Mother: Ferret, not pit bull, gnawed off baby's toes (I am speechless)

The Dallas Morning News / The Associated Press ^ | 12/20/06 | Associated Press

[paulat]

Mother: Ferret, not pit bull, gnawed off baby's toes

BENTON, La. – The parents of a month-old girl whose toes were gnawed off while they slept apparently disagree about whether the culprit was their ferret or their 6-week-old pit bull.

Mary Hansche, 22, told KTBS-TV on Tuesday that she thinks it was the ferret. "The way the bite marks were on her foot. The ferret being out of its cage. I knew it wasn't the dog," she said.

[snip]

"We were told that the puppy had blood on its fur. But when the officers arrived there, the animal did not have blood on its mouth," he said.

Natale said which animal did it won't affect charges against the Hansches, who were booked Dec. 10 on charges of child desertion and criminal negligence and remained jailed Wednesday in lieu of $50,000 bond each.

[snip]

Their daughter has been released from the hospital and is in state custody.

The Hansches were asleep on a mattress on the floor and the baby in a carrier next to the mattress when her cries woke them, police have said. They were not tested for alcohol or drugs, since such tests would not be needed to prove the charges, Natale said Wednesday.

Defense attorney Pam Smart said she is waiting for results of a hair analysis to back up the couple's statement that they were not using drugs.

[snip]

She also said their bonds are too high for misdemeanors. A bond reduction hearing is scheduled next month.

Both pets were released from quarantine but will remain in the Bossier City animal shelter until the court case is over, Natale said. Either the court or the city may decide their fate, he said.

[ArrogantBustard]

You asserted that one needs a license to own a gun.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that in Virginia (whose flag you fly, and in which I presume that you live), no such license is necessary, or even exists. Hurrah, hurrah!!! Granted, getting a CHL is a useful thing to do even if you're not planning to go about armed all the time, but that's a different story.

[nina0113]

...that if a burglar would come in, Claudius would jump up on him in happiness

My plan, before both animals died of old age, was that the burglar would trip over the Maine Coon cat making a break to get out, then the Collie would lick him to pieces while I got the baseball bat.

Now, the burglar will be tripping over a whole bunch of cats (anybody want a kitten?) while the safety comes off.

[adopt4Him]

You're the one diluded. It has nothing to do with "knowing the breed" to form an educated opinion about how dangerous they are. They are what they are. No one crosses the street for a poodle or even a Golden Retriever. It's not a Yorkshire Terrier whose jaw muscles extended up into their head, and who lock onto their prey without being able to let go. Sad you have no compassion for the many (mostly children) whose lives are destroyed by your precious breed that you think is so misunderstood.

Hope you have some good insurance. And an even attorney. I'll be a pile of money that one day you'll need both.

[BlessedBeGod]

You think a 6 week old puppy should be killed (not to mention no one even knows who committed this act)? You are hopeless.

Anyone who defends this breed, including breeding and or raising it, knowing how dangerous it it, has major issues. Anyone who condems it has something the owners/breeders don't have: common sense.

[twonie]

Any chance Louisiana will secede from the Union any time soon?

[pandoraou812]

In my neighborhood there is a pit who runs loose a few times a month. It is named Lily. The owner doesn't understand why we won't try to catch her and return her. She claims Lily is sweet and wouldn't hurt a fly. I feel bad for the dog. By the time animal control comes out Lily is back home and there has never been a complaint issued as they never see her loose. One day Lily will either be hurt or hurt someone and the owner hasn't a clue. Its a shame. When Lily is out we all run inside. Why this lady can't keep her dog from getting loose is beyond me. She shouldn't have the dog.

[UpAllNight]

I've know pit owners defend their dogs till the dogs turned on their owners ...

[twonie]

Oh, wonderful! They were just bred to fight other dogs! Just what we need - dogs who attack other dogs. Are you nuts?

[cicero's_son]

Whatever, you freaking idiot.

It's the Internet. He probably lives 1000 miles from you.

[ARridgerunner]

If you believe pitbulls are easily identified (there's a firefighter in my family) you ARE clueless.

I don't care about your posting history. Many things we may or may not agree upon.

And yes, I would like an answer. But I know you don't have one.

[cicero's_son]

Ooops. Seems I stopped reading this thread a bit too soon.

Don't I feel like the idiot, now.

My apologies.

