Baltimore Woman Mauled To Death By Her Pit Bull Was Previously Attacked

CBS ^ | 11/4

[Arthurio]

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—It’s a horrific story of man’s best friend becoming a woman’s worst nightmare. A Northeast Baltimore woman was attacked and killed by her own dog.

Rochelle Ritchie reports the pit bull had attacked before but was back in the owner’s custody.

Advocates say the attack should not have happened. The woman had a huge gash on her face from a previous attack from her dog.

Terry Douglass, 56, is the latest victim in Baltimore City to be killed by a pit bull, a dog she’s raised since it was a puppy.

[Windflier]

Breed specific legislation?

You sound shocked. Are you unaware that there are already laws and regulations in place about the ownership and housing of dangerous breeds of animals?

I'm sure you are, but you appear to be ignoring the weight of evidence that puts the pit bull terrier in that category. What you're doing is no different than what the media does about black violence and Islamic terrorism.

[Windflier]

Pit bull lovers are just as irrational here as anyone on DU.

Apparently so. I suppose that most of them have never been on the receiving end of a pit bull on a rampage.

Maybe they never had one of their dogs mauled to the brink of death by a pit bull, or had the lives of their children threatened by one. I have.

[Windflier]

I just looked up Chet 99’s posting history. Of the last 50 articles he posted there was only 1 article concerning a pitbull attack.

He was probably worn down by the lynch mob mentality of the pit bull denier crowd. I recall that he used to post a lot of articles about the breed at one time.

[Windflier]

So were Rhodesian Ridgebacks and they still are but are also fantastic family pets. Look it up.

Who knows why one breed still expresses the hunter-killer instinct while the other one doesn't? I'm not a geneticist, and can't answer that. I just know what the numbers say, and they don't lie.

[from occupied ga]

The link in post 58 gives the facts, but pit bull lovers are never deterred by the facts, because somehow facts don’t matter when their favorite dog breed is justifiably targeted by possible legislation.

[Windflier]

You didn’t bother to read the article at all did you?

Why are you responding emotionally to a mere statement of observed evidence?

Of course I read the article, and hundreds of others just like it. I'm also an eyewitness to such incidents, and have come very close to being attacked by these animals myself.

Hospital Statistics about Top 10 Dog Breeds that Bite

A close look at statistics reveals a worrying trend about the top 10 dogs that bite since in the US alone dog bites account for more than 600 hospital cases and a staggering figure of 16,000 cases that are reported as emergencies. Almost 50% of all these cases that are reported regarding top 10 dog breeds that bite account for the second most reason children in the US require emergency medical attention. Some of the fatalities that have been identified pointed out that out of the top 10 dog breeds that bite the pit bulls took the lead accounting to more than 65 % of all fatalities that were caused by the top 10 dogs that bite.

http://peteducationinfo.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Dog-Breeds-that-Bite

Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 31, 2012

By compiling U.S. and Canadian press accounts between 1982 and 2012,1 Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, shows the breeds most responsible for serious injury and death.

Study highlights

The combination of large molosser breeds, including pit bulls, rottweilers, presa canarios, cane corsos, mastiffs, dogo argentinos, fila brasieros, and their mixes:

79% of attacks that induce bodily harm
72% of attacks to children
85% of attack to adults
69% of attacks that result in fatalities
77% that result in maiming

Discussion notes:

Even if the pit bull category was "split four ways," attacks by pit bulls and their closest relatives would still outnumber attacks by any other breed.

Pit bulls are noteworthy for attacking adults almost as frequently as children. This is a very rare pattern, only seen elsewhere in the bullmastiff/presa canario line.

If a pit bull or rottweiler has a bad moment, instead of being bitten, often someone is maimed or killed; that has now created off-the-chart actuarial risk.

Breed	Bodily harm	Child Victims	Adult Victims	Deaths	Maimings	% of dog population
Pit bull	2235	911	806	233	1268	4.4%
Rottweiler	495	278	131	81	277	2.2%
Husky	71	44	5	24	20	.05%
Wolf hybrid	84	69	5	19	48
Bullmastiff (Presa canario)	87	30	33	14	46	.04%
German shepherd	96	60	28	14	59	2.3%
Pit bull-mix	148	63	37	12	83
Akita	65	42	19	8	47	.06%
German shepherd-mix	41	26	12	7	26
Chow	55	36	16	7	37	.01%
Doberman	15	8	7	7	7	1.3%

Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 31, 2012

[shoff]

Jail time, garnish EBT payments. Will not help victims but may make owners think twice.

[Windflier]

pit bull lovers are never deterred by the facts

See post 66 for more facts and statistics on this breed.

[from occupied ga]

Will not help victims but may make owners think twice.

Serious jail time might keep them from inflicting these sorts of menaces on society at large simple because they're no able to do it, but the owners are probably not capable of thinking once let alone twice.

[Rannug]

” a woman living in a trailer park with an IQ of 85”

That’s a rather intelligent trailer park. :-)

[from occupied ga]

Pit bull apologists are like 0bama voters. They don’t let facts or reality interfere with their fervently held and absolutely wrong beliefs.

[hamboy]

Chet99 who's maybe banned at FR kept posting pitbull rants daily.  He's probably mutated himself here posting pitbull rants not as much now.

Even Cesar Millan likes pitbull!

[deks]

Folks did get after him about it being excessive when he would post another violent pitbull incident like every couple of days.

[deks]

Didn’t know about your personal experience with pitbull violence. A couple of things that keep me here at FR are that people share their personal experiences as well as adding links to information sources, whatever the topic.

I noticed in many of these articles about tragic maulings and fatalities that a common quote goes something like...”the dog never showed any sign of violence before”.

[Windflier]

I noticed in many of these articles about tragic maulings and fatalities that a common quote goes something like...”the dog never showed any sign of violence before”.

Way back in 1975, a guy I'd grown up with across the street from my mom's house, had a pit bull. He was the first person I'd ever known who owned one. Prior to that, I wasn't even dimly aware of the breed.

I'm sure I'd seen him out walking the dog, but never paid it much mind. The dog didn't seem aggressive, but again, there wasn't anything for me to notice, really.

Well, time came when my mom sold the house and moved out. She left the family dogs at the house overnight while we moved all her things to her new place. The next day I dropped by to pick up our dogs, and was horrified to find that our male dog was in one of the empty bedrooms covered in blood - barely alive.

There was blood all over the walls, and bloody human and dog footprints leading from that bedroom to the back door.

Much of the incident after finding my dog is a blur. I know that we rushed him to the vet who sewed him up and saved his life, but for the life of me, I can't remember any of the other details of that day. I was sort of in shock, I guess.

Afterwards, through some detective work in the neighborhood, I found out that the guy across the street had sneaked into my mom's house and locked our dog in the bedroom with his pit. I can only imagine the horror that ensued. My mind still reels a bit, just remembering the sight of the aftermath.

[Windflier]

Folks did get after him about it being excessive when he would post another violent pitbull incident like every couple of days.

I remember seeing the threads, but I rarely clicked on them. It just wasn't an interest of mine, and there seemed to be a brawl going on, every time I did check in on one.

There are some folks who have a habit of only posting articles within a very narrow interest range. Some of them have practically become famous for their obsessions around here. Remember Willie Green and his obsession with trains? Some are kinda cool, while others just get under your skin after a while.