Please donate to support our work

DogsBite.org is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity organization. Learn more »

18 thoughts on “2008 Dog Bite Fatality: 5-Year Old Girl Killed by Pet Pit Bull in Simi Valley

Please review our comment policy.

  1. Gotta wonder if the dogmen of Stafford envisioned these bloodsport creatures being kept as pets and killing/disfiguring children as they performed the dirty work of creating this breed?

  2. One of the comments from the article:

    Yes I do have information in regards to the Lysander attack. It was at my Moms house. I did post above to what happened. Again I will say, She opened (my mom) her front door and put her baby gate there so her 2 little yorkies could not get out. A pit bull was being walked with no leash and by children. The angry vivious pitbull ran up to my Moms porch broke down her baby gate ran into her house and killed her little Yorkie Tinkerbell. My Mom is traumatized about what happened in her home. She was there alone and was trying to stop the pitbull all by herself. Lucikly my Mom has only a samll bite wound on her leg as well as bruises and cuts. My heart goes out to the family that lost there little girl, what a horrible tradegy. I am in hopes that my Mom as well will be okay. Tinkerbell was her baby and to see her slaughterd like that in My Moms own home is something I am sure she will not get over anytime soon.

  3. How would Jenks know if people reported pit bull attacks more often than other attacks, given that these “other” attacks were not reported to begin with? She’s already admitted that pit bulls bite more than any other breed in the county. She needs some type of DogsBite nomination…maybe “Top Pit Bull Apologist at the Sake of Public Safety” will do.

  4. http://www.vcar.us/

    Ventura county bite stats:

    Pit Bulls number one biter(117), number one impound(1260), 8th in registrations.

    Surprisingly, Chihuahuas are the number 2 reported biter(115). So much for the not reporting crap!

    The breed most likely to be thrown under the bus by pit nutters, the Cocker Spaniel, produced 22 bites despite being number 6 in registrations.

    The pit bull issue is not only one of public safety but a fiscal one as well. In most places they consume the lion’s share of A/C resources with lower registration numbers. They ain’t paying their way!

    Jenks has some splainin’ to do!

  5. A “ProMauler of the Year” Award is a great idea! Seeing that the A/C community won’t police themselves….

  6. Comment from a neighbor:

    From a neighbor

    This lady was not watching this dog….it had been there for over 3 mos…..it also mauled one of her chihuahuas and killed it just recently….so the story is not completely true!! The little girl dropped her cell phone next to the dog….she went to pick it up and the dog attacked her……so NO THE STORY is INACCURATE…..again, protecting the owners!!!! and not the little girl!!!!
    Posted by A NEIGHBOR at 12:52 pm Oct 01, 2008

    MALICE!!!!!!!!!!

  7. KATYA MAY YOU REST IN PEACE.
    THIS IS A REALLY SAD INCIDENT, I KNEW KATYA SHE WAS A SWEET LITTLE GIRL, AND IT MAKES ME ANGRY HOW PEOPLE R PROTECTING THE DOG(THE MONSTER) I THINK THIS DOG SHOULD BE DESTROY AND THE OWNER HAS TO BE CHARGE AND DON’T TELL ME THAT NO ONE KNOWS WHO THE OWNER IS BOLOGNI! THAT LADY HAS TO BE THE OWNER, I AM TIRED OF THIS KIND OF OWNERS OF THIS KIND OF DOGS OR ANY DOG, I HATE TO GO OUT AND TAKE A WALK HERE IN SIMI CAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY TIMES I SEE A LOOSE DOG OR NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSES WITH PITBULL AND NOT TIED UP! THE LAW BETTER GET REAL STRICKED ABOUT OWNING THIS KIND OF DOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    AND TO YOU PITBULL OR DOG LOVERS SAVE YOUR COMMENTS! I DON’T LIKE THIS KIND OF DOGS PERIOD, AND THIS IS NOT ABOUT PROTECTING THE DOG THIS IS ABOUT KATYA’S LIFE BEING TAKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. Why is animal control/police protecting pit bulls, and ultimately protecting the dog fighters and breeders?

    Did they refuse to report to protect the pit bulls’ “reputation?”

    This dog should have been deemed dangerous when it killed the neighbor’s dog. That is how dogs that kill children start- they attack other pets.

    By failing to act, this AC Jenks set the stage for this girl’s death. He has some blame for this.

    And it is a disgrace that Jenks is blaming the victim.

    Pit bulls are bred to be aggressive, they have a high prey drive, and unless animal control deals properly with dangerous dogs, then Animal Control is ultimately to blame for the deaths.

    I would hope that this girls’ family has an attorney who will go to the source of the problem- an Animal Control officer who failed to do his job and protect the public.

    His failure led to the death of that poor girl.

  9. Kennel Blindness is real, and the average shelter worker last less than two years on the job due to the stress of working around so much suffering and death.. This woman has made it 36 years and put down nearly 800 pits last year.

    Instead of pushing for a solution, she has turned the shelter into a tax payer funded Pit-rescue/Advocacy center. Due to the blindspot most people have for dogs, she gets away with it.

    It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this Pit actually passed through the system once and the smokescreen is CYA tactics.

  10. Looks like responsible individuals at SIMI VAlley PD are taking over the investigation…May justice be served.

  11. Indeed! Now if they can only point the finger at Animal Control, who was supposed to lead an adequate investigation to start with.

  12. JENKS: A history of DISMAL pit bull apologies
    “We are not monsters. We were trying to help an animal that couldn’t get placed,” said C.C. Ebert, who adopted the pit bull from the Ventura County Animal Shelter in August. The dog, which had come to the shelter as a stray, had passed a temperament test, according to Kathy Jenks, director of Ventura County Animal Regulation. Blue’s ears, however, were cropped in a style associated with fighting dogs.

    The dog attacked AGAIN of course…thanks to Jenks.

    http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/may/06/pit-bull-attacks-lead-to-investigation-someone/

  13. More shenanigans from JENKS:

    Pit bull mauls neighbor’s dog
    Kathy Jenks, director of the Ventura County Department of Animal Regulation, said the police allowed the owner to take the dog home and animal regulation officers later spoke to the owner about allowing it to roam the neighborhood unleashed. Jenks said because the dog, which was licensed and had upto-date vaccinations, was tied up when her officers arrived, the owner was not cited for violating the city’s leash law. The owner had been cited for a previous leash-law violation, she said…

    The victim’s husband, David Migocki, said:

    “We have to have our throats ripped open because the pit bull has rights. . . . I personally am outraged that this can happen,” Migocki said, later adding that the rights of the animal owner seemed to supercede his.

  14. This article makes me so sad and angry at the same time.

    I think you have a really good blog, You should network with the moms in the bizymoms Simi-valley community.

Comments are closed.