[HungarianGypsy]

Although I am not a fan of pits, but I can back up your side of the argument. A pit used to live next door. He was good friends with my Labrador. They even tried to dig under the fence, so they could play with each other. The dog was very gentle around people. Then, he started running away. We don't know where he went, but when he came back he was more aggressive. Not to humans. To other dogs.

A little schnauzer walked past when the pit came back after three weeks and the pit killed the schnauzer with one lunge. My oldest son witnessed the whole thing. When the pit saw my son he jumped over the fence back to his yard and tried looking innocent.

Since he had not hurt a human Animal Control would not take him away. They would only issue a ticket if the owner of the schnauzer wanted to press charges (owners of both dogs would only be ticketed for not keeping their dogs in their yards.) The dog would still come out to the front fence whenever he saw anyone in the yard, acting like their best friend. This was a dog who eventually killed another dog and mauled a third. I'm happy the dog was eventually given away. But, he was very submissive to people.

[pandoraou812]

If this dog killed 2 dogs and mauled a third dog he should have been put down ASAP. I love dogs but there comes a time when enough is enough. This dog was a killer. Once he went that far he shouldn't have been given away he should have been put down before he moved on to people. Its owners like this that really make me mad. Yes its easy to give your dog away so the problem goes away. But a responsible owner would have put that dog down before it hurt another animal or a person.

[Poser]

You asked for citations. Here are 50,000 sources for you. I just put "pit bull attack" into Google and got 53,800 hits.

Here are some of the headlines from the first page of hits:

Women save toddler from pit-bull attack - The Californian / North ...

ABC News: Boy Clings to Life After Pit-Bull Attack

6-year-old recovering from pit bull attack

Teenage girl charged in pit-bull attack

Pizza deliveryman saves woman from Pit Bull attack.

[KJC1]

In the US dogs kill an average of 10 to 15 people each year while the number of dogs killed by humans each year numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Another way to put it in perspective is to realize that a child is 300 times more likely to be killed by its parents or guardians than by a dog.

Rut row. Parents and all people should be banned, if one were to follow the logic offered by some here.

[GreenOgre]

When I was in grad school my roommate had a ferret. If I didn't close my bedroom door, WITHOUT FAIL, I'd have a ferret chewing on my toes at 3:00am.

[KJC1]

Those are anecdotes. What I am asking for is any kind of study that shows that pits are human-aggressive by nature; that is what I've consistently been asking for on this thread.

I am not denying that a small fraction of pits have attacked. A small fraction of other dogs attack too; I was bitten by a dachshund and also a terrier mix when I was a child.

[Texasbulldog]

i am weary of those of you lunatics (and I mean this literally) who still defend the pit bull breeds<<<<

I can speak for my "pitbull" (I call them bulldogs) who for nearly 13 years has been the best kid dog I know of, but I must confess my distrust of other pitbulls and other dogs/animals period. most are going to have a negative view of this breed because 99.9% of the people who own and breed them should not. I really can't blame people for wanting to ban them.

[Poser]

"Those are anecdotes."

Fifty-eight thousand anecdotes.

The freeper who said you would rationalize any stats that came your way was exactly right.

From another source: Rottweilers and Pit Bulls were involved in 60 percent of the 27 dog bite fatalities that occurred...

And yet another: The most commonly reported dog breeds involved were pit bulls (24 deaths), followed by rottweilers (16 deaths), and German shepherds (10 deaths).

This one is hard to format but the last column of numbers is the total deaths. Considering the numbers of dogs of each breed, the numbers speak for themselves.

Dog Bite Fatalities by Breed 1979-1998
Breed
	1979-1980 	1981-1982 	1983-1984 	1985-1986 	1987-1988 	1989-1990 	1991-1992 	1993-1994 	1995-1996 	1997-1998 	Total
Purebred 											
Pit Bull 	2 	5 	10 	9 	11 	8 	6 	5 	4 	6 	66
Rottweiler 	0 	0 	1 	1 	3 	1 	3 	10 	10 	10 	39
German Shep. 	2 	1 	4 	1 	1 	4 	2 	0 	2 	0 	17
Husky 	2 	1 	2 	2 	0 	2 	2 	1 	2 	1 	15
Malamute 	2 	0 	3 	1 	0 	2 	3 	1 	0 	0 	12
Doberman 	0 	1 	0 	2 	2 	2 	1 	0 	0 	1 	9

[KJC1]

I'm asking for apples, and you are offering me oranges, then acting like I am being unreasonable.