9-Year Old Badly Hurt In Pit Bull Attack (ripped his cheek off)

9-Year Old Badly Hurt In Pit Bull Attack By Michael George SHEBOYGAN- 9-year old A.J. Sterling is recovering at home after being attacked by a pit bull. His injuries are severe, and his parents are angry with the dog’s owners.

Witness Connor Lieser tells TODAY’S TMJ4 the attack appeared to be unprovoked, as the boy was reaching down to pet the dog.

Maria Ramirez and Afero Sterling, parents of A.J., just watched him go through plastic surgery. He was bitten on the face by the pit bull just one block from his home in Sheboygan.

“I wouldn’t want any child to go through that, let alone any person. It’s just really hard,” said Ramirez.

Police say the dog was being walked by a 12-year old girl on the sidewalk. A.J.’s parents say their son told them he was talking to the girl when the dog started growling. A.J. says he was backing away.

“That’s when the dog lunged at him. He said it bit him in the face, drug him across the ground, and that’s when it ripped his cheek off,” said Afero Sterling.

The gruesome injury described by Afero is confirmed by witness and police accounts.

Police will be checking whether the dog has a history of violence or has rabies. For now, the dog is on quarantine at the owner’s home. A.J.’s parents say they were told the dog was originally rescued from an abusive or neglectful background. They say the dog’s current owners are to blame for the attack.

“That dog needs to be put to sleep. To have a 12-year old girl walk around a pit bull with a history of abuse and neglect and violence, it’s just absurd to me,” said Maria Ramirez.

A.J. is now out of the hospital and recovering at home, but he will likely need more plastic surgery in 6 months. Police are still investigating to determine whether any charges will be filed against the owner or whether the dog will be surrendered or put down.

Here in Michigan we get some nasty zero weather,lots of snow and winds but the goats wouldn't leave the barn if there was no pasture...They don't like snow or rain either...I think they instinctively know with all the hair they carry, getting wet would make them easy prey in the wild...The large males can carry up to 40 pounds of hair and they get sheared twice a year...The average hair weight is 15 to 20 pounds male and 7-12 pounds female, sheared twice a year, add water to that much hair and it can drag down the escape from a predator. Your best bet is to google goats, several different breeds take to mountains and nasty weather, but I only know about my Angoras.

You definately don't want angora's they eat a lot but also need a lot of care that other breeds don't need.

PS they originate from Turkey...

"Here in Michigan we get some nasty zero weather,lots of snow and winds but the goats wouldn't leave the barn if there was no pasture...They don't like snow or rain either...I think they instinctively know with all the hair they carry, getting wet would make them easy prey in the wild...The large males can carry up to 40 pounds of hair and they get sheared twice a year...The average hair weight is 15 to 20 pounds male and 7-12 pounds female, sheared twice a year, add water to that much hair and it can drag down the escape from a predator."

Thank you! It's good to know that they'll seek the barn, when the winds and drifts come. But we'll do what we've done with cattle before winter, anyway, feeding a little of their favorite goodies in the barn in advance in order to get them habituated.

"Your best bet is to google goats, several different breeds take to mountains and nasty weather, but I only know about my Angoras."
"You definately don't want angora's they eat a lot but also need a lot of care that other breeds don't need."

Now that's what we needed to know the most! Thanks, and I'll find some breeds to study on and choose from--maybe at auctions way down on the High Plains. We heard that Angoras are really expensive up here, too.

PS they originate from Turkey..."

...other mountain breeds, too, or only Angoras?

We're going ahead with the fence (nearly a mile) for the first place to clean up and leaning toward the following for keeping the goats in and inhibiting some of the predators. The whole place is clear, dirty pasture, with clear field of visibility all the way around. ...got the T-post drivers, lifters, proper fence pliers and gloves. We, with the dogs' help, will have to take care of the rest of security. I've fenced before and mostly back in the Ozarks (the old post oak and heavy maul way).

* 8' T-posts less than 15' apart, and large corner posts reinforced with boulders built up inside of tubes of field panel. ...8' posts are in case some lefty neighbor's buffalo bull strays.

* 4' field panel.

* 12 1/2 guage barbed wire under the bottom of the field panel.

* Same barbed wire, seven strands, over the top of the field panel, up to about 6', 3" with plenty of stays.

* Solar lights with motion detectors on posts here and there along the inside of the fence, lights facing just outside the fence. With some extra sealing against moisture (clear lacquer in seams and silicon for mounting), the cheap quartz (yellow light) and LED ones (bright white) are pretty good.

