THE GAUNTLET
Animal Attacks IN THE NEWS!
Home
Animal Attacks IN THE NEWS!
Our Products
Contact Us
Our Location
Catalog

Police Dog Injured in Pit Bull Attack
 
Deputies shot and killed a pit bull that they say attacked a police dog while authorities searched for a burglary suspect.
 
Three deputies, along with canine Deputy Gunner, were searching for a burglary suspect in the 900 block of 57th Avenue Place East at 7:53 p.m. Tuesday when a large pit bull charged at one of the deputies and the dog, according to a report from the Manatee County sheriff's Office.
 
The pit bull bit the deputy canine; officers were able to pull the dog off of Gunner, Manatee County Sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said. But the pit bull attacked the canine again, and lethal force was used against the pit bull.
 
Gunner, a Belgian Malinois, suffered a puncture wound in the head area, Bristow said. He was examined by a veterinarian and was released.
 
Loose Dogs Attack Man and Puppy
Tuesday, October 12, 2004

A walk with his puppy ended in a trip to the hospital for a Hillsboro man after two loose dogs attacked him and the puppy off Northeast Laura Street.
 
Charlie Johnson's hand now has 11 stitches; Buddy, his five-month-old pug, has a broken right hip.
 
"I don't know who has more stitches, him or me," Johnson said. His hand is still sore days after the attack, and Buddy's leg is pinned together.
 
Johnson, a retired Hillsboro police officer, and Buddy were walking Wednesday afternoon when two American bulldogs ran down the street toward them.
 
"They initially went for Buddy," he said. "I saw they were going for him, so I swung him around and scooped him up. That's when they started lunging at me."
 
The bulldogs, a male and a female, knocked Johnson down a few times and bit his shoulder as he tried to get up. The wound on his hand came when one of the dogs latched onto it; he had to pull the dog into the air to shake it off.
 
Witnesses said the attack lasted a minute or two. "When you're in it, it seems like an eternity," he said. "They'd circle me, I'd kick at one and the other would lunge at me."
 
Several neighbors saw it happen. Two women rushed up and pulled the dogs away. At that point, the owners came and took the dogs home.
 
The dogs are at the county animal shelter in Hillsboro for a quarantine period until Saturday, said Susan Field, shelter spokeswoman.
 
The dogs will go home after the quarantine, Field said because the shelter doesn't have authority to euthanize a dog without the owner's consent.
 
Field said the shelter has no records of other problems with the dogs, but one didn't have a license.  Johnson and Officer Chaz Holmes, who took the initial report, said neighbors complained of previous problems with the dogs.
 
"Some people said they'd never seen the dogs before," Holmes said. "Others said this was the third time the dogs have been a problem."
 
Officers cited the owners for not licensing one dog, failing to prevent a dog at large and failing to prevent an active nuisance. All three are city violations, and the owners will appear in Hillsboro Municipal Court next month.
 
The attack surprised Johnson, who said he'd previously owned an American bulldog. "They're the nicest dogs," he said. "I don't understand the temperament of these two.  "If this had been a kid, I'd hate to think what would have happened here."
 
In July, two loose pit bulls in Aloha attacked a 7-year-old boy and a passerby who laid on top of him to protect him. Both those dogs were euthanized, and their owners face Measure 11 assault charges.
 
Pit bull attacks woman; man faces charges

(September 14, 2004) — GENEVA - A Geneva man is scheduled to appear in Ontario County Court today in connection with a charge that he ordered his pit bull to maul an unidentified woman who lost her nose and suffered other severe facial lacerations in the attack.
Damian Mateo, 25, of 67 William St., was arrested early Monday morning after he allegedly ordered the dog to attack the woman with whom he had been arguing late Sunday night, according to information on file at Geneva City Court.
 
According to court records, Mateo "did intentionally cause a severe facial laceration to the victim by means of a dangerous instrument, that being a pit bull dog which the defendant did order to attack."
Geneva Police, who investigated the incident, which was reported at 11:38 p.m. on Sunday, declined today to comment or to make available a police report on the investigation.
 
Mateo was arraigned Monday in Geneva City Court on a charge of second-degree assault and ordered held at the Ontario County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond.
 
Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo said Mateo is scheduled to appear in Ontario County Court tomorrow for a bail reduction hearing. Tantillo said his office will oppose the bail reduction motion because of the reported viciousness of the attack.
Mateo also is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on the assault charge Sept. 20, depending on the condition of the victim who remains hospitalized from the attack, Tantillo said.
 
The Sept. 20 preliminary date could be changed if the victim remains hospitalized, he said. "It's a major, traumatic injury that she has suffered."  Tantillo said he was unable to disclose where the woman is hospitalized or whether her medical condition has stabilized since the attack.
 
The pit bull that inflicted the injuries on the woman has been impounded and is being held at the Ontario County Humane Society pending further legal action.
 
Tantillo said his office is continuing to review details of the case, but that the pit bull will likely be destroyed because of the viciousness of the attack and the seriousness of the victim's injuries.
 
"Nothing about this case is routine," the D.A. said. "We have so few serious dog attacks. But it would certainly be expected that for a dog that committed such a vicious and violent act to be put down at some point."
 
Dogs Attack Woman and Horses at Cedar Hill Farm

A Fenton woman is seeking justice after dogs viciously attacked her and several of her horses at a Cedar Hill farm. The attacks left one horse dead and two others severely wounded.

Bruises and scrapes line Connie Nicely's legs, but she knows her injuries are minimal compared to those sustained by her horses during two separate dog attacks.

Nicely arrived Sept. 1 at the 60-acres where she and her husband, Rick Nicely, ride their five horses. This time, Nicely and her horses were not alone.

After securing two miniature horses kept by a neighbor, Nicely heard a commotion coming from a nearby pasture. As she walked toward the disturbance, she found Daisy, one of the three horses permanently boarded at the farm, being attacked by a rottweiler and a pit bull.

"I yelled her name, and when I did she ran and the big dogs came after me and the miniature horses," said Nicely.

As the dogs attacked Nicely and her horses, she climbed on the hood of her Ford Expedition for safety. The dogs singled out one of the horses, concentrating their combined efforts on biting its hind quarters and neck.

Nicely grabbed a pole leaning against a nearby garage and began swinging it to scare off the dogs.

The attack left the horse severely injured.

"The baby horse was bleeding from both back legs and had severe bite marks in the neck," said Nicely.

After bandaging the injured miniature horse that she had recently purchased for her two-year-old grandson, Nicely realized Daisy was nowhere to be found. She feared the worst.

Neighbors and friends began combing the property for the pony, but to no avail.

While tending to the other horses later that day, Nicely came across Daisy's lifeless body lying in a weeded area. She called her husband to the scene -- too afraid to take a closer look for herself.

"I said I'm not going over there, because if it's her (Daisey), she's dead," said Nicely. "Sure enough it was her."

The discovery was gruesome.

"They had ripped her throat out and ate part of the back of her hind leg," she said.

Nicely contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, filing a complaint and giving them the name of a neighbor she suspects be the dog's owner. Authorities questioned the man and animal control workers were notified of the situation.

The dogs were later apprehended, but not before they attacked Nicely's horses a second time Sept. 3.

The attack left the two horses remaining on the property missing. As in the first attack, a portion of the property's fence had been knocked over. Nicely said signs indicated that the dogs ran her horses through the fence during the attack.

One horse was found a short time later on Byrnesville Road. The horse had suffered minor injuries to its hind legs.

The second was located by the sheriff's office Sept. 5. Its injuries were more severe.

"The horse has got a hole in her side and her legs are severely lacerated," said Nicely. "The horse is traumatized."

Nicely was not at the farm at the time of the second attack, though Dr. Thomas G. Loafmann, the veterinarian who examined the horse, agreed that the wounds appeared to be inflicted by a canine.

"It had some bite marks, lacerations, abrasions and other trauma," he said. "It had an elevated temperature and high heartbeat."

Jim Wilcox, animal control manager, said that two rottweilers and one pit bull were removed from the area. The last of the dogs was taken into custody Sept. 5.

A decision on their fate is still pending, and their owner has yet to be positively identified.

"We suspect an owner, but being that the owner never signed off on the animals, we can't really say he's the owner or not," said Wilcox.

Nicely believes the owner should face serious legal repercussions for the attacks, although she said authorities have told her criminal charges are unlikely.

"I'm out thousands of dollars, my legs are scratched up, bruised up, beat up," she said. "The only thing that saved me was climbing on top of an Expedition. I've got a dead horse, two injured horses and they're telling me he may not be prosecuted."

Officials with the sheriff's office confirmed they were in the process of filing charges against the suspect in question, but could not release his identity until formal charges have been filed.

PIT BULL ATTACKS LETTER CARRIER

CARBONDALE -- A letter carrier on a Carbondale route was severely bitten on the hand Wednesday by a pit bull at a residence on the 1300 block of West Schwartz Street, postal officials confirmed.

Doug Meadows, 50, of Anna, who works out of the Carbondale Post Office, was treated at the emergency room of Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. Dan Finnegan, supervisor of customer service at the post office, confirmed that "the carrier was very seriously bitten by a pit bull.

"The carrier was delivering mail on the porch of a residence when the dog burst through an unlatched screen door and attacked him," Finnegan said.

Others in the emergency room said Meadows' wedding ring had to be cut off his hand so he could be treated and that his uniform was covered with blood.

Carbondale police confirmed Wednesday that Cindy Nelson, the city's animal control officer, has received a report on the incident. Nelson was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Meadows was resting at his home on Wednesday night, but still being kept comfortable by the effects of the Morphine he had received at the hospital earlier. He described the dog as seeming "to come out of nowhere."

