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

http://www.todaystmj4.com (Wisconsin) ^ | 4-14

[Chet 99]

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.

[JoeProBono]

Hero dog bitten defending little Ebony
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
•Adrian Tame February 24, 2008 12:00am ROARY the Staffordshire bull terrier turned lifesaver when he saw a deadly brown snake rear to strike three-year-old Ebony Davis.

Roary jumped on the 1.5-metre snake, bit it and swung it clear of Ebony and her father in the backyard of their home.

But the family pet’s bravery almost cost its life.

As Roary held on, the snake bit him repeatedly on the flanks and one ear before breaking free and slithering under a shed.

Ebony’s father, Tim Davis, 38, said the dog “did a lap of honour around the yard, with his tail on high, and then he went in the house and collapsed”.

“As I wiped the venom off his body, his legs gave way and his head came down on the floor,” Mr Davis said. “There was no sign of life in him.”

Mr Davis put Roary on the front seat of his car and rushed the dog 10km to Kangaroo Flat Veterinary Centre, near his home at Lockwood in central Victoria.

“He was quite still and I kept stopping to breathe some air into his nose, but I was sure he was a goner,” Mr Davis said.

“When we got there, the vet told me how expensive the anti-venom was and how slim his chances were with so many bites.

“I said, ‘Money doesn’t matter; he’s saved my little girl’s life. Just get on with it’.

“A minute later, needles were hanging out of him everywhere.”

But 10-year-old Roary is a fighter and when the Sunday Herald Sun visited him at home two weeks after the attack, he was running in the yard like a puppy.

“I’ve had him since he was six weeks old,” said Tim’s partner and Ebony’s mother, Christine Martin, 29.

“I don’t know what I’d have done if we’d lost him.”

The only sign of Roary’s ordeal is some muscle wastage around his chest, but he is expected to recover.

“Ebony was feeding the guinea pigs in their enclosure when it happened,” Mr Davis said. “We’d lost three in the previous week and never dreamed it was a snake taking them.

“Suddenly the snake darted out from under the bush and reared up at Ebony. I had just grabbed her by the arm when Roary came belting in and latched on to the snake.

“He had it half way down its body, so its head was free and it kept thrashing round and biting him.

“It just slithered off and we haven’t seen it since, so I reckon he killed it.”

[Salamander]

A: I don’t have a pit bull.

B: I grieve for all the victims, which also includes the dogs who have been mishandled, ill-trained, inappropriately confined/abused/misused/corrupted.

C: I am SO pissed off at the owners of the dogs that injure other beings, you can’t ~even~ imagine.

*That* is why I advocate -severe- penalties for the -owners-.

-Merciless- penalties.

-Felony- penalties.

The animal is just that; a dumb animal incapable of -intentional- malice and without the intellect to know “right” from “wrong”.
They are but dumb beasts who are born tabula rasa and *we* are responsible for what is subsequently written on that slate.

The *owners* are [theoretically] ~supposed~ to be more intelligent than their pets.

For every shrieking news story, for every thread posted about it, the only things accomplished is to further aggrandize the “reputation” of these dogs, thereby making them even *more* desirable to the thuggish cretins who shouldn’t even own a parakeet, let alone a pit bull and demonize responsible owners of any type of “bully” breed whose dog will never harm so much as a flea.

When someone feeds on the “scary” attention their dogs brings to them, the *only* way to defeat them is to *starve* them.

*If* everyone stopped being afraid of these “killer dogs” and the media had the sense to stop inadvertently promoting them by sensationalizing them, the thugs wouldn’t be so inclined to want them.

What “bad ass gang banger” wants a dog that everyone mocks, snickers at or even worse, is thoroughly unimpressed by?

These -idiots- are smart to enough to use ‘killer dog’ psychology on intelligent people yet the hypothetically intelligent people aren’t smart enough to turn it around on them.

[Salamander]

“Enjoy your short life...”

Are you threatening him?

All of us have read your posts filled with violence and your seeming ease with which you claim you are capable of killing.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

That’s nice,,,

What country was this in,,,?,,,

I use a .410 on snakes my self around here,,,

Did kill a few cobra’s in the Nam’ with an M-14,,,

One cost the gubmint a D-9,,,(Hon Tre Island 67’),,,

They ain’t bad fried...

[goat granny]

Most of them are. So your a liberal dog hater,typical response from the I Q challenged..:O)

[Ditter]

Really! Good for you to finally come out with it!

