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71-Year-Old Mauled To Death While Gardening
ClickonDetroit ^ | July 28, 2006 | AP

Posted on 07/28/2006 5:09:06 AM PDT by ShadowDancer

71-Year-Old Mauled To Death While Gardening

Neighbor's Dog Jumps Fence

POSTED: 7:10 am EDT July 28, 2006
UPDATED: 7:28 am EDT July 28, 2006

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A 71-year-old woman died Thursday when she was attacked by a pit bull in Kansas City, Kan., officials said.

Jimmie May McConnell was in her garden about 11:30 a.m. when the dog jumped the fence and attacked her.

Firefighters had to hit the dog with an ax and a pole to get it off McConnell, officials said.

"The dog was still on the victim," Assistant Fire Chief Craig Duke said.

McConnell was taken to the University of Kansas Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Neighbors said McConnell was so badly injured they could hardly recognize her when she was pulled from the garden.

Residents said the dog belonged to a neighbor.

Animal control officers tranquilized the pit bull and took the animal into custody. A second pit bull at the house was tranquilized and removed Thursday afternoon, KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo., reported.

"It gets out once in a while and runs around. I was out here once, and it came up and I petted it," neighbor Preston Williams said.

"I think they need to get rid of all of them dogs. Don't need them killing human beings," said the Rev. John Boykin, a neighbor of McConnell's.

"I'm in shock, and I'm angry," said Gayle McConnell, the victim's niece. "It's been said that pit bulls can be dangerous, but people seem to believe it can't happen to them. It certainly can. I just wish people would heed the warning and do what they need to do."

Friends of McConnell said she was well-liked in the neighborhood and had lived in the area a long time.

"She was a nice lady," Williams said.

Gayle McConnell said her aunt was a great cook and an awesome singer, and her death is an enormous loss to the family.

McConnell leaves behind six children. McConnell was a school crossing guard and was a foster parent for several years.

Pit bulls are banned in Wyandotte County, Kan., where the attack took place.

Police said they have not been able to contact the dog's owner. Officials said they are investigating the case as a homicide.

Several recent pit bull attacks in nearby Independence, Mo., have injured three men. A pit bull was also recently shot to death in Independence when it charged a police officer.

Toddler Dies After Dog Attack In Texas

A toddler in South Texas has died after being mauled by at least one of the family's pit bulls.

The Hidalgo County, Texas, sheriff's department identified the victim as 3-year-old Mariah Puga, of Hargill, Texas.

Investigators said as many as three dogs may have been involved in Monday night's attack, when the child was in the yard.

Puga died early Tuesday at a hospital.

Officials said the two pit bulls and a rottweiler were quarantined.

Authorities also said one of the pit bulls had her puppies with her in the yard.

Woman Serious After Dog Attack

A 26-year-old Davidson County, N.C., woman is in serious condition after she was attacked by two pit bull dogs.

Police in Lexington said they found Kelly Lynn Bell lying in a ditch Thursday with several severe dog bites on her body. She was taken to a hospital for surgery.

Authorities are holding the dogs while they investigate the incident, and no charges have been filed yet.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: anotherdumbdog; breedofpieces; landshark; maul
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To: Huck
It's not just pit bulls although they're the worst. See dog bite
21 posted on 07/28/2006 5:27:32 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government)
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To: doc30
The owner needs to serve hard time for homicide because that owner is responsible for the actions of those animals.

I agree 100%.

22 posted on 07/28/2006 5:27:48 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I've always wanted to be 40 ... and it's as good as I anticipated!)
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To: Huck

If you want a protection dog, a shepard or dobie will be much better at it.

Of course, training is imperative for ANY large dog because they are dangerous when untrained, but the big difference is that a dobie or shepard are naturally less aggressive. They can be trained to attack, or to threaten. But a pit-bull must be trained NOT to attack or threaten. It is their nature to be aggressive.

And, of course, most people who want pit-bulls, want them for their intimidation factor and many of them are not willing or able to provide the training.

My brother had a business that involved a storage facility. He had these dobies that used to hide when someone was climbing the fence. They would wait until the person had gotten far enough from the fence that they could not make it back, and then they would go after the guy.

He would come in the next morning and find two dogs standing over the thief, drooling. And the thief would be laying there in a pool of urine. :)

If my brother had pitbulls, it would have been blood all over the place and a lawyer calling him in the afternoon.


23 posted on 07/28/2006 5:28:24 AM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
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To: Paloma_55
A pit bull is like a loaded gun laying in a playground...an accident waiting to happen

Your analogy is false. No gun ever attacked anyone on its own. Dogs, on the other hand frequently attack people without being told to do so.

24 posted on 07/28/2006 5:29:28 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government)
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To: Vaquero

You are right.

My parents have a mini pinscher and one day she bolted out the front door and bit a lady walking down the street on the ankle.

Poor lady. She had to put neosporin on it.

I think your point about training is right, but I believe there are good breeds and bad breeds too. Some are more aggressive, some are less.

Big and aggressive is a *very bad* combination. Poorly trained is even worse.


25 posted on 07/28/2006 5:31:54 AM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
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To: Paloma_55
OK, I'll be the first to pipe up about pit bulls in general, not the psycho dogs here. This breed in known to be very people friendly and very social. However, the phsycho gang-banger or tough guy types think having a pit bull is some kind of macho status symbol. And some want mean animals so they make them mean. Even if every pit bull on the planet were to suddenly evaporate away, another breed, German Shepherd, Rottwielter or Dobies for example, would become the next breed to be made into 'bad dogs.' And anyone who owns a dog has to be responsible for properly training and socializing it.