"I'm a carrier tech," he said. "I do a different route every day, but there was not card in the slot saying that there was a dangerous dog at that house, probably because the owners kept it inside. Unfortunately I was the one doing the route on the day that the dog decided to come outside."

"I went up to the box to deliver the mail and take out the mail that the owner had to be picked up." Meadows continued. "The box was right next to the door. I heard him bark from inside the house, but when he leapt against the door and the door flew open, he was right on me. I shoved the mail at him, just as an instinct, to get him to take it -- anything but me, and I kicked at him. Luckily, the owner was there and called him off. I can even think about what would have happened if he hadn't backed off."

"I had 14 stitches in my hand," Meadows said. "They had to cut my wedding ring off, and couldn't even do that at first because it was stopping the bleeding. They finally used a blood pressure cuff to stop the blood while they cut the ring off. Even the wedding ring was dented from the dog's teeth. I had four big lacerations and four deep puncture wounds from the dog's teeth. It bled profusely. That's what really had me worried, was all the blood."

The dog's owner drove Meadows to the hospital and reported the incident to animal control.

"I really want people to think about it -- that a dog may be their pet and they say it doesn't bite. Well it doesn't bite you, but just because it has never bitten before doesn't mean it won't. Those are all my friends out there day to day trying to deliver their mail."

Meadows, who is steward for Branch 1197 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, helped coordinate the group's annual food drive in May.

Branch 1197 includes more than 100 post offices from Effingham south to Cairo, and from the Mississippi to the Ohio River. The Carbondale Post Office collected 3,193 pounds of food -- nearly double the previous year's total -- and delivered it to Good Samaritan Food Pantry in Carbondale.

This was the second reported incident in Southern Illinois. Earlier this year, Orient Postmaster Charlene Irwin was bitten July 23 by a large dog that was partially blocking the post office door.

The dog was panting, and Irwin set a bowl of water down, hoping it would drink the water, then go away. Instead, it grabbed her hand and arm and dragged her toward the sidewalk. It also bit her on the leg. Irwin was taken to Franklin County Hospital in Benton, where she received stitches on her left leg and treatment for 13 lacerations on her left forearm and hand. That dog was described as a mixture of German shepherd and pit bull.

Finnegan said the postal service gives plenty of training to city carriers on how to protect themselves from dog bites.

"It's a serious problem nationally," he said, with "staggering numbers" of bites reported each year.

"We want to use this opportunity to encourage people to restrain their animals, both to ensure the safety of our carriers and to reduce liability for the homeowners," he added.

All letter carriers receive training, "one time a year at minimum," in how to defend themselves against dogs, Finnegan said. They carry dog spray, and are trained to use the mail pouch or satchel as a barrier between them and the dog.

Nationwide, the postal service reported 3,423 dog bites in fiscal year 2003. In the Gateway District, which includes Southern Illinois and part of Missouri from St. Louis west to Columbia, the total for fiscal year 2003 was 66 dog bites, a significant reduction from the 89 recorded the previous fiscal year, Finnegan said.

"That makes us think our efforts on education and awareness are working."

Pit Bull Viciously Attacks Man

Unidentified man is critical after dog bites off his genitals; animal on the loose

Police and Animal Control Services are looking for a dangerous dog that seriously injured a man.

The man remained in critical condition Monday night at the University of New Mexico Hospital, Detective Jeff Arbogast, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said.

"The dog is a brown, pit bull-boxer mix, is what it looks like," Arbogast said. "The guy was found missing his genitals. We don't know who he is or where he lives."

Neighbors saw the man playing with the dog earlier in the day near Susie Rayos Marmon Elementary School, 6401 Iliff Road N.W., Arbogast said.

About 1:20 p.m. Monday, police were called to the scene when workers from a mowing service found the man unconscious, naked and bleeding on a yard near the school, he said.

"The lawn crew hit the dog with a pipe, causing it to yelp and run away," Arbogast said. "When police arrived, the man woke up and started running away from the officers. They had to take him into custody so he could get treatment."

Arbogast added he had no idea why the man was naked or why the dog bit him, but added, "I think there's a little more to this whole thing than we know."

The school was locked down for an hour-and-a-half while police searched for the dog. Students were escorted home at 3:00 p.m., Arbogast said.

Gov. Bill Richardson released a statement after hearing about the incident, touting legislation he is proposing with tough penalties for owners of dangerous dogs.

"There are serious gaps in the law when it comes to attacks by dangerous dogs," Richardson said. "We must hold the owners of dangerous dogs accountable for controlling their pets."

There are no state laws to prevent or punish attacks by dangerous dogs, except when dogs attack livestock. The proposed legislation would make owners confine such dogs, license the animals and make the owners responsible for the dog's behavior, the statement said.

Anyone who sees the dog should stay away from it and call police or animal control, Arbogast said.

"We've all heard of problems with pit bulls for many years, and there are certainly concerns about their aggressive natures," Arbogast said. "I can't say every one of them is like that, but we've seen a lot of reports of injuries."

Pit Bulls: A Popular Pariah

While the dogs crowd animal shelters and top the lists for bites and euthanasia, breeders feel the pain from insurance hassles

When Dawn Campbell's calico kitten squeezed through a tear in the screen door on Aug. 4, she raced after it, screaming. But it was too late. The neighbor's 46-pound pit bull snapped its chain, leapt a waist-high fence and killed the kitten in front of Campbell and her 6-year-old son.

Multnomah County Animal Services officers seized the dog, demanding that owner Jack Shortridge, 31, build a secure kennel at his North Portland home, where he keeps three other pit bulls.

Shortridge knew the kitten killer -- George -- was a problem. He'd been aggressive with a previous owner. "It's George's instinct to kill," Shortridge says. "But I want him for a breeder. He'll make a good stud."

But three weeks later, George waits. While Shortridge explores legal options, the pit bull remains at the Multnomah County shelter, unlicensed, unneutered and unadoptable.

Pit bulls -- a broad swath of terriers popularized by hip-hop videos that tout the breed's macho "street cred" -- are crowding public animal shelters in the Portland area. They wait longer for adoptive homes, when they get them. And shelters dispose of them with lethal injections at rates far greater than for other breeds. More than half the 403 dogs euthanized between January and June of this year in Multnomah County were pit bulls or pit mixes.

The situation isn't as clear-cut in neighboring counties. Washington County doesn't track dog intakes by breed. And Clackamas County's rates have held steady at about 8 percent for pit bulls the past two years.

But throughout the metro area, pit bulls occupy shelters longer than other breeds. And in Multnomah County, as in most of the country, the surge in pit bull shelter deaths has offset the sharp decline in euthanasia achieved by spaying and neutering, says Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, an independent newspaper that surveys 10,000 animal shelters. "It's a disaster. The dog always winds up dead," Clifton says. "There aren't any winners in this except the people breeding pit bulls."

Five well-publicized dog bites in the Portland area since late July contributed to the surge, driving pit bull complaints up at all four metro-area animal-control agencies. Less well-known were at least 45 other bites involving pit bulls since January in Portland alone. Pit bulls bit children and adults at bus stops, on sidewalks and in schoolyards and parks.

Any dog can bite, experts say, but the pit bull's strength, loyalty and eagerness to please, attract owners who encourage them to be aggressive. Problems most often arise when owners fail to properly train and restrain the animal. And the pit bull's strength makes the consequences of each bite greater.

Nationally, no one agency tracks which breeds bite an estimated 4.5 million Americans every year. But when it comes to serious bites, pit bulls top the charts. Cities from Boston to Toledo, Ohio to Yakima have responded by holding owners to special handling or insurance requirements or banning the breed.

Not so Portland, voted by pet-food companies this year as one of the nation's top spots to be a dog. People value animals highly here.

"Oregon is at the forefront of treating the animal-owner relationship much differently than almost every other state in the union," says Geordie Duckler, who holds a doctorate in biology and also practices animal law from his Portland office.

That is reflected in the courts, he says, where juries have recognized that the companionship of an animal has a value that can be compensated, where dog-bite victims collect relatively limited damages and where municipalities are restrained by what some would say are progressive -- others would call lenient -- rules for dangerous dogs.

In Oregon, local ordinances govern the treatment of dangerous dogs. Multnomah County has four levels of restrictions, depending on the degree of aggression. Dogs that menace without biting must be restrained by a fence or leash. Dogs that injure a person can be euthanized or confined to an extremely secure kennel, at the discretion of a hearings officer.

So even a dog that inflicts a life-threatening injury does not necessarily face a death sentence. And there are several mechanisms for appealing any restriction.

But pit bulls challenge the good intentions that produced Oregon's system. They account for 20 percent of the dogs in the Multnomah County shelter. Many of those haven't been spayed or neutered, and almost none is licensed or can share a kennel with another dog. Still Multnomah, Washington and other counties do not automatically euthanize an unwanted pit bull. They return dogs to owners, assess temperament as a step toward adoption, spay and neuter, call animal-rescue organizations for help and look for adoptive homes.

But the pits keep coming. In Multnomah County, breeders advertise puppies for as little as $100. "I can't even read the classifieds," says Stephanie Collingsworth, an animal-care technician at the Multnomah County shelter in Troutdale. "I despair for those dogs.

"As a community," she said, "We are a pit bull puppy mill."

An unwanted breed

Placing pit bulls has become tougher as insurance companies raise premiums or refuse to write policies for homeowners and renters who own pit bulls. "The industry has reacted," says Nicole Mahrt, spokeswoman for the American Insurance Association. "We have to be responsible for our pets."

Still, Collingsworth keeps trying to find homes for pit bulls. In a crowded hallway at the Troutdale shelter, she makes calls and writes e-mails to pet-rescue groups. Few take pit bulls. So those that do are almost always full. She also conducts temperament tests on each dog so potential owners know what to expect.