[shibumi]

"I don’t understand what the hippoes are for."

They are a lot more dangerous than Pit Bulls. (But not necessarily more dangerous than cruel or incompetent owners.)

"I got Cheyenne when she was 4 months old. A friend of mine worked at the local animal shelter and felt sorry for this emaciated, hairless puppy that had just been brought in. Due to the fact that she was a pit bull, she was going to be put down the next day. My friend brought her home. She couldn't keep her because she already had 5 dogs so she gave her to me.

Even after all the puppy had been through, Cheyenne was a little bundle of joy. I worked in retail at the time so I was able to bring her to work with me. Everyone fell in love with her. We went through obedience, did some agility, and even started doing some schutzhund. But when it came time to do the bite work, she just didn't want to do it."

- Kristine Crawford, "For Pit's Sake"

[Theo]

“the attack appeared to be unprovoked, as the boy was reaching down to pet the dog”

If this were my child, I would not have let him pet a strange dog. Just saying.

[goat granny]

You and your mother taking a walk?

[Salamander]

Ibizan Hounds kill snakes by rearing straight up and then coming down the snake’s head with both front paws....instant squish or broken spine, depending on the size of the snake.

Apparently, snakes have no idea how to cope with that particular tactic.

In the summer, I go out to make sure no snakes are around before I let the dogs out.

[most snakes are useful and I prefer them to be left unharmed]

One of my friend’s Ibizans was running through the yard, proudly swinging his dead Rattler “trophy” all around when the dead Rattler’s tail connected with the hot wire on the fence.

The dog expressed no desire to kill snakes, after that.

[JoeProBono]

[goat granny]

A two year old article. They have been posted before, usually several years old. One half way decent dog out of thousands ain’t a bad statistic.. Friend had a mutt that killed snakes all the time. Not that unusual in the country...

[shibumi]

Where is the compassion in posting endless threads which change no one's mind on the subject? Is the point simply to revel in human misery?

I've got a deal for you. I won't try to read your mind (or heart) and you don't try to read mine. My prayer life is a personal matter, which I choose not to put on public display. For what it's worth, I agree 100% with this statement from the posted article:

"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"

PS: Check your PM

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

“Enjoy your short life...”

Are you threatening him?

All of us have read your posts filled with violence and your seeming ease with which you claim you are capable of killing.
~~~
Go back and read the posts/pic,,,

I made no threats at all,,,

People who take dope die young,,,

And ,,,Yes I will kill to defend me and mine...

[goat granny]

You have a lot of pictures, why ask us that question? Wouldn’t take much for a 7 day old infant to be killed by a dog, whats wrong with your head? Ever been the father of one. 6-8 pound baby is rather small and fragile

[Salamander]

We are all of the same mind.

I’d like to see -automatic- felony charges for anyone who allows their undisciplined, potentially dangerous dog to attack anything.

And that covers ~all~ breeds because they’re *all* capable of inflicting harm.

I’ve had dogs for 45 years and NONE of them ever hurt anybody’s *anything*, nor did they run loose even though I live in an area where it would be perfectly acceptable for them to do so.
[as some neighborhood dogs currently do]

-I- take responsibility for anything that my dogs may do...-they- should not have to suffer for *my* carelessness.

Punish the owner, not the dumb beast.

If it were *my* dog who had done this, I would plead with the judge to spare the dog and jail my sorry ass, instead.
[and hopefully, the dog would be sent to a more responsible owner because obviously, I “fell asleep” on the job]

Then again, I advocate charges against parents for what their kids do.

My parents raised a kid who broke no laws and they weren’t anybody “special” so all parents *should* be able to manage similar results.

[unless they, like the vicious dog’s owners] simply don’t care or “get off” on having savages for children]

[Salamander]

“But not necessarily more dangerous than cruel or incompetent owners”

Money quote, right there, folks.

WE are the stewards of the beasts of the earth.

[Salamander]

Were his parents even there or was he just one of the innumerable kids of too-young-an-age I see always wandering about, unattended?

I’ve seen 3 year olds walking around the streets of the town east of me, with nary an adult in sight.

Incredible.

[Salamander]

He doesn’t “take dope”, therefore, your remark implied something else.

[shibumi]

"And ,,,Yes I will kill to defend me and mine..."

Then why do you need breed specific legislation?