No charges in fatal dog attack

[Fotno]

http://hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/NEWS01/80730021/-1/rss


In the nine days since a 3-year-old boy was mauled to death by a chained pit bull, Jackson police say they have found no evidence to warrant criminal charges against the dog's owner or the child's mother.

"If information were to surface, we would move on it," Assistant Chief Lee Vance said Tuesday. "But so far no information has presented itself to warrant charges."

Tony Evans Jr. died the night of July 22 after police say he wandered into a carport at 112 Maple Ridge Drive across the street from his home and was attacked by Blue Eyes - a 2-year-old white male pit bull that was on a chain.

[katzeyez]

Once again, how does a 3 year old 'wander' without an adult knowing. Where are the 'adults' that are supposed to be supervising???

[bpitt]

And how does the owner of the dog still walk around on two unbroken legs?

[Flowergirl]

The dog was secured on the owner's property- the child wondered off.

It is tragic and senseless for a dog to kill or injure a human being; but more so tragic and senseless that the child was left unnattended and allowed to get near the dog.

Furthermore- chaining any dog will increase aggression tendancies.

[katzeyez]

Well, Bp, if the 'parents' of the child didn't care enough to keep a watchful eye on him, are they really going to be outraged enough to injure the owner? Obviously, said child, and his safety were not the 'parents' top priority. And yes, I realize I'm making ASSumptions.

[bpitt]

For the sole purpose that society at large has placed a greater emphasis on animal life instead of human life. We're talking about a little kid. Why is the dog still alive? Why does the owner have such a 'mean' dog that would attack and kill a little kid? Have people not woken up yet to what certain breeds of dogs are capable of doing? Irregardless of how 'nice' they've been in the past? Why would anyone want to own a pitbull? They're breed for one purpose and one purpose only, to fight/kill. So, why does a dude own one? It's illegal to dogfight. Hog hunt with it? Fine, put it in a freakin' pen like we do deerdogs!

[bpitt]

I'm not siding with the parents, I'm siding with the dead kid.

[Fotno]

I'm not siding with the parents, I'm siding with the dead kid.

Well put.

[threekidspa]

Dogs are property, animals, not 'people'. With rare exceptions, dogs that hurt/kill a person need to be put down. I know we all get attached to our pets, I do it too. But they're still animals.

You could think of it this way....Say I build some robotic system around my house to watch it. I never intended for it to be lethal, just to keep people who don't belong away. I've trained it, but it pretty much thinks for itself. Suppose this same thing happened, a neighbor kid wanders into my yard and it zaps them for some reason. Now we all know it is lethal and it acts in ways I truly didn't expect.

I may or may not be legally accountable for it (probably will be). I could expect bpitt (or whatever parent) to pay me a visit. And I am certain that I'd be told I had to turn the thing off and never use it again, assuming my neighbors didn't destroy it for me.

I see no difference between the hypothetical and the real scenario here.

[Fotno]

The owner of this dog asked the police to shoot it after it killed the child

[Flowergirl]

I would have shot the dog myself. But, Bpitt, I would not expect to have my legs broken.


Once again, Dashund's, Cocker Spaniel's and Lab breeds bite more than Pit bulls. However, when a pit bull bites it is much more serious than a Cocker Spaniel's. There were seven other dog fatalities in this nation this year. Only one was a Pit bull. And it was the only one we heard about...

We have had this discussion before; irresponsible owners shouldn't have any kind of dog.

I wish you would do some research on pit bull's. You are very misinformed about "what they were bred to do."

[Flowergirl]

I might add as well that animals at our home are here to work or serve a purpose. They are at the lowest end of the totem pole in terms of who is the boss. When we have company, the dogs are crated- no matter what their breed. I would never allow a child around any dog unattended. As I stated before- this was very tragic.

[Fotno]

Pit Bull


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull

http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/breedinfo.php
A Word About Breed History

Pit Bull History

This bit of history will help explain much of the apparently
contradictory traits common in this breed.

Much of a dog's temperament relates to it's breed history and genetic inheritance. I won't go too deep into the history of the Pit Bull as there are many good books and websites that cover the origin and history of the breed. It is common knowledge however, that the Pit Bull breed was developed for blood sports: Bull baiting, bear baiting, and later, dogfighting. What is not common knowledge is that in the days of organized dogfighting, the handlers of the combatants were habitually IN THE PIT with the dogs for the duration of the fight. They were required to pick up and separate the dogs several times while the dogs were in full fight frenzy. Before the fight, the handlers were required to wash each other's dogs, and after the fight, the badly injured dogs were often treated at ringside by strangers. Any dog that attacked or bit a handler (even if it was the other dog's handler) or anyone else at any time was culled, often on the spot, and would never have been bred.

[Flowergirl]

I will tell you all why I have a Pit Bull... five out of seven days a week, I live alone in a very rural area. My dog is NOT AGGRESSIVE but you can believe that when a stranger comes to my house they DO NOT get out of their vehicle unless I instruct the dog to come in and get in his crate. The dog is here to protect me- not because he is a killer, he is not, but because he is big and "looks" like he could eat your lunch.