The tests, also used in Washington County and elsewhere, require handlers to use touch and food to gauge sociability and protectiveness. Shelters often use other dogs to test an animal's reaction.

Critics say the tests are unfair because they take place in a chaotic shelter. "The slightest hint of stress aggression costs the dog his or her life," says Gail O'Connell-Babcock, psychologist and founder of Watchdog, a rescue group that offers free legal advice in animal control cases. She says educating pit bull owners about the breed would be more humane and consistent with the community's values.

"The problem is seldom the dog," she says. "It is the person holding the leash who needs training."

At the shelter, Collingsworth often provides foster care for pit bulls, and she even drove one female pit bull to a pet fair to advertise her. She was so struck by the dog's gentleness that she presented her to her husband for their fifth wedding anniversary. In the evenings, she and the pit bull, named Sable, now teach obedience classes at Valley View Canine in Gresham. By day, she looks for homes for Miss Piggy, Bert and Brad Pitt.

"Help!" says the sign on Baxter's cage down the hall from Collingsworth's work space, "I'm a poodle trapped in a pit bull body." Goldie's sign says she's a flower trapped in a pit bull; Steve is a "love bug." And "Thug"? Well, his sign says he's quarantined for biting.

Hot properties

Casper Jimenez, 36, is a third-generation dog man who can trace his pit bull line back 80 years. From his Dead Game Kennels in North Portland, he recalls his grandfather's stories of staging dogfights on the Mexican border. A dog then was bred for its "gameness" in the fight. But breeders killed any dog aggressive toward its handler. The result, he says, was a line of people-friendly pets.

The name "pit bull" is a broad one, like "retriever" or "hound," writes Karen Delise in her 2002 book, "Fatal Dog Attacks." It describes American pit bull terriers, bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers and "almost every dog that looks anything like these dogs."

Most are descended from dogs bred to fight, hunt small game or protect their owners. And most pit bulls retain the powerful shoulders, strong jaws and high energy of their ancestors. Their popularity surged in the 1980s, when urban gangs discovered dogfighting. Street dogfighting, though illegal, is still popular.

Jimenez says he doesn't fight dogs, and he makes buyers sign a contract saying they won't either. But he has gone from getting three queries a week to 10 a day in the past three years. His top puppies bring $1,000 to $3,500 each, even though he doesn't advertise locally and won't sell to anyone younger than 18.

"I love my dogs," Jimenez says. "They will live out their days in comfort and have a long, fruitful life."

Still, his insurance carrier has dropped him, and three of his dogs were poisoned recently when someone threw tainted hot dogs into his yard. He raced the dogs to the veterinarian, and spent more than $2,500 to save them.

"These are our family," he says.

John C. Booker, president of the All-American Pit Bull Association that is headquartered in Vancouver, says hundreds who attend pit bull shows feel the same. In the seven years since he founded the association and began holding shows -- where dogs compete in strength and agility competitions -- the number of breeders registered to his club has risen to 95,000 throughout the West.

"I don't think people get the scope of how many pit bulls there are in this area," says Booker. "If I was president, I'd have one in the White House -- I'd leverage those votes."

Booker's wife, Lucinda, says people love pit bulls for their variety of sizes and colors. The dogs can weigh 35 or 85 pounds, and their coats range from bluish to buckskin colors and in patterns that range from solids to the tiger stripes of a brindle.

"They're not a cookie-cutter breed," she says. "They love to be worked, and they're so willing to please."

Human costs

Betty Stiles, 64, never wanted a pit bull, even after her son asked her to care for his dog. But she grew to love the dog, and when it died, she immediately bought another. On a friend's advice, the Portland woman picked out the biggest, most aggressive puppy, thinking it would be the most protective. It was -- too much so.

One day a neighbor hugged her, and Diablo leapt at him, grabbing his hand. Then, 11 months ago, the dog bit the mail carrier as she handed Stiles a clipboard to collect a signature. Finally, early this month, Diablo broke through the door and rushed her son's friend.

"I was on needles and pins," Stiles says, "because I didn't trust him anymore."

Stiles says she did not realize until after the bites and a trip to a special trainer how important it was to know a dog's bloodlines, to train and to socialize it. When she realized she couldn't control Diablo, she drove him to the vet to be put down.

The mail carrier whose hand Diablo punctured still is on light duty at work, and she can't garden, sew or work with stained glass. "A dog bite can ruin a person's life," says Kenneth Phillips, a Los Angeles attorney and one of the nation's leading authorities on dog-bite law.

The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates it costs more than $1 billion in insurance and medical costs to treat dog bites each year in the United States.

"We have a Walt Disney approach that they're all our furry friends," Phillips says. "But society is not getting real about the burden of dog attacks."

In her Colorado bedroom, 11-year-old Shanice Millen can't avoid that burden. On Aug. 21, 2000, a pit bull chow mix bit her on the face at a home where the then 7-year-old Aloha girl had been invited to play. Shanice needed 400 stitches and three plastic surgeries, but scar tissue still disfigures her.

Suzanne Gerber, her mother, sued the dog's owner and won $513,000, which she has been unable to collect. The mother, who missed work caring for Shanice, lost her small cleaning business and declared bankruptcy. She and her daughter left Oregon to start over in Colorado.

Soon Shanice will start middle school. Changing schools is hard, she says, because everyone asks about her face. Classmates have called her "Scarface." So Shanice says she likes to stay in her room, where she plays computer games and listens to music.

After quarantine, the dog that mauled her was returned to its owner.

Pit Bull Attacks Owner In Council Bluffs

OMAHA, Neb. -- A Council Bluffs police officer shot a pit bull dog after it attacked its owner Thursday night.

Officers were called to 27th Street and Sixth Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. The dog turned on its owner and injured his foot.

When police got to the scene, the animal started to attack. An officer shot the animal.

The dog's owner was taken to an Omaha hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening.
 
 
Pitbull terrier attacks man in Albany
Police officer shoots, kills dog to get it off victim
 
ALBANY -- A city police officer shot and killed a dog today as it attacked a 53-year-old man on Garfield Place, authorities said.
 
Police responded to the home at 29 Garfield Place about 9:30 a.m. when someone reported that a dog was going berserk. A neighbor and Officer Jan Mika tried repeatedly to pull the dog off the victim, James Bates, before Mika killed the animal with a single shot from his handgun.

"Another guy had already attempted to get it off and couldn't and Mika was utilizing his baton and he couldn't stop the dog, so he finally broke him off and shot the dog with one shot,'' said Sgt. Fred Aliberti, a police department spokesman.

Bates suffered multiple bite wounds during the attack. He was taken by ambulance to Albany Medical Center Hospital and was being treated there for numerous wounds, police said.

Police are trying to determine who owns the dog, a pitbull terrier mix that was wearing an ID tag. Residents said the owner left the dog in a neighbor's care but that it got loose and attacked one resident before going after Bates.

Mika has been with the department since January 2003. Officers are authorized to shoot dangerous animals, authorities said.

The dog died from the gunshot wound and will be tested for rabies, police said.

Pit bull attacks neighbor's livestock

The Saline County Sheriff’s Office is requesting a warrant against a Saline County man for a charge of allowing a dangerous animal to run at large in connection with an incident involving a pit bull dog, Sheriff Glen Kochanowski said Monday.

The sheriff said that at 7:50 p.m. Saturday his office was notified by Paul Quinn, 3308 A. S. Holmes, that a horse and donkey in his pasture were being attacked by a neighbor’s pit bull. When sheriff’s deputy Chad Flesher arrived, he saw the dog in the pasture with the other animals. When the dog would not break off its attack, Flesher shot at it, and the dog ran to a nearby line of trees.

Flesher pursued the dog to check on its condition, and when he approached the animal, it charged at him and Flesher shot a second time, this time wounding the the dog in the shoulder, Kochanowski said.

The dog fled, going into a garage at the home of Abel Perez, 45, 3398 S. Holmes. It later was taken to a veterinarian who determined the dog had a broken right femur. Perez told the deputy the dog was his daughter’s and that they were watching it while his daughter attended school in Arizona.

Kochanowski said a warrant was being sought charging Perez with allowing a dangerous animal to run at large.

Dog kills two pets, attacks man in city
Police kill pit bull mix

NEW BEDFORD -- A wild attack by a pit bull-Great Dane mix left one man bitten and three animals dead Saturday night in a melee that ended with police opening fire on and killing the loose dog.
Marcus Schlosser, 57, of Palmer Street was walking his two miniature pinschers down nearby Bedford Street around 7 p.m., he said, when a large pit bull at 455 Bedford St. escaped from behind the stockade fence in the yard.
The animal grabbed his female pinscher -- a 6-year-old named Ginger who weighed about 12 pounds, he said -- and began shaking it violently.
Mr. Schlosser grabbed his other dog, Gadget, in his arms and tried to get Ginger away from the pit bull.
But he circled around me," Mr. Schlosser said yesterday. "And that's when he bit me."
The pit bull, named Pun, bit Mr. Schlosser on the chest, causing puncture wounds.
The bite caused Mr. Schlosser to drop Gadget, who was scooped up by Pun.
The larger dog -- Mr. Schlosser guessed it weighed 100 pounds, while its owner, Roland Hopwood, said it weighed 68 pounds -- began moving between both fallen mini-pinschers.
Police, EMS and fire crews arrived, and Pun fled with one fallen dog into a back yard.
Firefighters sprayed Pun with a hose to control it, but to no avail, neighbors said yesterday. Both Mr. Schlosser's dogs were killed.
"I talked to him briefly," Mr. Hopwood said. "I think I felt even worse than he did about all this."
Police Chief Carl K. Moniz said one officer, who determined the pit bull was a threat to public safety, shot it several times, killing it.
Mr. Hopwood, 48, was not home at the time of the incident. He said yesterday he adopted the dog as a stray four years ago and was unsure of its bloodlines.
He said he believed it was at least part Great Dane.
As a precaution, he said, he registered Pun with the city as a pit bull, as owners of that breed are required to do.
"I've heard some people thought it looked like ridgeback," he said. "I got the pit bull license just to cover myself."
He has one other pit bull at his property, he said, but believes neighbors had nothing to fear from it.
"I hope this story isn't going to say Pun was a bad animal or I was a bad master," Mr. Hopwood said to a reporter. "Because he wasn't."
Chief Moniz said the investigation into the incident continues, but because the attacking animal was registered and is now dead, charges are unlikely.
The Police Department's professional standards unit will investigate whether the shooting was done properly, he said.

