Two stories today:
Dogs put down after ‘horrific’ attack that killed one, injured three others
Two American Staffordshire terriers were put down after killing an elderly man and injuring three others in a Friday west-side attack that San Antonio authorities called “horrific.”
San Antonio Animal Care Services is investigating the incident, which unfolded along the 2800 block of Depla Street shortly before 2 p.m. The victim who died was identified as 81-year-old Ramon Najera, who was visiting a relative with his wife when the dogs rushed at them while they exited their vehicle, ACS officials said.
San Antonio Fire Department crews responding to the scene observed the man “being dragged by a dog (and) completely bloody before they got off the fire truck,” Chief Charles Hood said.
Firefighters began to fight off the dogs with pike poles and pick axes as the emergency evolved into a rescue situation, Hood added.
ACS Director Shannon Sims said the dogs were previously impounded in 2021 for a “mild bite.” An affidavit detailed that the dogs had previously attacked two people on two separate occasions, and ACS had received several calls in the past about the dogs violent behavior.
As a result of past occurrences, ACS required Moreno to use a harness on the dogs due to their behavior. According to a video taken by someone who witnessed the attack, the dogs didn’t have harnesses on.
Second story:
Girl, 6, needs 1,000 stitches, ‘won’t be able to smile again’ after vicious dog attack
A 6-year-old Maine girl’s face was mauled by a pit bull in an attack causing such profound injuries that she’ll never be able to smile again.
Lily Norton needed 1,000 stitches to close wounds extending from under her eyes to the top of her throat, The Sun Journal reported — and was flown to Boston for emergency surgery that lasted 11 hours.
Family friend CJ Pitcher, who created a fundraiser for the little girl, told the outlet Lily’s doctors said she wouldn’t be able to smile again because of the damage.
“Her salivary glands aren’t working … and doctors said she won’t be able to smile again,” Pitcher told the outlet. “Muscles are too damaged.”
Lily will be sedated for at least a week to prevent her from scratching at her face, according to Pitcher. The little girl’s mom, Dorothy Norton, told News Center Maine while Lily is sedated, she’ll need a breathing tube.
When the Feb. 18 attack occurred, Lily was at a friend’s house for a playdate, and the friend’s mom was reportedly dog-sitting the pit bull.
“They were going to play cards at the table, so she sat down at the table, the friend went and got the cards, and then as soon as the friend walked back in the room, she screamed to her mom because the dog had Lily in her mouth,” Norton said.
We have a dead elderly man, a little girl whose face is damaged for life, and a few other people who got bitten.
It seems that a lot of human carnage could have been avoided with a prophylactic course of heavy metal to some pitbulls.
So… The first article was about a dog that had numerous reports against it. How’s that different from the yahoos who shoot up schools, when everyone had reported them previously? Not a pit bull issue; a human issue. The second article doesn’t cover enough info, but it sounds like the problem was the owner, not the dog, per se.
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I’m not a dog person. I like bunnies and cats. But I have met a LOT of really beautiful, gentle pitties in my time. They are not a terrible breed. In fact, I don’t think there is a “bad breed” of dog. There are people who train their dogs to be violent (not the type of military training I’ve seen in some dogs, but the type of training they use for dogs in dog fights), and those people are to blame. There are people who think that the most they need to do in order to own a dog is pay for food, and give no thought to training, and those people are to blame. The dogs are just doing what dogs do.
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I read that clip you had about the little girl, and my first thought was, wonder if the unattended toddler (because heavens knows, toddlers NEVER do bad things, right?) bit the dog, or pulled on it, or slapped or otherwise tormented it. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen people leave their otherwise calm dogs alone with toddlers. It’s WRONG. That’s not the dog’s fault, it’s the fault of the owner(s) of the dog and toddler. Toddlers have no control over their actions (and in some cases, parents haven’t trained the toddlers, either). Dogs WILL respond to bad behavior.