Posted on 12/17/2004 1:12:07 PM PST by Migraine
Girl mauled, killed by pit bulls Breaking: Police make arrests
By: Terence Corrigan, The Independent 12/17/2004
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Annilee McKinnon SHOW LOW – A group of pit bull dogs that have been repeatedly reported for running the streets of a neighborhood west of downtown attacked and killed a 5-year-old girl Monday. The same dogs had attacked and nearly killed another neighbor’s dog two weeks earlier. The dogs’ owner was cited for attacking Stephanie Clark’s dog which was leashed inside her fenced yard. The attack resulted in nearly $600 in vet bills to heal Clark’s dog. “She (the owner) warned me that her dogs would remember the teenagers that beat her dogs off (Clark’s brown Labrador),” Clark said. Clark said the dogs had also killed a cat in the street one week before the fatal attack on the girl. According to witnesses, the three dogs, two which appeared to be purebred pit bulls and the third which looked as though it were a mixed breed, entered the yard where the child was playing with other children and attacked Annilee McKinnon. The girl attempted to escape by climbing a tree but the dogs pulled her down and dragged her to a ditch in the yard, according to one witness. The girl’s father, Troy McKinnon, was in the house when the attack started and ran from the home and grabbed her. He ran across the street, holding his daughter, to a neighbor’s home and, according to police, the dogs continued to try and grab the girl. Annilee’s sister, 4-year-old Belle, witnessed the attack.
Andy Towle – The Independent Setting flowers at a makeshift memorial are Sue Sisson and Paula Inhelder near the spot where 5-year-old girl Annilee McKinnon was mauled and killed by pit bull dogs in the middle of the afternoon Monday.
Andy Towle – The Independent Patti Crandall and her son Lucas try to understand the tragedy that occurred on Dec. 13 when three pit bulls attacked a 5 year old girl playing in her yard near Fool Hollow Lake.
The attack occurred at approximately 3:30 p.m. The sisters have been in foster care for most of their lives. They were taken from the biological parents 45 months earlier and placed with foster families in Apache County – Annilee with a family in Concho and Belle with a St. Johns family. Although they were living in different households the foster parents say they kept the girls in close contact with one another. Both the girls’ parents, Troy and Dawn McKinnon have extensive criminal records, including substance abuse and drug charges. Troy had given up for adoption three sons from a previous marriage. The foster families of both girls have been attempting to permantly adopt the girls but the McKinnons’ were reportedly trying to turn their lives around and were fighting to regain custody of their children. The girls were, on a judge’s order, sent to visit with their biological parents for 10 days. They had been with their parents for five days when the attack occurred. According to neighbors, the owner of the pit bull, Janice Caulkins, 38, has never attempted to contain her dogs. There is no fenced area in Caulkin’s yard. “They just let them out,” said Clark. According to Clark, Caulkins has been breeding the dogs – “litter after litter” – at times there were as many as six dogs in the home. Members of the Caulkins family declined an opportunity to discuss the matter on Tuesday but reportedly the owner of the dog told television news reporters that Annilee must have done something to provoke the attack. County attorney Mel Bowers said, Wednesday, that his office has not decided what charges will be filed. “This is just horrendous,” he said. “Somebody needs to be held responsible.” Bowers said he has asked Show Low police to conduct a criminal investigation, including canvassing the neighborhood to see if the dog’s owners should have known that their dogs had a “propensity for violence.” Kathy Fichtelman, Annilee’s foster mother, asked that people think of Annilee when they see a butterfly. Annilee’s nickname was Butterfly. Her favorite song was Keep on the Sunnyside of Life. “Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunnyside of life.” “What a dear wonderful child,” Fichtelman wrote. A funeral service is being held Monday, Dec. 20, starting at 2 p.m. at the White Mountain United Methodist Church, 261 N. 5th Street, in Show Low.
*The following information was released after press time - look for more on this story in Tuesday's White Mountain Independent
Police arrest pit bull owners SHOW LOW — Show Low Police officers arrested three individuals Thursday in connection with the mauling to death of a 5-year-old girl by three pit bulls on Dec. 13. Navajo County Attorney Mel Bowers said Thursday the arrests were made on probable cause, and second degree murder charges were expected to be filed Friday in Holbrook. Janice Caulkins, 38, the owner of the dogs, was charged with one count of second degree murder, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The drug paraphernalia was found during a search warrant executed by police the night of the incident. Caulkins's mother, Katherine Caulkins, 64, who lived in the home, was also arrested on one count of second degree murder. Sgt. Shawn Roby, who investigated the case, said, "Those adults knew the dogs to be aggressive and allowed them to run free." Daniel Thomas, 35, was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. All three suspects are in police custody. Another individual is still being sought, Roby said. The three adult dogs have been destroyed. There was also a puppy in the home that is being kept in the pound.