Biologists say coyotes losing fear of humans

While the debate over killing coyotes continues to swirl throughout North County, biologists say the evidence is clear that the predators are growing less afraid of humans every year.

Robert Timm, a biologist with the Hopland Research and Extension Center in Hopland, recently presented a paper to the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Spokane, Wash. The paper, titled "Coyote attacks: an increasing suburban problem," concludes that coyotes have, indeed, become much less afraid of humans.

"In the absence of harassment by residents, coyotes can lose their fear of people and come to associate humans with this safe, resource-rich environment," the report states.

This latest concern over coyotes started when a small senior community in southeast Oceanside declared last month that it would hire a private exterminator to capture and kill coyotes that residents said were attacking family pets. After conducting 19 interviews in the Ocean Hills community, investigators found that coyotes had killed small three dogs in recent months and that they did so in close proximity to their owners, making them a threat to public safety.

The controversy escalated when the state Department of Fish and Game got involved, declaring the coyotes a public safety hazard and calling in federal trappers, who killed four of the animals July 22.

The news seemed to polarize the populace. From call-in radio shows to TV broadcasts and letters to the editors of local newspapers, public opinion seems to have fallen into two camps: Some favor killing coyotes when they get too close to humans and their pets, and others see killing coyotes as simply unconscionable.

Those who favor trapping and killing coyotes generally argue that nothing else will put the fear of man back into coyotes that have grown accustomed to the presence of humans. Those who favor leaving the coyotes alone say humans haven't done enough to help keep the coyotes wild, providing easy food for hungry predators who have been in the area much longer than the latest crop of suburbanites.

Biologists seem to fall somewhere in the middle.

Timm and co-authors from Cal Poly Pomona and the U.S. Department of Agriculture wanted to quantify the coyote-human conflict taking place in Southern California's suburban neighborhoods. So they scoured records in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, looking for instances where coyotes had either attacked a human directly or had attacked a pet while it was in close proximity to its owner.

They found that since 1978 there have been at least 89 such attacks, including seven in North County. None of those seven include the recent attacks reported in Oceanside's Ocean Hills community.

For example, in 1988 the report lists three coyote attacks in Oceanside, including an incident in which a 3-year-old girl was bitten on the leg and face by a coyote. In July 2002, a Carlsbad woman walking a Labrador-retriever was accosted by a pack of eight to 10 coyotes that bit at her legs and pants until her dog was able to fight the predators off.

There are still more stories of more serious attacks. In 1981, a 3-year-old girl from Glendale was attacked and killed by a coyote.

Over the years, coyote attacks, while still rare in Southern California, have increased in frequency, with a record 16 recorded in 2002.

"The overall picture is that this is a problem that is continuing to increase," Timm said.

Timm said that when he and his fellow researchers investigated coyote attacks, they usually found evidence that residents near where the attacks occurred had been feeding the coyotes, making them less afraid of humans.

Randy Bota, an assistant wildlife biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game, said he has not seen any credible literature or evidence that coyotes will regain their fear of humans once they have become accustomed to eating food people provide either through unsecured trash cans or pet food left outdoors. He said some pet owners also allow their small domestic dogs and cats to roam the outdoors, where they're easy prey.

Bota and Timm said killing aggressive coyotes is the only reasonable way to keep them out of back yards.

Bota said that coyotes that live close to housing developments often adopt different social structures than those observed in the wild backcountry. He said that large numbers may follow a dominant "leader" who has proven effective in snagging easy food from housing developments.

"Typically, if you can remove these lead animals, usually the others become less brazen," he said.

'Backyard' dilemma

Fish and Game does not trap and relocate coyotes despite constant requests from homeowners who would rather not see the animals killed.

Steve Edinger, assistant chief at the San Diego office of the state Department of Fish and Game, said relocating coyotes would only push the problem into someone else's back yard. He noted relocation also usually means a slower death for wild animals because they are plunked down into a competing animal's territory and must fight for dominance in unfamiliar surroundings.

"That's why we just don't relocate (trapped coyotes)," Edinger said.

He added that the best way for humans to make trapping and killing less common is to follow the simple philosophy of keeping wild animals wild by minimizing their dependance on humans as a source of easy food. He noted that one thing is certain: Coyotes are not going anywhere.

"They are one of the most adaptable species on the planet," he said. "Historically, the range for the coyote was the Great Plains, and now you find them in 49 states," he said.

Tips to prevent coyote attacks
  • Never feed or attempt to "tame" a coyote.
  • Don't leave small children or pets outside unattended.
  • Remove sources of water, especially in dry climates.
  • Trim ground-level shrubbery to reduce hiding places.
  • Store trash in tightly closed containers that cannot tip over.
  • Do not leave pet food outside, and bring pets in at night.
  • Provide secure enclosures for rabbits, poultry, etc.
  • Pick up fallen fruit and cover compost piles.
  • Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.

    Note: This list of dos and don'ts is reproduced with permission from www.keepmewild.com, a Web site produced by the California Department of Fish and Game.

    Dog Attacks, Bites Girl

    BELLE VERNON - Southwest Regional Police Chief John Hartman said a second dog bite case in the borough in the past few weeks has prompted him to take a proactive approach to changing Belle Vernon's animal ordinances.

    Hartman said Summer Baumgardner, 9, of 706 Grant St., Belle Vernon, suffered two puncture wounds in her back in a dog attack 4:15 p.m. Tuesday.

    Hartman said the girl was visiting a friend at 307 Market St. when a dead bird on the property piqued her curiosity. As she was looking at the bird, a German shepherd-sharpei mix dog that was chained under the porch bit her, Hartman said. She was treated at Monongahela Valley Hospital.

    Hartman said the dog was properly restrained. Hartman said he had no information about the dog's whereabouts because the owners, David Douglas Ednie, 47, and Loretta Ednie, 33, have since moved to Madison. He said the Ednie's dog bit someone in North Belle Vernon about six months ago.

    Another dog bite occurred in the borough July 24.

    Hartman said that before the two recent attacks occurred, he addressed borough council about creating a vicious dog ordinance to add to the borough's leash and license laws.

    The chief said the recent instances confirm the need to reinforce his point.

    Hartman said he is working with council to review animal laws used in other municipalities.

    Song dogs pleasant to hear, but not too close to home
    The two dogs, one a German Shepard and the other a black lab, were standing beside the road and on top of a 10-foot high basalt cliff. Both were panting hard with their tongues hanging out. They were looking for something as their heads moved left and right, scanning the countryside.

    It was an interesting and curious sight, two farm dogs along the road. I pondered the situation as the Jeep traveled south on Highway 17. A mile later, the rest of the story unfolded when a coyote appeared and began nervously checking his backside before crossing the road.

    The farm dogs had been chasing the coyote and the sneaky animal gave them the slip.

    Although not seen everyday, coyotes are common in Washington State. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife puts their numbers at 50,000 or more.

    While coyotes are thought of as carnivores, they are actually omnivores, which means they eat grass, insects, fruits, fish and birds, in addition to meat.

    The animal lives up to 10 years in the wild, according to WDFW. Annual litters of three to 10 pups assure a sustained population.

    Coyote packs are usually formed when a breeding pair is raising a family of pups. Normally they work alone or in pairs, where the wily critters have been known to kill domestic animals. The most common story, told from pioneer days to the present, involves one coyote staying out of sight while a second begins playing with a small farm dog in a friendly way.

    As the two play, the coyote works the dog farther and farther from the house, until the second coyote jumps the dog.

    A television wildlife program once featured a coyote killing a rattlesnake. It slowly circled the coiled snake, again and again, until it straightened out and could not strike. Then, at a quartering angle from behind, the coyote dashed in and killed the snake by biting it just behind the head. There are accounts of domestic dogs also learning this trait.

    The call of the wild most commonly refers to the howl of a wolf. Around the Columbia Basin, it's the yip of the coyote. They make so much noise, coyotes are known as song dogs.

    Human and coyote encounters are few on this side of the Cascade Mountains. West of the mountains is another story. Jennifer Babcock, WDFW enforcement customer service person in Olympia, answers several calls a year about problem coyotes.

    "We have more problems on the Westside, where coyotes are taking cats right off the porch," she said. "In Eastern Washington, you just deal with it."

    WDFW Public Information officer Craig Bartlett said there are no statistics for human contact with coyotes in Washington, "But they are having problems in California."

    Southern California reported 53 coyote attacks on humans for the 10-year period of 1988 through 1997.

    A recent attack by a coyote on a family dog highlights the need for the public to aware of coyote dangers. Last Friday a man took his 42-pound Keeshound for a walk in a park near our state capital. When he unleashed the dog, it jumped over a log and was attacked by one or more coyotes and chased into the woods.

    The dog was later found with 10 bites on its back and stomach. It survived, but a smaller dog might not have been so fortunate. The thought of a young child encountering a group of coyotes in the same situation is the substance of a parent's nightmares.

    WDFW suggests people keep their pets confined or on a leash when walking. Wildlife feed should not be on the ground. Ground cover near play areas should be cleaned to avoid coyote hiding areas. Be aggressive when a coyote does not show a fear of humans. Feed your pets inside. Securely store your garbage, including fruit around trees.

