Posted on 08/21/2007 8:00:32 PM PDT by paulat
Woman mauled by home-invading pit bulls
07:45 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 21, 2007
KING5.com Staff
Animal control officers say the victim was covered in blood after the dogs attacked PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. - In what deputies describe as the worst mauling they've ever seen, two pit bulls entered a Wauna-area home via the pet door and attacked a woman in her bed.
Pierce County Sheriff's Dept. spokesman Ed Troyer said a neighbor's Jack Russell terrier also entered the home in the 10600 block of 132nd St. Court NW through the dog door and the pit bulls attacked the terrier named Romeo.
The 59-year-old woman was in bed, in her room. Neighbors say she was sound asleep when the attack happened. She managed to get away, run to her car, lock herself in and call 911. Even after fighting off the dogs, she was in pretty bad shape.
Bernard Choi / KING 5 News
Two pit bulls entered a Pierce County home and attacked a woman in her bed.
"Pretty much from head-to-toe, she was covered in blood," said Pierce County Animal Control officer Brian Bowman.
Troyer said firefighters locked the pit bulls in the house until deputies arrived. Officers had to use pepper spray and fight the dogs to get them into custody.
The woman was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where she was listed in satisfactory condition. The terrier was taken to an animal hospital, where he died Tuesday afternoon.
The pit bulls were taken to the Pierce County Humane Society, where they will remain until the case is resolved.
The pit bulls also attacked a Jack Russell terrier named Romeo.
Troyer said the owner of the pit bulls has been identified and lives on the same street as the victim. KING 5 went to the home, but nobody answered the door. Neighbors say they have had problems in the past with the two pit bulls running wild.
Information will be given to prosecutors, who will decide what, if any, charges will be filed against the owners. Animal control officers say they will recommend gross misdemeanor charges at the very least.
Vick’s case pretty much demonstrates what these dogs are primarily used for. It is irrational to assume pit bulls in your vicinity are safe for you, your kids, your pets.
It is safest to assume that any pit bull is damaged goods.
Bite those who slander Pit-bulls!
I might be reading between the lines and getting it wrong, but I suspect that her Jack Russell intervened and while the Pits were attacking him, she escaped. That would mean she’d have enough time to pull a gun out and kill them . . . . if she were a good shot with nerves of steel (to shoot toward her own dog without hitting him.)
LOL.
Very good analogy.
What you don’t see in the headline is this..... 2 Toy Poodles, break into home and maul a lady. It always the gentle pit bulls dogs mauling people or other dogs.
An obvious provocation. She should have known better.
People who own them are anti-social idiots?
But, let's say that there is a case where an owner is not an anti-scoial idiot. I mean just for the sake of this particular argument... Anyone who takes the responsibility of owning one should be held accountable for it's actions as if committed by their own hands. If they can't handle that responsibility, they should not own the dog. There is NO excusing an unprovoked attack!
My 30 year old daughter’s boyfriend was over the other day, telling us about his gentle pit bull. He was telling us how gentle his dog is. Then a few sentences later, he told us about the time how 5 dogs had gotten into the fenced backyard where he pit bull dog lives, and how even though his dog was on a chain, how he had killed those other 5 dogs.
I think that it is within the bounds of the law to shoot aggressive dogs on your own property.
Mike is being watched. But not to worry theres plenty of NFL and NBA star who will kill a dog for you.
They just have not had their names called yet.
Though I agree, if the law was written that way, you'd have nothing but loop-holes, breeding pits with other breeds, etc. Besides, not all of them are vicious. I think the solution is that for a dog to be licensed, it's temperament is evaluated. And, that it be done on a regular interval just like a medical checkup.
Vicious dogs are put down.
Every pit bull is a lovable little fuzzball according to its owner. A friend of mine had two of them. They died of anti-freeze poisoning.
I hope he is your daughter's former boyfriend real soon.
I LOVE your JR! We sleep with 3 of those little guys on our bed at night. We have never been attacked by pit bulls in our sleep and I am sure our protective layer of JR’s is the reason, that and the fact that we don’t have a doggy door.
In that particular case I’d say the pit bull was just defending itself - if 5 dogs got in they were probably running in a pack, and attempted to attack this dog that was chained and couldn’t flee - and apparently were too stupid to realize they’d picked a fight they couldn’t win. A smaller dog, less capable of defending itself, probably would have ended up dead itself.
That’s still not to say that I think pit bulls are a good pick for a pet
“Rule #1—Don’t have a pet door. I live in a semi-rural area, and if I had a pet door, every possum, skunk, raccoon, fox, small coyote, ground squirrel, jackrabbit, stray dog and feral cat in the county would find its way into my house.”
One of our cats found the neighbor’s pet door and discovered that he really liked the neighbor’s dog’s food. The dog was very old, small and blind so she basically hid from the cat, as far as we can tell. Anyway, one night said cat decided to explore the house and at 3 a.m. curled up in bed with one of the owners, scaring her to death.
We solved it by blasting the cat with an air horn from inside as my wife shoved him through the pet door. By the third time we couldn’t even get him near the door.
Back in the eighties, we had a dobie. His registered name was Baron HellMutt von Twister, Twister for short. Our neighbor had a pit bull who was a terror. He killed our little peke-poo. The next week, he decided to either go after Twister or Twister wanted to avenge his “brother”. Pit bull died, Twister was laid up for a week. Twister was sucha sweet dog. Loved people - hated skunks, coons. He was a big dog and people mainly stayed in the car. We came back home one day to find two mexicans standing outside the doors of the car waiting to see what Twister would do. Twister just stayed in the yard and looked at them. We had no yard fence at that time either. They said they were looking for “someone”. They left. My baseball coach, a black guy, came by to see if I wanted to play the next year. Hubby told him to come on out and sit a while. He declined and said he wasn’t sure about the dog. He was a great coach. Our team was the Blowouts and Red Adair was our sponsor.
I might be reading between the lines and getting it wrong, but I suspect that her Jack Russell intervened and while the Pits were attacking him, she escaped. That would mean she’d have enough time to pull a gun out and kill them . . . . if she were a good shot with nerves of steel (to shoot toward her own dog without hitting him.)<<
My parents had a JR Terrier mix. 65 lbs of rocket dog. Her job was to protect the property. She had a path carved out on the fence perimeter. I was one of the few people that could come into the house when they weren’t there. She would greet me, I would let her take my hand into her mouth, which she could have easily tear apart, and then go “tell” my parents one of our “pack” was here.
It was amazing. Totally devoted to defending though. They have a border collie now. Both dogs were difficult adoptions. Both were abused. They were retired, and could spend the time with them they needed.
DK
Exactly.
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