Okay, waiting for the "pit bulls are peaceful and loving pets" contingent to come out in force.
Pit Bulls = Love. Wait...that's islam.
I hate it when that happens.
Hate big mean dogs. Prefer a spaniel who'll bark and let me enjoy the shooting, rather than maul the
UPS man and get me sued. Hate lawyers, too, but don't get me on a jury if you've let your "little precious" hurt somebody.
Oh, my God. Poor grandma. This is absolutely horrible beyond belief. This is yet another indication that surely we are in the "last days".
I carry a gun for personal defense, and I realize that there's probably a greater chance that I'd have to use it to defend against animals than I would against humans. Pit Bulls are difficult to dissuade, but a .357 magnum does the trick quite nicely.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?level_3_id=265&page=5976487
A grandmother's death proves pit bulls must go
Friday, December 13, 2002
I did not know Julia Mazziotto, but she was described in The Record this week as an 80-year-old woman who lived in a Garfield home for a half century and was currently sharing it with her granddaughter. A man who owned a business next door called her "a nice old lady who stayed inside."
A kind woman, then; perhaps a bit old-fashioned; a woman whose earth was her home and whose universe was her family; a woman, in other words, who lived exactly like my own grandmother lived her last few years. Except that there were two members of Mrs. Mazziotto's household my own grandmother would never have permitted.
These were pit bull dogs. One, Shay, was 7 years old in human years. Onyx was only 18 months old. The two dogs had been part of the Mazziotto household since they were puppies. Supposedly they were watchdogs; maybe they were comforts to Mrs. Mazziotto in those times when she was left alone.
Monday Mrs. Mazziotto was left alone while her granddaughter was at work. When the granddaughter returned home with her boyfriend, they found Mrs. Mazziotto dead in a pool of blood on the floor of her front hallway, suggesting that she was trying to escape her attackers. Police found dog tracks in the blood, and a medical examiner determined that Mrs. Mazziotto died as a result of being mauled by a dog.
This was a private tragedy affecting Mrs. Mazziotto's family and friends. A woman they loved, and who loved them, died in a horrid manner. Nothing can change that.
This also qualifies as a public tragedy because Mrs. Mazziotto did not die a natural death. Police were involved. The medical examiner was involved. Bergen County animal control officers are now involved, beginning the legal process that will, in all
probability, lead to killing the two dogs. This process may involve a judicial decision as well.
Beyond the investigation and the disposal of these dogs, however, there is a much larger public question involved: What, if anything, should be done about pit bulls?
Two years ago, after pit bulls attacked four children, two in West Paterson and two in Hackensack, I wrote that these types of dogs should be regulated out of existence in New Jersey. I agreed with the officials of a handful of towns who had attempted to do this by approving such measures as leash and muzzle laws, high licensing fees, mandatory liability insurance policies, a requirement to carry a "Jaws of Life" device to pry open a pit bull's jaws should it clamp onto a passer-by, and mandatory fences around yards where pit bulls roamed.
Of course I received mail - more, in fact, than I'd ever received after a column. A few supported my stand. The vast majority did not. Crackpots threatened me, and many who were not crackpots claimed that pit bulls were not born dangerous but that malicious owners trained them to be so. "Ban the deed, not the breed," was their motto.
That is an understandable sentiment, coming from people whose private experience leads them to value pit bulls as pets. Yet "ban the deed, not the breed" would not seem to have any bearing on the two pit bulls who were brought as puppies to the home of Mrs. Mazziotto. The hard fact is, as Ray Koski, a special prosecutor for the Bergen County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told The Record this week, good pit bulls sometimes turn bad for no apparent reason. Their killer instinct is bred into them.
Two assemblymen, John Burzichelli, the mayor of Paulsboro, and Gary Guear, for 25 years a Trenton policeman, have introduced a bill that recently cleared committee. It would authorize municipalities to regulate the keeping of pit bulls, pit bull-like dogs, and Rottweilers. The bill is breed-specific.
"Thanksgiving eve a 10-year-old girl in Salem, a town I represent, was chewed up by pit bulls," Burzichelli told me Thursday afternoon. "This happens a lot. I've seen photos you don't want to see. I cannot begin to imagine the fear and torment that 80-year-old grandmother in Garfield felt as her life was ending."
Burzichelli said he believes he has the votes to get his bill through the Assembly, and he plans on adding a provision to allow the inclusion of other dangerous dog breeds as determined by the leaders of the municipalities. He said he also has a green light from the Attorney General's Office for the breed-specific legislation.
Two years ago, when I wrote my first column on pit bulls, I knew it wouldn't be my last, that there would be other, more horrible incidents. Yes, many of these dogs are faithful, nice pets. However, Ray Koski is exactly right in asserting that some turn bad through no fault of their owners. That seems to be what happened Monday in Mrs. Mazziotto's home.
That's why I think the Burzichelli-Guear bill should be approved as soon as possible and that municipalities should follow up quickly with legislation that will protect citizens and discourage ownership of dangerous dog breeds.
All the pit bulls in New Jersey are not worth the life of a Julia Mazziotto.
Rod Allee may be reached at The Record, One Garret Mountain Plaza, P.O. Box 471, West Paterson, N.J. 07424, or via e-mail at
allee@northjersey.com. Please include your name and phone number.
http://www.northjersey.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?id=5947551