I'm just dissappointed that so many conservatives on this site want to run to big government to ban dogs they don't like and don't support personal responsibility and freedom of ownership. It's characteristically liberal. Replace 'pit bull ban' with 'gun ban' and see what a different reaction you would get.

26 posted on 07/28/2006 5:33:29 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: DogBarkTree
I have a two year old Dalmation. He is a family dog. Don't try to come into my house, when I am not home! He could probably duplicate the Pit, though he WILL let go.

Yet, as long as I am with him (ar any other family member) he is a perfect gentledog.

On an aside, FoxNews just had a story (8:32am) about a pit bull saving a little boy!


27 posted on 07/28/2006 5:34:15 AM PDT by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
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To: from occupied ga

"in a playground".

This implies that the owner was negligent.

Once this negligence has taken place, and untrained person can pick it up and fire it and cause deadly harm.

I think the analogy is good.


28 posted on 07/28/2006 5:34:17 AM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
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To: Paloma_55
But a pit-bull must be trained NOT to attack or threaten. It is their nature to be aggressive.

Never heard of such a thing. Pits are not a dog looking to attack that must be taught not to. Please provide a citation for this asseretation. I suppose you've never owned one.

29 posted on 07/28/2006 5:35:38 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: Paloma_55
Once this negligence has taken place, and untrained person can pick it up

Ok who was the untrained person who picked up the dog and made it kill the woman?

30 posted on 07/28/2006 5:36:26 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government)
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To: DogBarkTree
How long before a pit bull owner chimes in here to say the dog was abused or trained to be this way?

"There are no bad dogs . . . just bad owners."

(Yeah, right.)

31 posted on 07/28/2006 5:36:26 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: ShadowDancer

I appreciated the last dog attack story in our local paper. They put up a graphic showing that in the past 20+ years, only one of the 15 or so attacks involved a pit bull. They're just the ones that are guaranteed to make the wire services.


32 posted on 07/28/2006 5:36:47 AM PDT by Teacher317
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To: ShadowDancer

You know, our neighbor has a beautiful BIG doberman....he's very friendly, but the dog just intimidates the HE-*-* out of me....his head and snout are bigger than my head...once in a great while I'll go over and talk to him...very respectfully....and then back away slowly into the house.....


33 posted on 07/28/2006 5:37:28 AM PDT by auto power
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To: Huck

I live next door to a pit bull. He's ok, until I start to garden near my very tall wooden fence - then he goes ballistic and scares me half to death. This dog has been trained to be a good dog but his instincts are that of a killer!


34 posted on 07/28/2006 5:37:33 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (T)
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To: doc30

I think I agree with you.

I am not for banning the breed, but rather, demanding responsibility for the owners.

There are BIG dogs, there are AGGRESSIVE dogs, and there are UNTRAINED dogs.

A small, lazy dog is less likely to hurt someone regardless of its training.

A BIG, AGGRESSIVE dog is a danger (regardless of breed) if not properly trained.

I think pit-bulls get a bad rap because they are often untrained, or worse yet, trained to harm/kill. But that said, there is still no reason to own a pit-bull. There are better breeds for any possible use.


35 posted on 07/28/2006 5:38:11 AM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
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To: doc30
This breed in known to be very people friendly and very social.

By WHOM?

I always hear this bandied about (about Pit Bulls), but each and every time I hear a Pit Bull story, it involves a Pit Bull mauling or killing someone---or another animal. I've never heard a "Pit Bull Saves Child from Drowning" story, or a "Pit Bull Proves to be Life of the Party" story.


36 posted on 07/28/2006 5:39:08 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Vaquero
"The breed may give you a predisposition for certain behavior in dogs, but training will make or break a dog"

I bought a Sheltie male and at about 6 months he started to become aggressive toward strangers. The problem got bad very quickly and any child that came to play with my kids was sure to get bit.

Although he was only 30 pounds he would go totally berserk and could knock me off my feet when walking him on the leash on our nightly walk.

We had to put him to sleep and get a new pup from the breeder. I guess the dog had "bipolar"disease??
37 posted on 07/28/2006 5:41:18 AM PDT by BeAllYouCanBe (Animal Rights Activist Advisory: No French Person Was Injured In The Writing Of This Post)
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To: doc30
It's characteristically liberal. Replace 'pit bull ban' with 'gun ban' and see what a different reaction you would get.

There is a total difference between dogs and guns. Dogs can do things (like maul people) all on their own. Dogs are self directed. Guns are inanimate and require human operation to do anything. Depending on where you find it even the most conservative numbers put 333000 dog bites anually serious enough to require ER treatment. The AMA stats put it at 430000.

38 posted on 07/28/2006 5:42:18 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government)
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To: from occupied ga

That's a very good link that puts dog bites vs fatalities into perspective. IT does list pits ad Rottweillers as the top 2 breeds involved in dog bite fatalities. WHat I would like to know, and the link doesn't describe it, are the demographics of the owners of these dogs. It also stresses that ANY breed can and does bite and ANY breed can cause a human fatality, even little Pomeranians have killed people. It is up to owners to train and control their animals. Owning a dog, or any pet, is a big responsibility.


39 posted on 07/28/2006 5:45:31 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: doc30
That's a very good link that puts dog bites vs fatalities into perspective.

Having part of your face ripped off isn't fatal, but not much fun either. I think that the dog owners should be charged in dog attackes just as if they had personally done the damage.

40 posted on 07/28/2006 5:48:02 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government)
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