71-Year-Old Mauled To Death While Gardening

ClickonDetroit ^ | July 28, 2006 | AP

[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.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Genetics is at least HALF the equation. It's so important that, in some cases, no matter what the environment, the dog's basic personality DOESN'T CHANGE. Whether it's a basically stable, nice dog, or a rotten nasty dog.

It's total nonsense that any dog that is vicious or otherwise psycho is that way because "he must have been 'abused'".

Some dogs on the fence of natural personality will probably be positively or negatively affected by environment. Some dogs tending to "badness" can be made trustworthy by good solid (and I don't mean coochy-coo training and treatment) love and direction. Vice-versa, too. But many dogs are just basically good, or basically bad. (I think the % of dogs naturally very bad is very, very small.)

[Lonestar_50]

"There is no good reason to own a pit bull."

Agreed! They should be banned everywhere. I have read about these attacks
with more regularity as the years go by. It was my bad luck to have it happened to someone in my family last week. My daughter who is away at college was walking her ShiTzu and a Pit Bull came out of nowhere and attacked her dog.
She reacted as many of us would, foolishly. She grabbed the Pit Bull by it's chain collar risking her own life and tried to choke the dog down. She is a small 4'11" very strong little girl and fought for her precious dogs life. The Pit Bull would not let go of her dog and luckily a good Samaritan from across the street witnessed the attack. He picked up the Pit Bull, with the ShiTzu in it's jaws and body slammed it to the ground. Still it would not let go. As they both struggled, choking, punching this evil creature she heard it finally gasping for air. With her hands bloodied from the chain she found additional strength from it's gasping to wrench it up off the ground and twist harder and finally choked it enough for it to let go. The helper kicked it in the head and grabbed his collar. Animal control was called and removed the beast and said it would be put down immediately.
As a parent hundreds of miles away from my precious daughter having to here her recant this story to me over the phone, it scared me to death realizing that she was at serious risk of her own life. She was severely traumatized mentally by the event and still has trouble telling the story.
The defenders of this breed have nothing but ridiculous arguments. The breed was developed for fighting. They need to be be banned everywhere.
God bless this woman who died, what a horrible way to go.

Any loose Pit Bulls I see in my neighborhood get the double tap to the head!

[ZChief]

I've posted before that my son was a victim of a pit bull attack 12 years ago when he was 6 years old. The two college boy owners (renting the house across the road from us) and their girl friends simply couldn't understand why their dog attacked our son literally like a bolt out of the blue. They emphatically assured us that they treated that dog like a precious baby and couldn't imagine it capable of an attack.

Oh, well, a few reconstructive surgeries and twelve years later he's little worse for the wear. If it wasn't for the the high price of the trauma and disfigurement, I would take great satisfaction in knowing these arrogant, high risk taking pit bull owners had to suffer a recurring memory of what they personally brought about in an innocent victims life.

Interesting enough, prior to my son's attack, I was always the kind of person that didn't like to make waves about others' questionable choices. Today, however, when it comes to pit bull discussions, I'm quite comfortable getting in your face about the danger of owning one and am very willing to give good advice to those who find themselves at risk because of the presence of one in their neighborhood.

[sinkspur]

even little Pomeranians have killed people.

How silly. A Pomeranian might have killed an infant, but no breed has the genetics of the pit, which clamps down with powerful jaws and shakes its victim until dead or the neck is broken.

Day after day after day we read these stories of killings and maulings by pit bulls and pit mixes, and owners come on here and equivocate.

People in communities around the country are saying "Enough!"

If pit owners don't decide, on their own, to eliminate this problem, others will do it for them.

[the OlLine Rebel]

"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."


You're contradicting yourself, I think. You're saying PBs are largely like that just because they're neglected/abused. Then you say not to bother getting 1. Why would that be? And why would it be "many are trained to harm" - i.e., PBs are picked out to use for aggression? Why not other breeds? Because the genetic predisposition has been put in for them to be aggressive - whatever specific aggression it may be.

Genetics is every bit as important as "environment", and it's about time this society starts again recognizing that fact.

