Posted on 02/12/2010 9:04:23 PM PST by Chet 99
TERRY, Miss., Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A 5-year-old girl was killed Friday in an attack by a neighborhood pit bull in Terry, Miss., her grandmother says.
Mable Bingham said the body of her granddaughter, Anataisa, was found lying in a ditch Friday after the attack by the dog, which the Hinds County Sheriff's Department took into custody, The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger reported.
"It's so sad," Bingham said of the death of her granddaughter, whom she raised since birth.
Bingham said the girl was playing in the snow outside when the attack took place. Additional details of the attack were not released.
The deadliest dogs Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, has conducted an unusually detailed study of dog bites from 1982 to the present. (Clifton, Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to November 13, 2006; click here to read it.) The Clifton study show the number of serious canine-inflicted injuries by breed. The author's observations about the breeds and generally how to deal with the dangerous dog problem are enlightening. According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question. Clifton states: If almost any other dog has a bad moment, someone may get bitten, but will not be maimed for life or killed, and the actuarial risk is accordingly reasonable. If a pit bull terrier or a Rottweiler has a bad moment, often someone is maimed or killed--and that has now created off-the-chart actuarial risk, for which the dogs as well as their victims are paying the price. Clifton's opinions are as interesting as his statistics. For example, he says, "Pit bulls and Rottweilers are accordingly dogs who not only must be handled with special precautions, but also must be regulated with special requirements appropriate to the risk they may pose to the public and other animals, if they are to be kept at all."
Two problems solved.
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11977371
-----------
Gee, there seems to be a common thread between pit bull lovers, their victims, and their dogs. I just can't put my finger on it.
How does one go about peer-reviewing a "study" based on press accounts? (Not that he has any peers.)
How one can take him seriously is beyond me.
Enlightened opinion?? Clifton is a total wreck, and his study a very simple measure of media sensationalism coupled with his own un-measured opinion.
He has no respectability - another myth that ought to get the boot.
OK, I get where you are coming from...shoot the messenger. How about another source?
Try your vet or the AVMA.
There are indications the pit bull may have been used for dogfighting. The dog apparently escaped from a pen on the property at the site of the attack. Other dogs later were removed from the property, where empty cages and a dog house now sit.
-----
The dog owner could face a depraved-heart murder charge or culpable negligence, Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith has said. Depraved-heart murder is defined as causing death by an act so reckless that it shows lack of regard for human life.
-----
Walter Ray Summers, a neighbor of the Binghams, said he has complained to local law enforcement several times about "fighting" dogs in the area, "but they seem to turn their heads. "They seemed concerned now, though," he said.
[Sheriff] McMillin said that, so far, his department has found only one documented call in the past year regarding pit bulls in the neighborhood.
-----
For his part, McMillin said he went before the Hinds County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to ask that county animal-control ordinances be strengthened.
"I want them to look at jurisdictions in other areas and come up with an ordinance they can work with.
"Everybody needs to be responsible for their animals," McMillin said.
What the law says:Hinds County has a "vicious dog" ordinance that is not breed specific. It requires the owner to securely confine dangerous dogs.
Animal control determines what constitutes a vicious dog, generally when the dog poses a threat to public safety and-or has injured a human.
If the dog is considered dangerous, then the owner must register the dog.
Violations are misdemeanors and can result in up to 90 days in jail and $3,000 in fines.
Threatening FR again?
HINDS COUNTY, MS (WLBT) - The Mississippi Animal Rescue League believes it has the dog that attacked and killed six year-old Anastasia Bingham in Terry Friday. And the agency's director, Deborah Boswell, says the animal has physical scars and injuries consistant with a dog being trained to fight.
Heh. Methinks you hit the nail on the noggin.
And apparently goobermint sux unless it's being used as your own personal goon squad.
Nice looking and well trained dogs you have. I’ve wanted a pit, but right now my lifestyle (away from home 11 hours a day - work/commute) doesn’t allow for it.
This study is flawed due to the fact it relies on media reports. Please do some research on past posts here for the real story and positive solutions.
Your study is based on media reports.
It is not accurate. Look into past posts on this subject to get real facts.
Chet
You should know from posting these media reports that a large percentage of the dogs are misidentified by the media to build hype.
You get off on attacking people you don’t know.
You do it every time you post on this topic.
Grow up.
This thread is several days old, newbie/retread troll. Scram.
Sorry Lib. I work and don’t have time to sit on my a$$ in front of the computer all day.
Get a life and experience the real world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.