Two rescues respond to pit bull attack on 4-year-old, woman shortly after 8 p.m.

Herald News ^ | 6/15/18 | Michael Holtzman

[Kartographer]

A 4-year-old and an adult woman suffered severe facial lacerations and were transported to the trauma hospitals in Providence after both were bitten by a pit bull in a South End yard where the dog was kept, police said.

Police put down the dog “to stop the attack,” Lt. Barden Castro told The Herald News within an hour after the 8:13 p.m. incident in what he said became a chaotic neighborhood at Bay Street and Mount Hope Avenue.

The child, whose gender he did not know, was transported by rescue to Hasbro Children’s Hospital and the woman to Rhode Island Hospital, Castro said. He did not know if she was the child’s mother after speaking with Sgt. David Murphy, who was at the scene.

Castro said initial reports were that the injuries were not life threatening, although when he first heard them he said, “It sounded pretty bad.” Initial scanner reports said the child’s head was in the dog’s mouth.

[lee martell]

You did what had to be done.

[Gene Eric]

>> the hunter killer instinct exhibited by pit bulls, was intentionally bred into the breed by English grain farmers

That’s the terrier breed in general. The pit is an American derivative. But point made regarding origins.

[bramps]

That’s a sad story. Sorry you had to do that.

[taxesareforever]

Pitbulls need to be eradicated. NOW.

[Gene Eric]

Many medium to large breeds have a history of trouble. But there’s a particular problem with the American Pit that’s occasionally devastating, but hardly quantified.

Just having a hard time with the blanket condemnation of American terriers. And I’m saying this knowing what’s required to keep and maintain an aggressive canine.

[txnativegop]

Well said, I agree whole-heartedly.

[waterhill]

It’s ok, I’ll never be bothered about it. I had a couple bad-ass healer crosses that would normally keep things serene, but we were not always in synch (i.e. they would be on the porch and I would be coming home/at the gate etc.) I keep a carbine in the truck ALWAYS.

Here at my house in town, I have pits in the neighborhood. Pistol on the body, carbine in the truck.....

These are erudite pits, though. Upwardly mobile middle class pits that have papers and do cool tricks..........

[sargon]

Not one reply to my post linking to an article about a deadly mauling by a German Shepherd, who killed a 4-month old girl on Wednesday. Interesting.

Statistically, German Shepherds are almost as dangerous as pit bulls.

According to http://www.texasdogbiteinjurylaw.com/dangerous-dog-breeds.php, the top 3 most dangerous breeds are 1) Pit Bull, 2) Rottweiler, and 3) German Shepherd.

All three of those horrible breeds should be banned, obviously...</sarc>

[Hoosier-Daddy]

That’s because maulings are disproportionately visited upon people by pitbulls. That’s why we couldn’t take your post seriously.

[sargon]

That’s because maulings are disproportionately visited upon people by pitbulls. That’s why we couldn’t take your post seriously.

The only reason you couldn't take my post seriously was because the dog that killed the little girl wasn't a Pit Bull, but a German Shepherd—along with Pits and Rots, one of the most dangerous dog breeds. This has been confirmed by several studies.

Selective outrage is the name of that game...

[wastedyears]

iTs tHe oWnEr nOt tHe bReEd

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Not at all. I’ve owned the breed. I’ve had a German Shepherd. Pitbull maulings are by far a disproportionately higher than any other breed. It’s not that I don’t want to hear about any other breed it’s that the facts are the facts.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Thank goodness those statistics have not been visited upon you and your family.

[waterhill]

And Chihuahuas. They bite and are generally annoying.

[wardaddy]

Norski must have the night off

[wardaddy]

Don’t forget norski

It’s a Troika

[familyop]

"Her son, Nick Merrell, heard his mother screaming and said he went into what he described as 'defense mode.'

'I pushed one off to the side, but the other one came up and bit me on my leg,' Merrell said. 'He bit me on my other leg, but didn’t get me as good.'"

Not a very effective "mode." Offense mode might be a better way to stop an attack.

[wardaddy]

Plus one....good posts

[familyop]

"Psychological damages to the child, the relative and the officer who was forced to kill the dog may not be visible for a long time, if ever."

The child and the relative, maybe. About the officer, though, I doubt it. I've known ranchers, farmers, police and dog pound employees who killed many dogs with no mental problems from doing so.

Granted, many people are now rather different from many people in the past. We can tell by simply looking at them. Many people now would have been hired into side shows back then. Most people now wouldn't have been hired to do anything back then, after one boss had a look at some of the things they would say and do.

[familyop]

"The 2,500-pound elephant in the room no one is talking about is the fact that, at least here in Southwest Florida, the preponderance of pit bull owners seem to be immigrants from South American countries, including Mexico. If I remember correctly, we never had a pit bull problem in America until the floodgates opened to illegal aliens, back around the time Simpson-Mazzoli passed in congress and Ted Kennedy was still in the senate."

Very true to a great extent. In other parts of the U.S.A., many of them are within three generations of very recent ancestors from other foreign cultures, many of them from parts of Europe but not northwestern Europe (that is, not the U.K., France, Norway, etc.). Their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents landed in our northeastern states, many hopping over to western states then trickling into the rest of the country. I noticed that a few years ago and have asked many of them about their heritage since then.