    WDFW does not list the coyote as a game animal. However, a hunting license is required to pursue them. The sustaining population is evident in the bag limit, none, and the season, year round.

    Pit bull attacks 7-year-old

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A 7-year-old boy is in fair condition after being attacked by a pit bull Tuesday night on Seaman Drive near Clanton Road.

    Police said Willie Moore Jr. wandered into a fenced-in yard where the dog was chained up. The dog attacked him, biting him on the head.

    Moore’s parents beat the dog to free their son. The dog later died.

    Neighbor Wanda Fleming said the dog was usually quiet but always seemed capable of attacking.

     "He was pretty quiet. I have never seen him approach anyone,” Fleming said. “One day when I was out, he noticed me but he stopped for a moment. But I knew that if you were to approach him in any indirect way, he would retaliate."

    Moore’s father said his son will need plastic surgery to mend cuts on his face and scalp.

    The dog’s owner will be cited for not having a current city license or proof of a rabies vaccination.

    The dog's body has been sent to Raleigh to be checked for rabies.


    Office attacks pit bull problem: Animal Control chief puts bite into ordinance
    Boston Animal Control chief James Cahill keeps the photos on his desk - the ones that show horrific maulings as well as the ones that show sleeping children nestled against a pit bull's side.

  • The pictures tell both sides of a controversy he must carefully navigate as his seven-officer department attempts to implement a new pit bull ordinance in a city of 30,000 dogs. 

  •   ``Some days things get crazy, but you just have to prioritize,'' said Cahill, whose officers have seen a spate of maulings in recent weeks. ``We may not get to something the first day or the second day, but we will follow up.''

         The pit bull ordinance, prompted by an outbreak of attacks on children, officers and other dogs, requires owners to get a special license, keep pit bulls muzzled in public and post a sign on their property notifying passers-by of potential danger.

         Neighbors of a 6-year-old boy mauled by a pit bull last month said they support the ordinance. Police shot and killed the dog after it charged at a cop.

         The boy suffered a ``superficial wound'' to his buttocks and received hospital treatment. He and his mother have yet to return to their Geneva Avenue apartment, where the attack occured, because they are afraid, a neighbor said.

         The pit bull's owner has since moved out of the building.

         ``They shouldn't be running around biting kids,'' said neighbor Monica Coleman, a mother of two.

         But Coleman doubts dog owners will obey the new rules.

         ``To be honest, people are not going to listen,'' she said.

         In Roslindale last month, police shot and killed a pit bull after it attacked an exterminator, a dog catcher, a cop and killed another dog. In South Boston, pit bulls savagely attacked a dog and cat.

         Although the plan for enforcing the law is a work in progress, Cahill said he will rely on tips from residents to find violations in city neighborhoods. Animal control officers have the power to issue $100 fines immediately, but Cahill plans to wait until Aug. 1 before he starts slapping offenders with citations.

         Meanwhile, he must try to untangle logistical snares such as how to accurately track the number of pit bulls and pit bull mixes in the city. All dogs that are part pit bull are subject to the ordinance, which complicates efforts to get an accurate tally.

         Cahill, who has been director of animal control for a year, said he tries to see both sides of the story - the beauty of the animals as well as their brutality.

         But it is a difficult line to walk these days as tempers flare over attacks and their aftermath.

         ``I like to be fair and to be firm,'' he said. ``And it's not always the dog. It usually has a lot to do with the owner's character and how they train them.''

    Pit Bull Apologists, Wake Up!!

     Eighty-eight year old Mabel Wong was still in critical condition in John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek on Monday. She's been there since a week ago last Saturday, battling for her life, after a horrible mauling by a neighbor's pit bull near her Concord home.

    In the aftermath, people wondered how it could happen. What did this little elderly lady do to trigger such an attack? The answer is simple and blunt. Nothing.

    "This lady had interacted with this dog hundreds of times,'' said Lt. Abe Gamez of Contra Costa Animal Services. "She was just trying to get from one place to another.''

    Whenever there is an account of a mauling by a pit bull, there is a howl of protest from those who love the breed. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners, they say. Or they ask how the media reporting the incident knew the dog was a pit bull. Pit bulls, they insist, are no more inherently dangerous than any other breed of dog.

    That's not true.

    "What I usually say is that it is not uncommon to spend thousands of dollars breeding a good hunting dog,'' says Gamez. "With a good hunting dog, that is not something you teach -- he's got it in his genes. The pit bull is bred for fighting.''

    "You can't make a German shepherd stop herding,'' says Merritt Clifton, editor of the Washington-based Animal People magazine. "You can't make a Chihuahua stop barking.''

    It is at this point that everyone starts yelling at each other and pointing fingers. My pit bull, someone says, plays with my children every day. He's the cutest, most affectionate pet we've ever had. Pits are no more aggressive or dangerous than beagles.

    That's not true.

    According to a study by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covering the years between 1979 and 1994, pit bulls were involved in 57 fatal attacks -- well over twice the number for the next breed on the list, rottweilers, with 19, and more than German shepherds (17), huskies (12) and malamutes (12) combined. A 2000 study by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded that pit bulls "were involved in 65 fatal attacks between 1979 and 1998 ... twice that of rottweilers and more than three times German shepherds.''

    Even more damning are the statistics kept by Clifton, a dog activist who has been keeping meticulous records since 1982 of dog attacks severe enough to have been reported in the media. It should be noted that Clifton excludes attacks by guard dogs, police dogs and trained fighting dogs and does not chart cases where the breed is uncertain.

    The numbers are stunning. As of last week, meaning Mabel Wong's mauling would be included, pit bulls were cited in 831 attacks. The next closest was the rottweiler with 373. No other breed made it out of double digits.

    "They are off the charts,'' says Gamez. "If you look at the fatals and severe bites, you will see the majority are rottweilers and pits.''

    But that's just part of the story. If you've been to an animal shelter lately, you know that it seems like half the dogs there are pit bulls. Naively, our family thought that was because families were not adopting them.

    Actually, it is the result of a population boom in pit bulls. In the three days before the Fourth of July holiday, Clifton contacted 22 animal shelters, and compared the results with a study he did 11 years ago. In a sample of 2,918 dogs, he found that the number of rottweilers and pit bulls had increased five times, including an "astonishing'' four times more pit bulls. And, it is important to note that with spay and neuter programs, the number of animals of all breeds in shelters has actually been decreasing.

    "I've been in this business since 1975,'' Gamez says. "In those days, we used to pick up lots of types of dogs, Irish setters, Afghans. Now you walk into a shelter, and every other dog is a pit bull. This has been going on for 10 years. It may appear to be exploding, but it has been happening exponentially.''

    The result is more opportunities for that sudden, unexpected moment when a pit bull loses control. Gamez says he always cautions his officers to keep an eye on pit bulls when capturing them.

    "They don't growl,'' says Gamez, who was also part of the team investigating the Shawn Jones mauling case in Richmond. "It usually just comes right after you. These dogs can just go off. And when they do, they cause tremendous damage.''

    What can be done? Gamez says it is important to report incidents of menacing or intimidating behavior by dogs in your neighborhood to animal control. As in the Diane Whipple case in San Francisco, where people came forward after the fatal attack with accounts of having had earlier concerns about the dogs, Wong's neighbors are now reporting having had problems with the dog that attacked her.

    And some cities and states are considering "breed specific'' legislation, passing a law to keep pit bulls and rottweilers out of populated neighborhoods. The idea has encountered a firestorm of opposition from owners and dog organizations.

    "The human community has been in denial for 20 years,'' says Clifton. "There's only hope where we begin to recognize the problem. We need to get that layer of denial lifted.''

    In the meantime, if you encounter a pit bull or a rottweiler, keep an eye on it no matter how often its owner says it is the sweetest little pup you've ever seen. That's especially true if it is a "rehabilitated'' dog, which has supposedly had its breeding curbed by good training.

    "Rehabilitated,'' says Gamez, "means it hasn't bitten anyone lately.''

    Woman, 88, badly hurt by pit bull
    Neighbor's dog pulled her from walker, mauled her

    An 88-year-old Concord woman was fighting for her life Tuesday after a neighbor's pit bull pulled her from her walker and brutally mauled her for as long as 45 minutes before anyone noticed, authorities said.

    Mabel Wong was in critical condition at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where doctors treated her for extensive injuries to her face, ears and arms suffered in an attack so vicious that an animal control officer said she was lucky to have survived.

    "It's the most gruesome thing I've come across in this line of work," said Lt. Abe Gamez of Contra Costa County Animal Services. "I'm amazed she's still with us."

    Wong was taking a shortcut through her neighbor's backyard on Sheffield Place, as she had done many times before, Saturday when at least one of her neighbor's six dogs attacked her, Gamez said. It took 30 to 45 minutes before a group of people, including Wong's grandson, who were watching a movie inside, heard the commotion and called paramedics after finding Wong in the yard.

    She was covered in dirt, apparently from being dragged around, her ears had been ripped off, and she had deep wounds to her upper face and arms when paramedics rushed her to the hospital.

    Animal Services seized the pit bull, an 18-month-old female named China; a veterinarian euthanized it later that day. The agency is investigating whether two other adult pit bulls and three 3-month-old pit bull puppies seized from the house were involved in the attack.

    The owner of the dogs was identified as Jackie Alston, 19, a longtime friend of Wong's who lives with her family on Sheffield Place. She surrendered China to authorities after the attack. Gamez said there was no evidence the dogs had been trained to be vicious, or reports of aggressive behavior, but their history is being investigated.

    Attempts to reach Alston and her family at their home were unsuccessful Tuesday. Wong's family declined to comment, saying they were too devastated.

