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9 thoughts on “Coroner: Dog Bite Injuries Inflicted After Death; Woman Found Dead in Brownsburg, Indiana

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  1. The fatal flaw in dog rescue is accepting vicious dogs.

    They can't be cured, they can't be loved out of it.

    Wonderful, friendly dogs don't get homes and die because people are involved in a misplaced attempt to "fix" aggressive dogs.

    They even put their loving pets, children, family members, themselves at risk.

    It is time to face reality on this issue because everyone, human and canine, is suffering from this wrong idea

    Concerned family members need to intervene.

  2. But-but-but a RESCUE dog was involved! And RESCUE dogs are non-stop wonderful! So how can they possibly do such a horrible thing?

  3. I was a bit surprised to see that these were actual English bulldogs, rather than "Olde English Bulldogges," another pit variant.

    Most English bulldogs are so afflicted with health problems that engaging in real violence seems like it would be too difficult for them.

    However, it obviously can happen, and this is yet another warning about bringing known vicious dogs into your home as a pity case. Despite what Best Friends says, no, we cannot "Save them All."

  4. Well, I gotta say, this one was (for once on this blog) a real surprise for me. English bulldogs, of all dog breeds? These sadly malformed dogs can barely breath or walk. The ones I've met are sweet but pretty slow in the head, if you know what I mean. I'm sure there are bad-tempered ones out there (as this story demonstrates), but to my mind it's like being attacked by a pug or a Japanese Chin.

    Weird. I wonder what happened.

  5. Is there going to be an autopsy? It's not clear. The coroner seems to be calling this death due to heart attack.

  6. Both of the update news reports quote the police captain as saying the bulldog attack was a "mitigating circumstance" to this woman's death. It seems a Freudian slip to me — betraying that the real thought was 'the woman is dead, but her heart attack is a mitigating circumstance for these poor bulldogs'. I wonder whether the police person is quoting the coroner. We're used to police covering up for bulldog killings, but it's much more serious if a coroner is doing that.

    In any event, if the heart attack was triggered by a bulldog attack, then the bulldog attack remains the cause of death. Who cares if the coroner can't say it was exsanguination because the bulldogs had already made her heart stop?

    In addition, the post-mortem mauling behavior remains abnormal. I've seen a few normal dogs react angrily (though not with mauling or killing anger) when another dog has an epileptic fit. I've seen lots of dogs examine dead dogs, cats, and other animals, including ones that had died on the spot just a second ago — but I have never seen any normal dog then attack that dead animal, tearing out chunks of flesh for the sheer glee of doing so.

    I point this out because I expect the pit bull fanatics to come in saying 'but ANY dog could have startled her and caused a heart attack by biting at her'. That's true, but not ANY dog would have continued the aggression orgy after she was dead. Continuing to attack and maul after the victim has died is typical only of this class of genetic deviants that we're trying to get regulated or banned — and it is most certainly typical of them.

    The pit bull fans will likely also celebrate this case as proof that 'any dog' will exhibit this behavior. But the English bulldog isn't 'any dog' — it's still a direct descendant of the bear- and bull baiting, pit-fighting bulldog. I hope this case will be a warning to those who think you can breed the pathological aggression out of these animals, or that changing their appearance will make the trait go away. Even after decades of selection, the trait remains unpredictably present and ready to suddenly surface.

    If you want a pet dog, then for heaven's sake get a normal dog. Avoid anything with any bulldog ancestry at all.

  7. This is an interesting case. Is the insinuation that the dogs did not contribute to this woman's death in any way?

    I'm a bit skeptical. Versions of this narrative are used to absolve dogs and dog owners from the harm they cause. Essentially, picking nits with the cause of death: It wasn't the act that killed the person, it was the result of that act that caused the death. Ergo, the actor is not at fault.

    For example, you and I are standing on a subway platform. A train is speeding through the station. I push you in front of the train, which crushes you to death. Now, would an affirmative defense of "the push didn't kill that person, the train did!" float with anyone?

  8. The fact remains that English Bulldog attacks are rare and deaths almost unheard of; while pit bull attacks and fatalities are routine.

  9. This breed was originally one of the progenitors of the American Pit Bull Terrier (a lot of breeding for show has made it look ugly and ungainly but it was originally a bull baiter).

    Not a nice "soft" breed, the only reason we don't hear of more fatalities by them is because they are so unhealthy, ungainly and deformed that many do not have the fitness or the physical capability to kill.

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