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.
They’re not all bad.
When they are sleeping!
Fatal stupidity.
We have a nickname for stray dogs that run loose in my neighborhood-moving targets!
So what?
I am not going to try to sort out WHICH pit bull has been raised by a loving owner or which pit “just got out by accident” or which pitt just “somehow turned on its owner by mistake “.
I love dogs, I have a loving dog, I know that other dogs can attack also....BUT Pitts are just too dangerous. How many deaths (not bitings) will we have to endure before this breed is outlawed.
Ok, I know here come the “MY pitt is just sooooo sweet, therefore all Pitts should be allowed to breed.” ( this is logic?)
wow...I feel for you.And there is probably nothing you can do until those animals hurt someone.
Besides that would be for me just daily emotional abuse dealing with that!
“Them pits are nice dogs unless some owner makes them rotten. That is just the fact.”
Agreed.
This is proof that the owners keep these animals for their personal protection protection. These intelligent animals figured that the seemingly innocent baby would mature and become a serious threat to their owners./s
The owners should be sentenced to a long term of hard labor.
(Oh, I forgot. Inmates no longer have to work ten hours a day at hard labor. That would be cruel and unusual punishment.)
“PIT BULLS have a better temperament than Border Collies...”
Well as a BC owner that adopted his BC and Aussie from the shelter, I can’t disagree more. Also a BC at most is likely to nip you not tear your jugular out.
It is a combination of three factors (the breed’s natural temperament, the damage the breed can do, and the background/treatment of the dog (think idiot owner)).
Many people do not deserve to own dogs. I can’t believe the number of people with large dogs in my suburban neighborhood who never walk them. I think the German Shepherd down the street is going to become neurotic and dangerous without any outlet for his energy.
I agree that dachshunds have a bad temperament, probably on a par with pit bulls, but they are unlikely to kill you or maul you so that you need a hospital visit.
I will not hesitate to kill any loose pit bull that I see! I don’t care if the dogs name is precious!
A Giant Snaping turtle has a bite force more than an alligator.
2. Snaping Turtle
3. Alligator
4. Hyena
5. Shark
6. Lion
7. German Shepard
8. Rottweiler
way down the list is a Pit
Number 1 above all by jaw, size, and teeth was T-REX
Discovery Channel tried it
National Geographic
The Science Channel
Animal Planet
German Shepards (GSD) have bite strength and weight over Pits, Pits have muscle and the ability to handle pain over the Shepards.
The military uses and has used Shepards because of their force, speed, prey drive, The US Air Force found the GSD had the strongest bite force of any dog they used. If they wanted tracker dogs they would go with the Bloodhound. If they wanted mean dogs why not choose Rotty’s or Pits?
GSD are the dogs that ARE TRAINED with humans as the prey for guard dogs. That is inherently why GSD’s watch the movements of humans so closely. Watch a GSD sometime they will watch every move you make, a Pit could care less overall.
And Great Whites as with GSD’s use their size and speed hence the momentum they can obtain to take out prey. Along with the force of their bites. The GSD holds on and swings his body in midair to bring down prey. The Great White slams into its prey. Learn a little and don’t rely on Google. FInd OBJECTIVE studys or research.
Aguy just moved in next door and he’s got two female Boxers. The one resently had a litter and she is aggressive. Now, Boxers are not Pit Bulls, but you might still appreciate this.
Our 2 YO male Golden is a clam balanced dog and the first time we let him out in the backyard, the two Boxers charged the fence barking crazy throwing spittle everywhere.
Jack just stood there, a foot or so from the chain link fence, staring at them calmly.
After about five minutes of barks and spittle, the Boxers suddenly stopped, walked a few feet and laid down in the shade of a little tree.
Three days later, and the momma boxer still barks for a few seconds when Jack first walks out, but she settles right down.
Ah, the joys of training and raising a well balanced dog who knows who he is. (But he has no clue that he’d get whupped badly if they were to get on our side of the fence. He just knows he’s the king, and he’s convinced them, so that’s where things stand at the moment.)
check you facts sport.
those dogs were bred to be agressive. It will ALWAYS be part of their personality.
you can’t breed it out.
Right now there’s a very silly black and white dog sleeping under my desk who’s half pit and half black lab. He’s probably the most affectionate, playful dog I’ve ever owned and loves everybody, including other dogs.
THEY WERE NOT THE FAMILIES DOGS. They were loose dogs that broke in through a screen door.
I apologize.
Yes! Prosecute the parents! Those dogs were a murder waiting to happen.
Darwin award winners definitely.
Hunting dogs gotta hunt.
Retrievers gotta fetch.
Herding dogs gotta herd.
Killer dogs gotta kill.
We breed dogs for a purpose and then are surprised when they fulfill that purpose? I'm not surprised.
Damn. Aside from the bizarre idea of a dog coming thru plate glass, I have to wonder about dogs that do this to their owners!
“Them pits are nice dogs unless some owner makes them rotten. That is just the fact.”
No, they’re trash dogs owned by trash people
If anyone on my street acquired one of these dogs, I would go from concealed carry to wearing a gun in plain view (in the hood of course). I would then put the owners on notice-if their “harmless pet” gets loose, so will a .40 bullet. These dogs have no place in a neighborhood where my kids play. END OF STORY...
Nice. I, however, wont wait for the government-one those dogs gets loose where my kids are, and I will shoot it. You can defend the indefensible all you want, but folks who get these dogs with kids in the family, are doing no better than a family who is cooking meth in a home where kids are..
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