    According to Gamez, Wong knocked on Alston's front door just after 4 p.m., then walked through a gate into her backyard on her way to visit a neighbor. Paramedics arrived at 4:55 p.m.

    The mauling is among the worst in the Bay Area in three years.

    In June 2001, three pit bulls attacked Shawn Jones, at the time a 10-year- old Richmond boy riding his bicycle in his neighborhood, tearing off his ears and severely damaging his face. Dog owner Benjamin Moore was charged with two misdemeanor counts of concealing the dogs afterward, but prosecutors shelved the charges after Moore was sentenced on drug charges.

    Diane Whipple was fatally mauled in her San Francisco apartment building in January 2001 by two Presa Canarios. Owners Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller were convicted on manslaughter charges.

    Partly as a result of those cases, California passed a law in 2002 making it a felony to have or own a dog with a history of violence that seriously injures someone. Previously, only owners of dogs that killed faced such charges.

    Deadly attack puts pit bulls in doghouse

    A Boston cop's pit bull was euthanized and a small dog is badly hurt after another grisly attack yesterday that prompted city councilors to fast-track a bill cracking down on dangerous dogs.
         Six-year-old Rocky, a Shiba Inu, was listed in stable condition last night after being rushed to Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston for surgery to repair a broken leg and several puncture wounds.
         ``Laws could have prevented this,'' tearful owner Donna Fitzgerald said. ``I just want to walk down the street safely.''
         Marking the second deadly pit bull incident in less than a week, yesterday's apparently unprovoked attack in South Boston began as Fitzgerald and Rocky were out for a morning walk and the small Japanese purebred was set upon by an unleashed pit bull.
         Horrified observers said an unidentified man grabbed a bat and beat the pit bull.
         ``He had to almost kill the dog before it would let go,'' said Sean Malone, a city worker assigned to clean K Street yesterday. ``I was amazed by the amount of blood, and all I could envision was that could have been my son.''
         The pit bull had been missing since the previous night, when its owner, a cop who was off-duty at the time, let it off the leash during a walk near the beach and it ran away, Boston police spokeswoman Beverly Ford said.
         The officer, whose name was not released, decided to euthanize his pet, which was legally licensed, because it had been beaten nearly to death, Ford said. ``He was very upset about it,'' Ford said.
         Hours later, city councilors voted 7-4 to pass a new ordinance forcing pit bulls to be muzzled in public and spayed or neutered, while limiting owners to two pit bulls and requiring posted warning signs.
         Several councilors called the proposal a ``false sense of security,'' saying it unfairly targets a single breed while ignoring irresponsible owners, insufficient animal control officers and a lack of enforcement of existing laws.
         But supporters came armed with statistics showing pit bulls bit Boston residents 144 times over the past three years - nearly three times more than the next worst culprit, German shepherds.
         ``What we're doing now doesn't work,'' Councilor Rob Consalvo said. ``Ask the people in South Boston today who are cleaning the blood up.''
          Mayor Thomas M. Menino will sign the bill, aides said.
         Tom Farmer contributed to this report.
         Bull-dozed
         The Boston City Council responded yesterday to a recent spate of pit bull attacks by cracking down on the dangerous dogs with a new ordinance, which Mayor Thomas M. Menino says he'll sign. The new rules include:   

  • Mandatory muzzles on all pit bulls when they're in public.
         
  • Owners must display ``Beware of Dog'' signs on their property.
         
  • Maximum of two pit bulls per household.
         
  • Spaying/neutering is required to crack down on excessive breeding and creation of dog-fighting rings.
         
  • Animal control officer may petition the City Council to add other breeds of dogs to the danger list.

    Pit bull attacks second child

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A 7-year-old Virginia girl, whose family was visiting friends in Charlotte, was bitten Sunday afternoon by a neighbor’s pit bull.

    The girl was taken to Carolina’s Medical Center with bites on her face and cuts to her nose, cheek and arm. Her injuries were deemed serious but not life-threatening, and she was later released.

    The attack was the dog’s second this month, and the first incident was reported to Animal Control after the dog bit a baby girl May 19.

    Alex Gregory of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Animal Control Division said there are several ways that a dog attack can be dealt with.

    “When they report it to Animal Control, we go out and quarantine the dog,” he said. “We may do a home quarantine or we may quarantine it here. We can also quarantine it at a vet’s office.”

    After the first biting incident, the dog was quarantined in its home for 10 days. The 10-day quarantine is believed to have expired over the weekend, perhaps hours before the second attack.

    Neighbors in the Hampton sub-division said that the dog was usually gentle and they did not believe it was capable of the violent behavior.

    "I was the one supposed to get bit if it was going to bite somebody," said neighbor John Smith. "I walked down there, didn't even know the dog, (and) went up to it and started rubbing it and everything. It was just wagging its tail, playing and stuff."

    The owner has surrendered the dog to Animal Control, and the pit bull will be put to sleep.

    Child recovers from another dog attack
    A 6-year-old boy is recovering from an attack by a German shepherd/rottweiler that attacked him in east Charlotte on Lola Avenue.

    Neighbors say the boy was bitten on his arms and legs.

    His 9-year-old friend, whose family owns the dog, was able to pull it off the boy.

    He was taken to Carolinas Medical Center with minor injuries.

    Meanwhile, neighbors say the dog is a danger to the community.

    "My daughter wouldn't even come out of the house," Angela Bates said after the attack. "(The dog) would be running around loose in the yard. We wouldn't come out of the house and I wouldn't let my granddaughter out of the house."

    The owner turned the animal over to Animal Control. It will be held in quarantine for 10 days and then euthanized.

    Canine Caution

    Occasionally, man's best friend becomes his worst enemy.

    Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States seeks medical care for a dog bite, according to Bark Busters USA, an obedience training program.

    In honor of National Dog Bite Prevention Week, which is going on through Saturday, Bark Busters offers the following facts and advice about fending off Fido's fangs:

    * About half of all children in the country will suffer a dog bite by the time they reach the 12th grade.

    * More than 40 percent of reported dog attacks are the result of close encounters with family pets.

    * The average dog bite insurance claim nets $12,000.

    * About 20 people each year die from dog attacks.

    * When a dog approaches, never strike or kick at the animal or run away, which can prompt retaliation or attack.

    * To avoid attack by a dog that is running toward you, stand as still as possible and wait for the animal to lose interest. Never stare into the dog's eyes, an action that might be viewed as threatening. If you have food with you, drop it on the ground and remain still.

    * If a dog knocks you down, roll yourself into a ball and remain still until the animal loses interest and it feels safe to get up.

    Pit bull attacks woman, 77, in Kingston

    KINGSTON - A 77-year-old Kingston woman was attacked by an unleashed pit bull terrier this week, four months after city leaders agreed pit bull owners didn't have to register their dogs.

    Ellen Bruns was attacked about 1:30 p.m. Monday as she walked on Warren Street, according to Kingston Fire Department records.

    Bruns, an avid walker and a familiar face on Uptown streets, suffered two lacerations to her face and a puncture wound to her hand. She was taken by ambulance to Kingston Hospital, where she was treated and released.

    The dog, a 5-year-old pit bull terrier belonging to Josh Williams of 9 Warren St., fled after the attack but later returned home. Ulster County Senior Public Health Sanitarian Raymond Krom said the dog had been confined in the house but somehow escaped.

    Krom, who is in charge of tracking dog bites and ensuring compliance with county dog laws, said the animal's rabies vaccine expired in November 2003. As a result, the dog was ordered confined to its house for 10 days pending a medical examination, and Williams was ordered to update the rabies shot.

    Krom said no further action will be taken against the dog or its owner because Bruns declined to file a formal complaint.

    "The owner was put on notice, and the dog was ordered confined," Krom said. "In a case like this, there can be fines (levied against the owner) if the bitten party wants to issue a citation, but that didn't happen here."

    Kingston Animal Control Officer Robert McDonough declined to discuss the case, citing the advice of city attorneys. But Alderwoman AnnMarie DiBella said action should be taken against the dog's owner.

    "City leash laws need to be enforced," said DiBella, D-Ward 5. "In a case like this, the owner should be fined."

    A plan to require a pit bull registry as part of an animal-control law approved by city lawmakers in January was dropped after Common Council members were told that breed-specific laws are difficult to enforce. One problem, DiBella said, is that breed-specific laws wouldn't apply to mixed-breed dogs.

    Krom said county law requires that all dogs be leashed or confined. He said anybody who has been menaced by a dog, even if not bitten, may file a "dangerous dog" complaint, which can leads to the owner being fined and, in rare cases, the dog being seized.

    Reader Opinions:
    Roberta Pliner May, 16 2004
      Regarding the pit bull terrier who attacked an older lady,
    the owner's failure to keep the dog current with rabies
    vaccination, the minimum level of responsibility, suggests
    rather careless ownership attitude. At the least, the
    victim, though fortunately not badly injured, should
    have the assurance of rabies protection. Is it possible
    for the city to require the owner to take an obedience
    course with his dog to learn how to better manage him?
    Even though the present victim is not filing charges,
    it does seem as if this dog is not under good control
    and thus potentially a threat to someone else.
    Merle Borenstein May, 15 2004
     

    Once again. an irresponsible owner causes problems for responsible dog owners.
    Obviously, since the person who owns this dog doesn't even bother to have the minimum required vet care (rabies vaccination) for his dog, he certainly wouldn't be bothered, leashing, training, or licensing his dog.


    Where does enforcement of existing laws come into play. Has the Dog Enforcement Officer ticketed or fined this person yet?
    I've been bitten by a small white dog known as an American Eskimo, I have a friend who had plastic surgery on her face because of a bite by a Yorkshire Terrier, I have never been bitten by a Rottweiler, Doberman, German Sheperd or American Pit Bull Terrier. Guess which breed I think is more dangerous (answer is the ones that bit me and my friend).

