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LITHONIA, Ga. -- An 8-year-old girl was attacked by two Staffordshire bull terriers in Lithonia Tuesday afternoon, DeKalb County police said.The attack happened while the girl was playing in the yard of her home on Margaret Court.CBS Atlanta spoke to the girl’s father on the phone Tuesday night. He identified her as Erin Ingram. He choked back tears as he said his daughter wasn’t doing well.“I think that this is horrible, horrible,” said neighbor Veronica Cook.Cook and her son Kahlil Smoot couldn't believe Ingram was viciously attacked by two neighborhood dogs.“She's a sweet little girl,” said Smoot.Police say Ingram was...

Regarded as dangerous pets by their detractors but loved for their assertive nature by their owners, pit bull terriers may find themselves banned from New York City. Queens City Councilman Peter Vallone said Tuesday that he wants to ban the canines, calling them a danger to public safety. "Pit bulls are responsible for many, many attacks,'' the Democrat said. "A parent on the street can't protect their children, or themselves from this, what is actually a weapon.'' Vallone said that many gangs and criminals train pit bulls to be attack dogs. The canines do account for 15 percent of animal...

Prosecutors making a case against a San Francisco woman accused of child endangerment after her 12-year-old son was mauled to death last summer by the family's pit bulls described scenes of "unbelievable horror" and presented Maureen Faibish, 40, as "criminally negligent," but her defense attorney argued that she was "a good person and a good mother." Faibish's son, Nicholas, was killed June 3, 2005, after his mother left him at home alone with the two pit bulls, Rex and Ella, while she went with her daughter on a school picnic. Ella was in heat, prompting Rex to behave in a...

The Nashville Parks Board has banned pit bulls and pit bull mixes from the city's three dog parks. The ban came after several attacks on people and other dogs. The dogs still will be allowed in other park areas as long as they are leashed. Some breed owners say the ban unfairly targets pit bulls without considering whether a dog is trained.

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. -- The owner of three dogs that fatally mauled an 82-year-old neighbor in Virginia has been sentenced to three years in prison. Deanna Large was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in December for the death of Dorothy Sullivan, who was attacked by the roaming pit bulls last March. Large was also found guilty of two misdemeanor charges for allowing her dogs to run loose. She could have faced up to 10 years in prison. During the trial, witnesses testified that Large's pit bulls menaced the neighborhood. At one point, Large had 13 pit bulls in her trailer. Animal control...

Pit bull terriers may be one of the most controversial breeds around, but they are also one of the most misunderstood by the public, dog experts said Friday in the wake of the fatal mauling of a 12-year-old boy in San Francisco. If bred and trained properly, pit bulls can be wonderful pets, experts said. If there is a lack of stability, though, they have the proclivity and ability to inflict serious damage.

It has to be one of the dumbest laws, ever. And I don't even own or like pit bulls. It's nothing personal, only that I'd never keep any animal that eats as much or more than I do. Still, I can weep for the pit bulls of Denver, particularly for the puppies that never did anything other than get born into the breed. Yet here we have the city of Denver, newly sprung from legislative and judicial restraint, rounding up pits over the past couple of days and killing them like rats during The Plague. A uniformed officer arrives at...

Victim’s family and neighbors say police ignored complaints PARTLOW, VA. - Dorothy Sullivan had been looking forward to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The 82-year-old widow planned to whip up her family’s favorite Irish soda bread and, as a surprise, her daughter made a festive green shirt decorated with shamrocks and a pot of gold for Ms. Sullivan’s little dog, Buttons. But the celebration would never happen. Three days before the holiday, Ms. Sullivan and Buttons, a Shih Tzu, were buried together in the same casket after they were mauled by three roaming pit bulls while Ms. Sullivan was out for...

Residents on a Detroit street received a scare Wednesday afternoon after an officer was forced to fire shots at a pit bull who attacked another officer and a child, Local 4 reported. Police were called to an alley behind the home where Gino Morgan, 12, lived. The boy was apparently playing with fireworks, but police said neighbors thought the noise was coming from a gun. Morgan's dog, a pit bull, was chained to a fence behind the home when it broke loose and lunged at one of the officers, taking a chunk out of his face. "My dog was, like,...

ROOSEVELT, N.Y. -- Dangerous dogs are on the loose in Long Island Monday. A 3-year-old girl is in intensive care after two pit bulls wandered into her grandmother's yard, and attacked her. The girl is currently at Nassau University Medical Center, where she remains in intensive care after undergoing hours plastic surgery. She reportedly has stitches all over her body, and staples in her head. Mother of the 3-year-old victim said it could've been worse if it wasn't for a heroic neighbor who rescued the little girls out of the jaws of one of the dogs. Emanuel McAllister said he...

Nicole Reisinger rocked her 17-month-old daughter, Ciera, at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center on Thursday afternoon, just days after the York toddler survived an attack by a pit bull, leaving her with broken bones and more than 100 stitches. “She’s doing real good,” Reisinger said, holding her daughter close after nurses gave the girl medication for the pain. The doctors said that Ciera is recovering so well that she might be able to come home by early next week. Her family says that Ciera is lucky to be alive. The attack happened on Sunday night while Reisinger, Ciera and...

THERE is a knock at the door. A uniformed official says he has come to take your dog. The dog has done nothing wrong, but his breed has been outlawed in the town where you live. You've had this dog since he was a puppy. He is obedience-trained, licensed and vaccinated. He never runs loose. He has never bitten anybody. And you love him. But it's bye-bye, Buffy, if he's the "wrong" breed. All over this country - and in Allegheny County - owners of pit bull terriers and rottweilers have been ordered to get rid of them or have...