I HATE that a child has been killed. My point was that this wasn't the dog owners fault. He had his dog chained ( which I disagree with) and the poor little child wondered into his territory. I don't think that warrants a comment like " does the owner walk with two broken legs.

[Fotno]

It's just that the nowadays when you hear Pit Bull owner the first thing you think of(most of the time)is dog fighting,drug dealers,low-lifes.
And the area that this story was reported from reinforces that image for some people.

Not saying that your average pit bull or any dog owner would ever allow this kind of thing to happen.In this story,At least I,get the impression that there was total negligence on the part of the parents and the dog owner.We may never know the whole story.
The mother of this child has stated that she asked the dog owner to watch her child.A claim the dog owner disputes.If the mother is telling the truth then the dog owner was responsible for the child at the time and was the one that allowed the child to come in to contact with the dog.

I ain't chaining my dog to a tree with a dadgum logging chain.
I'm certain that any dog chained up like this will show out the first chance he gets.

[ran]

I will tell you all why I have a Pit Bull... five out of seven days a week, I live alone in a very rural area. My dog is NOT AGGRESSIVE but you can believe that when a stranger comes to my house they DO NOT get out of their vehicle unless I instruct the dog to come in and get in his crate. The dog is here to protect me- not because he is a killer, he is not, but because he is big and "looks" like he could eat your lunch.

I HATE that a child has been killed. My point was that this wasn't the dog owners fault. He had his dog chained ( which I disagree with) and the poor little child wondered into his territory. I don't think that warrants a comment like " does the owner walk with two broken legs.

I completely agree. I have a pit bull too...comments like that (...unbroken legs...) really piss me off. That child was in the dog's yard...a dog who was chained, which is said to make a dog THREE times more likely to attack. If I were chained up, I'd probably be attacking anything that came near me too. When I was still in Hattiesburg, some nasty guys moved into the apartment complex (useless landlord)...anyhow, I was taking her out one night when they approached me and asked if she was really a pit bull, since she had the appearance of one. I talked to them for a second, letting them know she is in fact a pit...I told them they could pet her. As one reached out...she growled. Those guys didn't have much to say to me...they backed up and left. Needless to say, I have never had any problems with her. I really don't care what people think of me having a pit bull...they can kiss my a$$. I love my dog and the owners shouldn't be punished if people come into OUR yards and OUR dogs put a stop to that...stay out of my yard and there will be no problems...

just sayin'.... :)

[Fotno]

Did you read the article Ran?
Or the post right before yours?

[ran]

Did you read the article Ran?
Or the post right before yours?

Ummmm...I read the article and the posts after the original post with the link to the article...

[Flowergirl]

Lord have mercy...

[Fish-Bait]

Wow.....

[bpitt]

Look, over there! What's that? Swiss Cheese!

[Guru]

I ain't chaining my dog to a tree with a dadgum logging chain.
I'm certain that any dog chained up like this will show out the first chance he gets.

I always heard the older folks say if you wanted to make a dog mean to chain him up or feed him gun powder.

[Guru]

PeteDog is purty fierce looking, American Bulldog, but BobCat is the one to watch. That rascal scares me, pulls his ears back too much. Prolly smokes cat cigarettes and all.

[bpitt]

We once owned a parakeet that you really didn't want to mess with, trust me.

[rollinthunder]

If the intruder onto the carport had been someone intending on molesting...and the person was attacked by a guard dog and died from it...then there may be some justification in it. Not the death of a child...who was wandering around not knowing where they were. That child will never experience the love of parents...meeting new people...getting to know god..
or contributing to society because of an animal that cannot reason. If the dog could distinguish between adults and a harmless child...this would not have happened. If that were my daughter...that had been killed by a dog....I can promise you that no matter who...what....when or where.....that very dog WOULD...breath good air...no more...furthermore....any human standing in my path would most certainly be in harm's way.

[Guru]

I'm with FlowerGirl on this one, the best thing to do is put the dog's in the pen when you have visitors. I don't do it enough but I will from now on.
Sad sad thing about that child.
Another sad point about all this is that there are a few underlying circumstances which make it worse.
One is that not everyone has a dog like this out on the farm mostly away from folks that live right on top of each other. They should not do this. You don't need something that dangerous where you have kids walking yard to yard in a close neighborhood.
Secondly some folks have dogs like this not because they need them but because it's a fashion statement, kind of like wearing your britches hanging off your a$$. Makes the owners look "Bad!".
Just guessing, but maybe if the neighbors steal from each other a lot it makes people do what they have to do, and then again it's still a bad choice; bad for everyone as evidenced here.
Who was supposed to be watching the child?

I'm sorry, it just chaps me to think about the people that have to have the "Bad!" persona and then other folks have to suffer for it. Pea brains.
You can't fix stupid.

[Snatch]

This dog was put down today.