat in order to tear arteries. Pits fight to kill. It's not anything else. It's what they do. It's why they exist.
Lots of little terriers bite people, along with the occasional lab or shepard. But that's not what they do for a living, and when they bite it is meant to frighten, not to kill.
Pits fight to kill. It's what they do. Any pit that hasn't killed during its life must only be prefaced by the term "yet".
Hey!! I resent that remark!!
I have 2 mini weiner dogs...real love bugs!! Nothing viscious about them.
However, beware cause they'll kiss you to death!! :)
The same was said of Rotweillers fifteen years ago, and of Dobermans ten years before that. Oddly enough, twenty years ago this "attacking Pit Bull" phenomena was completely absent, even though they have long been favored as a tenacious fighting dog.
LOL.....funny twist of words....
I have a neighbour down the street who has a female pit bull. She is the kindest, gentlest dog you will ever find. I have never even heard her bark and she would not even chase the stray cat that I have raised from a kitten when she sees her. To show her affection, she will lick any uncovered skin on your leg until you move out of range! It depends on how dogs are brought up, just like kids.
Do me a favor. Climb over a junkyard fence tonight. When (if) you come back, I will bet you will have changed your mind.
... and if I had to choose between being attacked by a Bengal tiger or a cheetah. I’d choose the cheetah.
I’d rather have neither in my neighborhood.
That is very true.
I have the same feelings towards rotillers and dobermans, I see no need for someone to have this type of dog when they live on a 1/2 acre lot in a suburb. It is because of irresponsible pet owners that I don’t walk around town anymore
Hey, it was easier for me to get a CCW in the City of Seattle than it would have been in Ann Arbor MIchigan in the 90s, Philly at any time or even here in Iowa.
Washington is FAR more pro-gun as it is a TRUE shall-issue state, even if there are a bunch of commies running around the Western part of the state, it hasn’t affected gun owners YET.
So what are you saying.. Any dog bigger than 35 lbs. should be banned from town?
No need? Might you try to guess the answer to the following question:
According to a statistical report I read some years ago, What d you suppose was the best thing to have in your house to keep predatory humans away?
I know for home defense, but it is cruel to have an animal bred for herding or hunting kept in a tiny fenced in yard. There are plenty of good smaller dogs with are just fine for home protection, along with keeping a gun in the nightstand.
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