Posted on 09/19/2008 10:57:08 PM PDT by Chet 99
Sep. 13, 2008
Pet pit bulls maul NLV 4-month-old to death
Grandmother baby-sitting child hospitalized
By LAWRENCE MOWER REVIEW-JOURNAL
A 4-month-old girl was fatally mauled by her family's two pit bulls Friday at their North Las Vegas home.
The baby's grandmother, who was watching the baby while her parents were at work, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries sustained as she tried to protect her granddaughter. North Las Vegas police Chief Joseph Forti said the dogs were in the backyard of the home, near Cheyenne Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, prior to the attack.
The dogs managed to enter the home, possibly by bursting through a screen door, and began attacking the baby as she lay in a stroller, he said.
"They just went right for the little girl," he said.
The grandmother took the baby and tried to escape into a room of the house.
She tried to close the door behind her, but one of the dogs forced its way into the room, Forti said, followed by the other.
They began attacking the girl again, and the grandmother called police at about 11:25 a.m.
When officers arrived, they found the two dogs with blood on their fur "acting very aggressively" toward the officers, according to a statement issued by the department. Police shot and killed the dogs.
Officers found the baby lying on the floor of a bedroom, dead from her injuries.
"This is about as severe an attack as I've seen in my 18 years in North Las Vegas," North Las Vegas Animal Control officer Dale Smock said.
Forti said he was told by officers the girl had suffered "very severe bite and head wounds."
The attack was so severe that officers and medical personnel who responded to the incident are being offered counseling, Forti and North Las Vegas Fire Department Capt. Cedric Williams said.
"This is something they don't see every day," Williams said.
The names of the baby and the grandmother were not released by police.
According to neighbors, the parents of the baby were new to the typical valley neighborhood of stucco houses and neat yards, having just moved into the home on Eagle View Way in recent months. One neighbor said he had seen the dogs loose in the neighborhood at least once.
Neighbor Jason Howe was furious.
"You don't have pit bulls around children, period," he said.
"The whole situation's sad," said 75-year-old neighbor Stan Heaton.
In June, a 2-year-old boy suffered serious injuries after a neighbor's boxer bit him on his face and neck in the northwest valley.
And in April, two children, ages 4 and 5, were hospitalized after being attacked by a neighbor's boxer and a pit bull near Vegas Valley and McLeod drives.
North Las Vegas has investigated 192 dog attacks since the beginning of last year, including 73 attacks from pit bulls, Smock said.
One of those attacks was on one of the city's animal control officers, who was investigating a complaint on July 3.
After walking into a backyard, she was attacked by two pit bulls and has yet to return to full-time duty at the department, Smock said.
Smock said pit bull attacks cause deep wounds that are "sometimes compared to shark attacks."
Forti said he didn't know whether charges would be pressed against the family, a decision left up to the district attorney's office.
Although I must say, if I had the resources, I'd have a mastiff like yours. He's beauuuuuutiful.
No one told us, when we brought our dog home from the shelter, that he was part pit bull. We thought he was a retriever, it wasn't till he dropped all his fat that we figured it out. Although now I'm glad it worked out the way it did, I would never have brought a pit bull into a house with four kids. That's why people buy from breeders...so they know what they're getting.
Oh, well, thanks. :D I’ll never own another breed, and I’ll never get a dog from anywhere else than the place I got this one.
You sure do have a pretty baby; it looks like all your patience and training paid off. He’ll undoubtedly love you and protect you with his life.
That Google street view is pretty amazing. You can go to Cheyenne and MLK and see just what kind of neighborhood it is - look at every house and car. Look up and down the side streets etc. Pretty cool.
I was surprised. In the midwest, if it says MLK Blvd. you’re in the ghetto.
If one of my neighbors had vicious dogs running loose, I’d give the Animal Control guy three tries. Then it would be the old “Milk Bone soaked in antifreeze” for them.
Tha Vols are goin’ to do in Floridah today...
and then run over Bama...
:)
Saving dogs from pounds make them trash? I thought buying status dogs was trashy... what puppy mill dog do you own?
I rescued a half pit half chow. 8 years and his biggest problem is cats, motorcycles and small rat dogs.
He is also stubborn.
The other is a rescue lab. She is just fat and sweet.
Another friend of ours had a pit bull that tried to jump his back yard fence to attack a neighbor. I say "had", because the dog impaled himself on the top of a fence stake and died. Our friends love these dogs, but I don't want one. I've gone on walks around the neighborhood with a neighbor and his pit bull. Obeys every command, sit, stay, come, etc., absolutely quiet never barks; most obedient dog I ever saw. But he always keeps the dog muzzled and on a leash. He knows something I don't know.
Sorry to be rude, LEL, this story got to me. Parents can really do stupid things sometimes, and I really dont think these dogs are safe around kids. Now if your cat wants to wander into our yard, thats a much different story, we are cat people here..
I understand, I really do. People like this, who own pit bulls without understanding what a hard breed is, make me sick. And then the people that come afterwards and try to explain it away and make excuses for the breed make it worse.
I just hope that if we bully fans start being honest, we can avoid mass breed specific legistlation.
I’d send my cat over, but she’s currently curled up in the dog dish taking a nap, while he sits there with a confused look on his face.
I almost surely goofed.
I suppose this is a case of some sort of negligent homicide.
Although I’d prefer Murder 2!!!
WHERE does it say WHO owns the dogs? I didn’t see that.
A 4-month-old girl was fatally mauled by her family's two pit bulls Friday at their North Las Vegas home.
See # 19.
you, know I hate it when that happens.....sorry! ;^)
I own an adorable terrier mix dumped in my neighborhood because it wasn’t wanted. Not a pit bull bred by some crack head
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.