As bad as this story is, I hope not everyone thinks that means any big dog is vicious, as my current dog (husky) and my previous dog (shepherd mix) were extremely gentle and even protective of neighborhood children. I once watched my old dog take a stand between a group of toddlers and a stray dog, forcing the stray to take off.
When the dogs killed someone's cat, that should have been a warning sign that they were roaming unchecked and were violent. Just like serial killers who start with lesser animals and move up the food chain..you can't retrain them either.
But, the risk of having these dogs in a neighborhood is simply too great. Animal control should be allowed to seize pit bulls, and the civil liabilities against vicious dogs should be increased to the point where insurance companies will deny homeowners' coverage to those who possess them.
Past time for this breed to go!
No whining!
Bull terriers (pit bulls, American Staffordshires, etc.) are not an inherently evil breed of dog. They are like a lot of other large dogs--they require an owner who is willing to put in a lot of time to socalize and train the animal. So do Rottweilers. So do Dobermans. So do German Shepherds. The problem lies with owners who don't give a damn about training and controlling their dogs.
It's entirely proper to go after these people for second-degree murder and to destroy the dogs. It's not entirely proper to condemn an entire breed of dog because of it. I've met pit bull terriers that are happy, friendly, disciplined, well-trained dogs because they came from good bloodlines and were owned by people who knew how to raise them. It isn't the dog, it's the owner.
Would I own a pit bull? Possibly, yeah, if I knew where it came from and knew I could put in the time to socialize it. I prefer Hungarian Kuvasz myself, though.
}:-)4
So the psycho owner of the dogs made a veiled threat to the kids that saved this woman's Lab. The owner ought to be put down along with her dogs.
Just read that Pitbulls were bred to fight other Pitbulls,
According to Clark, Caulkins has been breeding the dogs – “litter after litter” – at times there were as many as six dogs in the home. Members of the Caulkins family declined an opportunity to discuss the matter on Tuesday but reportedly the owner of the dog told television news reporters that Annilee must have done something to provoke the attack."
This underscores the point that the overwhelming majority of people who breed these dogs for profit are criminals selling or trading these time bombs to gang bangers and drug dealers for drugs or money.
In some urban settings, possession of such a dog is considered a masculine status symbol.
A good friend of mine, who lives in West Philly has seen a wild pack of pit bulls roaming around his neighborhood, killing peoples pets. He will not walk his dogs outside unless he is packing.
A none-too-bright young man I work with is expecting a child with his wife (this relationship is a Jerry Springer show in the making but that is for another time). Anyways, he just purchased a pitbull/rottweiler puppy. I told him straight up that dog is going to eat his baby.
He told me they are great dogs if raised right and he should know because he used to raise them. I asked him what he arised them for. "Fighting, of course" was his answer.
I give their newborn 6 months tops.
And just because the breed was bred in the past for certain things doesn't necessarily mean that an owner can't train the dog to act properly in social situations. I've seen it done, with Rottweilers specifically.
Look, I'm not denying that bull terriers are worse than most breeds if they aren't handled properly. They're territorial and can be aggressive. But again, that's the fault of these trash owners that get them because they're a status symbol of badassitude, and the slimeball breeders that encourage it.
Statements like "all pit bulls should be killed" are asinine. If a particular dog is a problem, put it down and go after the owner for failing to control it. But don't condemn thousands of innocent dogs in the process.
And regarding dogs and babies...if I had a dog that showed the slightest amount of aggression toward children--mine or anyone else's--I wouldn't give it a lot of chances to modify its behavior before I got rid of it. Kids come before pets, no question.
}:-)4
Dogs who are no danger should not be killed.
But efforts should be made to dilute the pit bull bloodline. IOW, breed the aggression out of the dog.
If that's not done, more communities will simply outlaw possession of pits or mixed pit breeds.
Well, you warned him; sounds like you'd just as well have warned a two-by-four...
Now that, I don't have a problem with. It'd be a *good* use of selective breeding instead of some of the ways it's used now (German Shepherds with sloped backs that cause back and hip trouble, bulldogs bred with such flat faces that they can't breathe, etc.).
}:-)4
Nevermind the kids, we have a rescued Collie Mix and she does a pretty good job of herding me and my husband around! It is cute when she nips at the back of my knees to get me to hurry up and take her for her walk or when she waits on the stair landing to make sure we are both coming up to bed together.
About the only things she has in common with our previous two dogs (a Lab and a Golden/Brittany mix)is her love of walks, and her ability to count to two (as in bedtime treats)!
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