[the OlLine Rebel]

"they treated that dog like a precious baby"


That was probably part of the problem. Treating any dog with pablum is ridiculous and sets up the dog for dominance. This Dr. Spock nonsense in this society has to stop.

[sinkspur]

If this dog was mistreated by some drug dealing scum to attack people at random, then nothing on heaven and earth will change a dog whether its a toy poodle or a pit bull.

It's not just mistreatment. Dogs like this have to be disciplined and trained to NOT follow their natural instincts, which is to kill other dogs and graduate up to human beings.

A neglected, untrained pit bull is just as bad as one who has been taught to attack, since attacking comes naturally to these beasts.

[sinkspur]

Pits are not a dog looking to attack that must be taught not to.

Wrong. Read up on the genetics of the pit bull. Its natural instinct is to attack other dogs and kill them.

[doc30]

By WHOM?

http://www.realpitbull.com/temperament.html

http://www.pbrc.net/breedinfo.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull

http://www.arba.org/AmericanPitBull1BS.htm

I've never heard a "Pit Bull Saves Child from Drowning" story, or a "Pit Bull Proves to be Life of the Party" story.

There are such stories. The problem is the word 'pit bull' is never mentioned in the news article. But if you see the photo, then the dog is recognized as a bully breed. There was one article on FR about a year ago of a pit bull rescuing a lost little boy in the woods. Article never mentioned breed, but it was in the photo. It's another example of media bias.

[Huck]

I wouldn't get a pit bull. I'm partial to German Shephards. Grew up with 'em. I'm just saying a loose pit bull is a decent deterrent just because of the animal's reputation. they're little mike tysons, and quite deadly. If I were going to get a guardian animal, it'd probably be a German Shephard.

[the OlLine Rebel]

"I've never heard a "Pit Bull Saves Child from Drowning" story, or a "Pit Bull Proves to be Life of the Party" story."


I'm sure we'll be hearing from "kanawa" soon....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1670661/posts?page=1

[pax_et_bonum]

I hate those dogs.

Ditto.

[Arrowhead1952]

Do a search with pitbulls as the keyword and there are many articles about this vicious breed.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=pitbulls

Here are two articles about a pitbull attack that happened not far from here last year. A 76 year old woman was mauled to death in her yard.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1529762/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1529738/posts

[doc30]

Please give a link where it says that all pit bulls are instictual attackers and must be trained not to attack. In a different post, I provided references that say differently. Some pits, like *any* dog breed, can be dog aggressive, but that is not the same as people aggressive. And like almost all dogs, they will be dominant if you give them the opportunity.

[television is just wrong]

I went to go out to my backyard, only to see that a pit bull had jumped the 6 foot wall and was in my backyard. I tried to contact the owner, were out of town. I called Animal control, and by that time, the dog had lept back to its yard. It held my husband in a corner of the yard, and my kids were real scared.

Had me horrified. These dogs are a danger and should be put down. All of them.

[Lonestar_50]

"And like almost all dogs, they will be dominant if you give them the opportunity."

WRONG!! How beeds were created to fight and kill other dogs?

[doc30]

How silly. A Pomeranian might have killed an infant, but no breed has the genetics of the pit, which clamps down with powerful jaws and shakes its victim until dead or the neck is broken.

What you describe is the predatory nature of every dog, not one particular breed. That's how they all kill - by going for the throat like that and shaking.

Day after day after day we read these stories of killings and maulings by pit bulls and pit mixes, and owners come on here and equivocate.

Every hear of media bias? Well, it's true for dog stories, too. There is no equivocation. Most people don't know much about dogs in general, let alone pit bulls.

[kanawa]

"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?

You're focusing on the consequence not the cause...ie. negligence.

In other words, irresponsible ownership of either guns or dogs can result in tragedy.

[Lonestar_50]

They say many Conservatives are Liberals who got mugged.

Many many Pit Bull haters are people who have been involved or know someone who has had an incident with these evil creatures. May you never experience this yourself to convert you.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Actually anything with "bull" in the name was meant to bring down bulls. And bulls are the nastiest !$#!$$! animals you'll meet.