We're running an electric fence around the large yard in the middle of the place over the next week or so to keep our own critters out of the yard later on and to keep bears and range cattle out of the yard, until the perimeter fence is built around the whole place. Here's a link to the solar charger, in case you want a good deal on a solar electric fence for bear or large livestock. You might want to check your number of sun-days per year, though. We have over 300 of them, and less atmosphere overhead due to high elevation here.

Parmak DF-SP-LI Solar Pak 6-Low Impedance 6-Volt Battery Operated 25-Mile Range Electric Fence Charger
http://www.amazon.com/Parmak-DF-SP-LI-Impedance-Operated-Electric/dp/B000BWZB74/ref=pd_sbs_ol_3

Mfg. Source:

Parker McCrory
http://www.parmakusa.com/Fencers/solar2.htm

Some friends in socal got me started on that BBQ goat,,,

They cook them on an open pit like we cook a pig in

the South,,,

They cook a pig in the ground Luau style,,(greazzy mess),,

Next time I cooked the piggy!,,,;0)
~~~

As for the thug,,,

We mowed most of the yard this afternoon,,,

Thug and one of his homies saw me mowing the front with the

.44 on my hip,,,

The pits were goin’ nuts like they always do,,,

Two throwing themselves against the fence,,,

Bout that time HarleyMama came out the back door with

Harley on his long leash and my 1911 on her hip,,,

Thugs got sorta bug-eyed at that point and homey got in

his Town Car and left...;0)...

Kedar Country Hotel gets breeding pair of pygmy hippos 29. Mar, 2010

ShareTwo Pygmy Hippopotamuses made their home at Kedar Country Hotel, Conference Centre & Spa in the North West Province last Friday, 19th March 2010. The breeding pair, Stoffel and Matilda were relocated to Kedar with the assistance of Wild Life Service vet, Dr Ryan Jeffrey and support sponsor, Hippo.co.za.

In preparation for the pair’s arrival, Rainer Dedekind, Eco Manager for the Recreation Africa Group of Companies, created an authentic environment designed to be as close to their natural habitat as possible. Stoffel and Matilda’s new five hectare home includes a natural dam, indigenous aquatic grass and a large expanse of land made up of bush, reeds and savannah grassland, ideal for night time grazing.

If you have raised cattle, you won't have problems with goats it just that they need a little different system...they love to jump on top of things. Had a neighbor with milkers and when I went to her farm for some goat milk for a bottle baby, one of her goats was on the roof of the house...she said she didn't know how it got there, but it better learn how to get down itself..Hoof trimming is mandatory at least every 4 months, we tried for every 3 months but didn't always make it...If you don't trim (easy once you get the nack) there are special hoof trimming shears)they will go lame.. All goats are prone to different kinds of worms, worming in mandatory. Delouseing is easy, their lice are species specific and cannot live on people. Its usually just a few drops on the upper neck.

If a city girl can end up being a great goat herder, your far ahead in experience with animals than I was...

I googled goats and there are probably as many breeds as there are dog breeds...Each part of the globe has their own breed of goat, from Africa to middle east to asia...

But you can glean lots of information from some farms on google that also give direction on what the animal needs...

Almost all breeds are good browsers, I found no specific info. on which would be best for that....There is a breed in (I forgot the country) that climb trees to get at the fruit....had pictures of lots of goats up the tree, but this is the only tree climbing goats...

I had another thought for you also...I will use my angora's as an example....You can get a registered Angora that can run into several hundreds of dollars for a breeder. But you can also get an 100% commerical grade angora for under 50 dollars..Its what you feed them that make the mohair top grade...May be the same with other breeds. So check out several prices for which ever you decide on... Don't know if any of this is useful, but I am sure there has to be some goats someplace in your neck of the woods. Knock on the door and make a friend who can also give you loads of information... Good luck and I envy you for having goats, never met a goat person that wasn't terrific...

My son is fine. Thank you for your well wishes. He has a half inch scar on his cheek that is hardly noticeable. My husband on the other hand, has not gotten over it. That night was truly the worst night of our lives. Having gone through that experience has made us hyper-aware of our responsibilities when it comes to dog ownership. One of the reasons we are getting a Bullmastiff is that they get along famously with children and have fairly laid back temperaments. They were also bred NOT to bite/maul. They prefer to use their size to knockdown intruders and hold them. Plus, who doesn’t love dog slobber and a 110 lb lap dog? LOL!

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.