    Would everyone like to see Yorkies and Eskimo Dogs on Dangerous lists?
    Punish the person not the poor, untrained animal-people have the God given ability to think and reason plus the ability to know right from wrong, not true of an untrained animal.

    Stray dogs attack miniature horse

    SAMMAMISH -- Winston stamps on the ground, shifting his weight left to right and back again, eventually getting down to roll back and forth in the dirt.

    It's unusual behavior for the 7-year-old miniature horse, but his wounds itch.

    Winston was attacked and severely bitten Monday morning by two stray dogs. Sue Montgomery, Winston's owner, had to chase the dogs off with a shovel. The dogs are still at large, and Montgomery is concerned they'll be back.

    ``They have a track record,'' agrees veterinarian Hank Greenwald, who treated Winston. ``If they're out there, we need to get them off the street.''

    Montgomery also is worried about the dogs attacking children, because while Winston is a miniature horse, standing just shy of 3 feet tall, he weighs about 200 pounds.

    She keeps Winston as a pet on her lot, which is a little more than an acre off 216th Avenue Northeast.

    Montgomery was working on her computer at home about 9 a.m. when the attack happened.

    She didn't hear anything, but looked up and saw a stray dog in the yard. She periodically chases strays that wander in from the woods behind the house.

    The first dog, a mix with a bluish-black coat with some spotting near the back, backed off, but the second, which she said looked like a pit bull, stood its ground.

    Montgomery picked up a shovel and chased the dog off, then noticed Winston, who hadn't made a sound, was hurt.

    ``He was just standing there, shaking,'' she said.

    ``He pretty well got worked over,'' said Greenwald. Winston has bite marks all over his legs, flanks, his nose and most severely in the groin.

    Greenwald came to Montgomery's property and sedated Winston while he treated the wounds, some of which required stitches. The vet had to shave the horse's tail and flanks to treat the wounds.

    Aside from the pain, the main concern is infection. Winston was current on his tetanus and rabies shots, and he's being treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.

    Winston is now at a neighbor's property where he can be secured in an indoor stall at night.

    At Montgomery's, his pen is surrounded only by a low fence.

    At the time of the attack, Winston was grazing in the yard on a tether.

    ``He was just attacked doing what he's been doing for seven years,'' Montgomery said.

    King County Animal Control sent a truck out to the neighborhood Monday, Montgomery said, but didn't find the dogs. They advised her to put up posters, she said.

    Winston's wounds will eventually heal. No bones were broken and no ligaments were torn. But he still appears to be in pain, and he pauses as if to work up his strength when he has to step over a threshold to leave the barn.

    Both of the stray dogs had collars, Montgomery said, but none of her immediate neighbors told her they knew anything about them, or their owners. Greenwald said stray dogs don't typically attack horses. More common are attacks on goats or sheep, or even the occasional llama.

    ``My experience is that a lot of these dogs have attacked other things,'' he said.

    ANIMAL PROTECTION EASTSIDE

    Sammamish holds 7-year-old Winston, her miniature horse who is recovering from an attack by two dogs that wandered into Montgomery's yard Monday. The horse was shaved and treated where he was bitten, areas that show up as darkened patches. `(The dogs) have a track record,' said veterinarian Hank Greenwald, who treated Winston. `If they're out there, we need to get them off the street.' Montgomery is afraid the dogs will attack again.

    Pit bull attacks Clinton County girl

    Clinton County, April 7 - Martin Nern is thankful his nine-year-old daughter is still alive. "You know how those pit bulls are, could have killed her."

    Here's what happened, Cora, like any little girl on a nice day, headed outside to play. Crossing the neighbors yard with the dogs wasn't a problem, dogs like Pepper and Peaches, they were either tied up or in the house. Not this time. Boss, the 85 pound in doors dog was outside. Boss got her.

    "Her leg was just mangled torn up." Martin says the dog kept biting, not once, not twice, but several times.

    Her leg was a mess, the bite looked awful. "Piece of hamburger, raw hamburger, it just tore up, it had a hole so big that you could stick your thumb in it completely."

    Bite marks were as big as a quarter.

    Martin called the police, an ambulance took his daughter to the hospital.

    The police and Humane Society took care of the dog.

    "It charged me. It was very aggressive." The Humane Society's David Doud tried to rope the dog in, and when it charged him he was forced to hit it with a pole. The last resort was a gun.

    Police say they fired seven shots, three hit the dog. But the shots didn't kill him right away.

    "He laid in my garage for three hours and died," says Kash Smith, the dog's owner.

    And this isn't the first time one of his dogs has been shot. Pit bill Peaches lost her leg to a .32 caliber bullet a couple of years ago.

    Dog attacks 2 boys

    AUGUSTA -- An Augusta police officer shot and killed a dog Sunday afternoon after the animal attacked two children on Boothby Street and charged at him.

    Two boys were taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center after the incident with numerous dog bites, some of which penetrated to the bone, family members said.

    "They're chewed up pretty bad," said Eddie Murphy, whose sons, 10-year-old Edward and 7-year-old Robert, were injured in the attack.

    The boys were playing just a short walk from their home around 3:30 p.m. when a chained dog at 68 Boothby Street broke free and bit Robert Murphy, knocking the boy to the ground, police and family members said.

    Edward Murphy was bitten repeatedly as he tried to pull the dog off of his brother, his father said. Witnesses said the dog was dragging one of the boys down the street, its mouth gripping a leg, when police arrived.

    Officer Ken Mason shot the dog twice, said Christopher Massey, a detective with the department.

    Mason fired the first shot in an effort to slow the dog shortly after he arrived at the scene, Massey said, but the dog attacked one of the boys again.

    Mason fired a second time, killing the dog, after it charged him when he tried to intervene, Massey said. The officer, who was not injured, was shaken up after the incident, he said.

    Massey said police did not know the breed of the large, brown-haired dog. Its owners declined to comment.

    Neighbors said the dog was not aggressive until Sunday.

    "They play up here all the time," Eddie Murphy said, referring to the dead-end section of Boothby Street where the incident occurred.

    Police are still investigating the incident. They did not know Sunday why the dog attacked the boys.

    A similar incident occurred last May, when two pit bulls attacked a man on York Street. Police shot both of the dogs after the pit bulls charged at three officers. The officers killed one and forced the other into an apartment, where it was later seized.

    Man Arrested After Dog Attacks Deputies

    A North Fork man is in jail after sheriff's investigators say he let his dog attack two deputies.

    Investigators say the deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call and found Michael Allen Webb on the porch with a pit bull.

    The deputies say Webb let go of the dog. It bit one deputy in the chest before the other deputy shot and killed the dog.

    Webb faces a number of charges, including assault with a deadly weapon and felony animal cruelty.

    11-Year-Old Mauled By Two Pit Bulls

    (LOUISVILLE, March 24th, 2004, 1 p.m.) -- An 11-year-old girl on her way to visit a friend was viciously attacked by two Pit Bulls in a south end neighborhood Tuesday night. WAVE 3 Investigator James Zambroski reports.

    The girl is expected to recover from the attack, but police say she could be scarred mentally for the rest of her life. She was being treated in the Kosair Emergency Room late Tuesday night. Her condition was not immediately known.

    The two dogs are under quarantine at Animal Control, and a court will decide whether they are dangerous and should be destroyed.

    Carla Messer, the dogs' owner, was distraught after the attack, and said she tried to protect the girl. "I know my female bit her. I was trying to hold my female. But she bit me in the process of holding her from the little girl."

    Police say the girl had gone to Messer's house looking for a friend. Louisville Metro Police Officer Jim Adkins says "she knocked on the door and the dogs ran out. One actually ran out of the gate, but it came back in at some point in time, and then it jumped on her, and she began to kick and fight to get the dogs off of her."

    Seeing the little girl under attack by her dogs, Messer feared the worst. "I asked the little girl not to kick and hit, because I knew she would do it."

    The girl finally got away and began running toward her home. A nearby neighbor, Terlisa Alvis, a nurse, tried to help. "I got her pants leg open, and what I found was she had three bites on her leg with the meat hanging out. She had another bite on her wrist, and she had a couple on her stomach and a couple on her back."

    Officer Adams found the child and called Animal Control. "These dogs are vicious," he said. "I believe that people should be able to control their animals. Sometimes those dogs can't be controlled -- I don't know. I just don't agree with those type of dogs."

    This neighborhood is no stranger to vicious attacks. In October of 1999, 3-year-old Mickey Oates somehow wound up in a neighbor's back yard and was mauled to death by Rotweilers being kept as family pets.

    Messer was cited by Animal Control for having dangerous animals, and voluntarily turned the animals over for quarantine, instructing officials to destroy them if necessary.

    Legal Answers: Animal Attacks

    Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States seeks medical attention for a dog bite. There are approximately 800,000 bites per year in the United States that require medical treatment. Most of the victims are children, and most of them are bitten on the face. Almost $165 million dollars are spent treating dog bite injuries each year.

    Pet owners are responsible for their pets and must safeguard their neighbors. The person who keeps, controls, or owns a vicious animal can be liable for personal injuries caused by the animal. When an animal attacks you or a loved one, the injuries can be severe. In addition to the medical expenses and physical scars and disfigurement, the victim may suffer emotional scarring from the attack years into the future.

    The personal injury lawyers at our firm have successfully represented numerous children and adults attacked by vicious dogs and domestic animals. As soon as possible, please contact our office so that our team of personal injury attorneys and investigators can begin the work necessary to obtain a fair recovery for you and your loved ones.

