Monday, April 12, 2:39 PM PST
Toddlers Attack, Kill Pit Bull
by Tucker H. Johnson,
NA!P NewsWire
DENVER, Colo -- In a scene that seems to be playing out with growing regularity across the nation, three toddlers attacked and killed a pit bull yesterday afternoon. It was the seventh child attack on a pit bull in as many months in the Denver Metro area.
Maggie Hindler was walking her four-year-old pit bull, Max, in Washington Park around 3:00 PM when the three toddlers appeared out of nowhere and immediately began attacking her dog. Hindler says that she and Max did nothing to provoke the toddlers and that she didn't even see them until they were almost on top of her dog.
"We were just walking along," a visibly-shaken Hindler recalled. "We weren't doing anything. And suddenly, these little kids shot out of these bushes and attacked Max. He was helpless."
Hindler and several other bystanders tried to pull the toddlers off of max, without luck. Kent Randolph was one of the bystanders who tried to help Hindler, and he concedes that it was almost impossible to get the kids to stop their attack.
"I tried screaming at them, hitting them with sticks, prying at their jaws," Randolph said. "Nothing worked. They would turn and start to go at us for a second but then would immediately go back to attacking the dog. And you know how it is with them. Once they get their teeth into something, they just don't let go. Their little jaws are so strong."
Denver County passed an ordinance in 2001, banning the ownership of toddlers entirely. Anyone caught owning a toddler in Denver is subject to a $1000 fine and up to a year in jail. The toddlers are confiscated and are either euthanized at Denver Children's Hospital or sold for medical research.
"We have been telling the community about toddlers for years," Dr. Sally Jacobs, Chief of Child Psychology at Denver Children's Hospital, told The New News. "But a large part of the community doesn't listen. The facts are clear: Humans have been bread for centuries to do nothing by maim and kill. It's in their genes, in their nature, and nothing is going to change that. Not a good home or a loving family. That is why Denver outlawed toddlers several years ago. They are simply too dangerous to have in our community."
Thursday's scene is fairly typical of recent toddler attacks. At some point, the toddlers come together as a pack and end up in a place well-traveled by people and their dogs. They attack with little or no warning. They don't have collars, but they often have several juice boxes in their possession.
Denver police showed up on the scene shortly after the attack and were forced to kill the toddlers when they turned on police. Unfortunately, it was too late for poor Max. Needless to say, Hindler is just angry.
"Who can be so irresponsible to raise these things?" she said. "I mean, what if these toddlers had attacked another person? Or a cat?"
Lt. Steve Halfy of the Denver Police Department said that while they could not immediately identify the owner of the toddlers, they were following several leads.
"We'll find out whose kids these are, and we'll bring them to justice. This just sickens me. How many more dogs are going to have to die before people realize that these toddlers are killers, plain and simple."
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