    10 Things to do if an Animal Attack occurs:

    1. If you or a loved one has recently been injured by an animal and has not sought medical attention, you should do so immediately.
    2. Immediately report your accident to the police and request a copy of the Police Accident Report.
    3. Try to obtain the name, address and contact information of the animal owner.
    4. Try to get the name and contact information of any people who witnessed the attack.
    5. Take photographs of the animal that caused your injuries in the location of the accident, if possible.
    6. Take photographs of any visible injuries you have suffered as a result of the attack.
    7. Do not have any communication with the owner of the dog or the owner's insurance company. If you consent to a recorded statement or accept any form of compensation, you may waive your right to claim damages.
    8. Try to save any clothing that may have been damaged by the animal.
    9. Take photographs of any property damage caused by the animal.
    10. Contact Carabin and Shaw for a free evaluation to review your case.

    Officers shoot dog terrorizing neighborsFor the second time in two days, a Sedalia police officer was forced to shoot a pit bull to keep from being mauled by the animal.

    Patrolman Adam Hendricks said he was forced to shoot the dog Friday as it attacked him for the fourth time.

    Officer Craig Burton had to shoot two dogs Thursday morning when they charged at him as he investigated an emergency call at 312 E. Second St.

    At 7:15 p.m. Friday, police received a call that the dog was running loose terrorizing people and animals in the area of the 1200 block of West Sixth Street.

    When he arrived, Patrolman Hendricks found that the dog had chased one person up a tree to keep from being attacked and trapped others in their cars, afraid to try to get to their homes.

    The officer said he stood by while the owner of the rampant dog was contacted. "The owner of the dog was unable to come to the scene, and other family members and friends couldn't control it," Officer Hendricks said.

    "I stood by while several people familiar with the dog tried to calm the dog down, but it kept getting more and more aggressive," he said.

    Officer Hendricks said the dog tried to attack him several times. "I used pepper spray to try to stop it and side-stepped three rushes at me," he said. "On the fourth attack, I was forced to shoot the dog to keep from being bitten. He was coming right for my throat."

    Patrolman Chet Mackiewicz had arrived when the dog was shot, and also shot the dog once with a shotgun.

    "After Adam shot the dog, it veered off, shaking its head and snarling, and it looked like he was starting for other people around there," Officer Mackiewicz said. "I felt I had to put him down before he hurt somebody.

    "He had already terrorized people in their cars and homes and it didn't look like it was going to get any better," Officer Mackiewicz said.

    The dog, still alive, was taken to the Sedalia Veterinary Center on Green Ridge Road, where it was put down by the doctor, Officer Hendricks said.

    "I can't tell you how bad it makes me feel to have to shoot a dog," Officer Hendricks said. "I love dogs."

    Cmdr. John DeGonia, handler of the police department's dog, Dasso, said it's a sad situation, for the dog, the owners and the policemen involved, when an animal has to be destroyed.

    "It's really hard on these officers," he said. "They feel terrible about it for a long time. But, there is no choice when peoples safety is at stake."

    There are city ordinances that require dog owners to keep their animals confined to the owner's premises except when taken off the premises on a leash, in a car or other conveyance or in a crate or carrier suitable for shipment.

    Another section of city ordinances states that if the animal cannot be safely taken up and impounded, the animal can be destroyed.

    "We're sworn to protect and serve," Cmdr. DeGonia said. "If a dog is terrorizing a neighborhood and threatening the safety of residents, a police officer has to do something.

    "If a dog attacks, the officer has just a split second to react. He has to do what it takes to protect the people and himself."

    The police commander said people must be responsible when they get pets, especially large dogs.

    "Those dogs have to be trained to do right, just as a child had to be taught to do right," Cmdr. DeGonia said. "A dog has a mind like a four or five-year-old child. They'll do anything they think they can get away with."

    He said there are lots of animal calls in Sedalia. "I don't know the numbers, but we have two full-time animal control officers and they're always busy.

    "If a call comes when there are no animal control officers working, street patrolmen have to take the call and they aren't equipped with some of the tools the animal control officer has.

    "The patrolman has to think about the safety of the public and his own safety, and do what is necessary to control the situation."

    BRONX TOT MAULED

    A Bronx tot was mauled yesterday when her pet pit bull snapped and tore into her cheeks, police and witnesses said.

    Makailah Barnett, 3, nearly had the side of her face ripped off after a pooch named Pepper attacked her and her sister as they played in the house with the family's two other dogs.

    "The dog just lost her mind," said the girl's uncle Corey Bellamy, who ran across the street when he heard screams. "The dog wigged out."

    Little Makailah was in serious condition last night at Montefiore Medical Center, where she was undergoing facial reconstructive surgery. Her 4-year-old sister, Isianay, was treated at the hospital for bites to the head and released.

    Emergency Service Unit cops had to fire tranquilizer darts at the pack of dogs, which also included a pit bull named Lucky and a German shepherd puppy named Bear. They were all taken to the city's animal control center.

    "They're not vicious dogs," Bellamy insisted. "They're friendly."

    Police said Pepper was anything but friendly when she attacked the girls in the family's W. 184th St. home just after 2 p.m.

    The girls were being minded by two older sisters, 17 and 18, while their mother ran errands. But the younger kids got caught in the middle when a dogfight broke out.

    "The dogs were fighting," said the girls' mom, Shannon Smith. "My baby was just sort of in the middle of it."

    Bellamy said the older girls' screams of "The dogs! The dogs!" made him sprint to his brother's house, where he discovered a gruesome scene.

    His youngest niece was on the floor, he said, her cheek dangling from her face. Her 4-year-old sister was screaming in horror.

    "[Makailah] was just a bloody mess," Bellamy said. "Her clothes were drenched in blood."

    As the two older sisters whacked the three dogs with sticks, Bellamy said he stepped in and yanked Pepper by the collar to another room.

    "I was horrified, but I did what any intelligent person would do," he said. "I trapped the dogs off."

    Several 911 calls were made to police, who sent an ESU squad to sedate the animals.

    Relatives defended the dogs, saying they were kept in the basement as guard dogs and sometimes played with the children.

    The family had recently obtained Lucky. Bear, the puppy, was also a new addition to their collection of canines.

    "The dogs are not attack dogs," Bellamy said.

    "[Makailah] loved the dogs," Smith added.

    Authorities said an investigation into the attack was continuing and that it was not immediately clear whether criminal charges would be filed against any adults.

    Makailah needed surgery for severe bites to her lips, cheeks and the back of her neck, family members said.

    The mauling left Smith badly shaken, yet angry that the dog who attacked her daughter had to besubdued with a dart.

    "If your child was mauled by a dog, would you hold up?" she said.

    Tips can reduce risk of feral animal attacks

    Experiencing wildlife up close and personal is something best done in a zoo. However, nature doesn't always play by our rules, as was seen last week when a mountain lion attacked two people – one fatally – in an Orange County park.

    While mountain lion attacks are rare – only six fatal attacks in California in 114 years – wildlife experts say we may see more confrontations with all sorts of critters in the near future.

    "As we continue to move more and more into their space, the expectation is that these kinds of events with all kinds of animals will continue," says Steve Edinger, assistant chief of the California Department of Fish and Game in San Diego.

    The good news, however, is that humans don't have to be helpless prey. The California Department of Fish and Game offers some tips to help us prevent and protect ourselves in encounters with wild animals. For more information, see Fish and Game's Web site, www.keepmewild.org.

    Mountain lion: Do not run, which can stimulate the animal's instinct to chase. Face the mountain lion and make yourself look as big as possible by raising your arms or opening your jacket. Put children on your shoulders. Don't bend over or crouch (even when picking up children) since that position makes you look a lot like a four-legged prey animal. Speak firmly and in a loud voice, but don't scream.

    Bobcat: While there's no record of a bobcat attacking humans, it's a good idea if confronted by one to back out of the area slowly. Do not turn your back and run.

    Coyote: Packs of coyotes can be more aggressive than a single animal. When entering an area that could be inhabited by coyotes, create noise and make yourself known. If confronted by several coyotes, make yourself look as large as possible, carry pets in your arms, and pick up children and put them on your shoulders.

    Rattlesnake: Be aware of where you're walking. If you run into a rattlesnake, walk quickly in the opposite direction. A rattlesnake can only strike the distance of one-third its body length, so you don't have to run far.

    Skunk: If you run into a skunk while hiking or cycling, walk away slowly.

    "Walk in the opposite direction of the skunk's 'business end,' " Edinger says. "The best thing you can do is to put distance between you and the skunk."

    Bear: Make as much noise as you can. Yell, blow whistles, bang pots and pans (at a campsite) and make yourself look as big as you can, by raising your arms or opening your jacket. If the bear comes closer, retreat by walking slowly backward. Do not turn and run.

    General tips:

    Be aware of your environment. Watch the trail and the surrounding areas carefully.

    Pepper spray or mace may be effective against coyotes, mountain lions or bobcats.

    A loud whistle can scare away bear and possibly mountain lions and coyotes.

    Throw rocks or sticks at a mountain lion or coyote to convince it that you are not prey and that you may be a danger to it. It could be tricky picking up rocks or sticks without bending down; do it as soon as you spot the animal. If possible, try to lean to the side or back or use your foot to kick a stick upward toward your hand.

    Don't stare down the animal.

    "Direct eye contact can be seen in the animal world as a challenge," says Edinger who recommends slightly diverting your eyes, while still staying aware of the animal.

    To prevent wildlife encounters near your home:

    Don't leave pet food outdoors.

    Trim ground-level shrubbery to reduce hiding places.

    Store trash in tightly closed containers that cannot tip over.

    Don't leave pets or small children outdoors unattended.

    Pick up fallen fruit and cover compost piles.

    Clean barbecues.

    Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house and yard.

  • MORE TO FOLLOW!

     

    • Enter subhead content here

    Enter supporting content here

    National Police and Security Officers Association of America
    Post Office Box 663
    South Plainfield, NJ 07080-0663