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17 thoughts on “2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bulls Kill 7-Year Old Boy in Lowell, Massachusetts

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  1. It seems to me that if the child could get into the yard and the dog out they were not properly contained. If it's a liability to have a in ground pool and people have to have it fenced off why are people permitted to have bred to kill dogs and not protect children from coming into contact with them? I hope they are euthanized at least.

  2. This is no different than if you had a neighbor who had pet lions. No one would stand for that and you know if a child climbed over a fence and was killed by them that the lion owner would rightfully be charged. I can already guess that the owner of killer dogs will not be charged because of lack of laws and the child will have been considered a trespasser. This should never happen, go into someone's yard and get killed or mained in a brutal, painful way.

  3. Hand grenades and land mines are illegal.

    These "designed to attack and not stop" dogs are worse than hand grenades as they can move about under their own power.

    Pits/ bully dogs are hand grenade dogs. And it's centuries of man-made mutations to mature to suddenly attack, it's instinct, that controls the pit bull pin.

  4. Unfortunately you are right "Christy D". In Virginia this would be considered "provocation" There are no statutes that permit charges being brought against the owners of Forever Home Animal Rehabilitation Center in VA Beach either, despite the "in your face" opening under another name. The elderly and children, always the victims.

  5. This fence should have been secured with a lock like swimming pool areas do to keep children safe. I did not see any warning signs either.

    The attractive nuisance doctrine applies to the law of torts, in the United States. It states that a landowner may be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if the injury is caused by an object on the land that is likely to attract children. https://definitions.uslegal.com/a/attractive-nuisance/

    I also consider this yard as a booby trap. If a person sets up such a trap to protect his/her property, he/she will be liable for any injury or death even to an unwanted intruder such as a burglar. It is illegal to set a booby trap on one's own property to prevent intruders. https://definitions.uslegal.com/b/booby-traps/

    A guard/protection dog is there to warn its owner of an intruder and nothing more until it receives a command from a human. HUMANS are responsible for assessing the threat level and HUMANS are responsible for determining the appropriate response. DOGS do not get to decide if someone should get the death penalty for trespassing. Anyone who thinks this is what dogs are supposed to do is a damn lunatic.

    Protecting" his owner's property to point of killing a human being should not be part of the instinct or training of any truly safely domesticated dog. Nor should it be a point of pride or grounds for defense for other dog owners to stand on. If this dog could not communicate in a more effective/less lethal way then it is NOT good dog.

  6. The conflicting stories are interesting, because I thought it sounded odd thay the young boy climbed into the fenced area. Were the dogs barking and aggressive beforehand? If so, why would a child willingly enter an area where aggressive dogs were roaming? The idea that he was dragged in makes more sense.

    Either way, it's horrible and tragic. Another of the most innocent of us slaughtered by pit bulls.

    Lowell is known to be a drug infested city. I wonder if the owner of the 200+lbs of killer animals had them because he's involved in drugs. God only knows.

    And to think those disgusting animals were steps from a schoolyard full of children. It's mind blowing, and terrifying to think about as a parent.

    I hope this young child's mother can find peace one day. My heart breaks for her.

  7. I would like to think that I would have been brave and crazy enough to jump the fence and try to get these dogs off of him but one, let alone two 100-120 lb. pit bulls…I don't think any of the witnesses were prepared to take those dogs on. No wonder they were standing there not knowing what to do.

  8. So, because these dogs killed this child on "their own" property (like dogs own property!), and at least one witness says that the boy "trespassed" onto these dogs' property, the dogs' owner won't likely face any charges or even an itty bitty little fine.

    It's not right. Not at all.

  9. If those were emotional support dogs, then I'm entitled to a therapy cobra. Why? Because I'm entitled, that's why!

  10. SICK, SICK, SICK! Some of the comments on the articles are just sick! Pit advocates keep trying to change our perceptions of what's normal when it comes to owning a dog, as if all dogs are territorial and will kill a person entering their territory. They act as if that's just to be expected…they say the kid got what was coming to him and it's the parents' fault. SICK! JulieWall is exactly right!

  11. I’m beyond horrified that anyone would attempt to blame the parents of this innocent little boy instead of blaming the rightful culprit, this complete idiot owner of two clearly vicious, pit bulls! These dogs had NO BUISNESS living in a neighborhood with children, especially not a block away from an elementary school in an unsafe enclosure that they could jump (even after taking my a bullet) and/or pull a child over!! This is why pit bulls have a bad rap! Because every idiot wants one! All these ghetto scum (who I wouldn’t trust to care for a goldfish) get these powerful, highly unstable and unpredictable dogs with huge prey drives because they think they’ll look tough or help protect their drug stash. Many of these idiots even encourage their dogs to be more aggressive, they are constantly doing this without ANY knowledge of dog training, not even basic dog training, no ability to call them off, absolutely no knowledge of how to harness the power and prey drive this breed is SO WELL KNOWN FOR!! If I hear one more person refer to them as nanny dogs I’m going to lose it!! They were NEVER NANNY DOGS!’ This is a complete crock of shit, Made up by pit bull advocates who don’t give a shit about how many kids are attacked and killed each and every year!! If you MUST own a pit bull, please do some real
    Research on this breed! Please learn how to train, contain and raise them, and make them part of your family! Do not EVER trust a breed around your small children that is known to attack unprovoked simply because of instinct! These dogs were bred to be killers!! Parents should be charged with murder if they choose to House a ticking time bomb of a dog with their precious small children and then leave them alone together!! If you really must get one, please don’t keep them outside in a back yard alone or even worse outside on a chain! They will only become more frustrated, aggressive, and unpredictable. This dog is not for a first time owner! Please just don’t get one… and for the love of god STOP BREEDING THEM!!!!

  12. I agree w/ Ka D, if the child was ABLE to get in, it falls on the owners who did not contain their menace to the community pits.

  13. If it's true that they were "emotional support dogs" and the owner was an Iraq war veteran, as I saw reported in one article, perhaps we're seeing here the result of the push for pit bulls as PTSD support dogs. Such a stupid decision! Even people who love pit bulls have to admit they're not known for being CALM dogs (descriptors like "goofball" and "lick you to death" do not denote a mellow dog). My uneducated guess is that someone with PTSD would be best off with a very even-tempered, non-reactive support dog. Sheesh.

  14. The victim should not be nameless. This boy had a name and a life that it appears is being erased completely.

    The pit bull owner deserves to be named.

  15. Pit Bull advocates who blame victims as a means to defend inherently dangerous dogs are a disgusting group of people and we see far to much of it.

  16. There were HELICOPTERS searching for the fugitive pit bull??
    And they try to say BSL is too expensive to enforce. Uh huh.

  17. Kris Makula, I agree. Although everything about pit bulls bothers me, the cost to the community is rarely spoken of. Just think of all the people that get involved in a pit attack: Police, Animal Control, EMT's, Emergency room nurses and doctors. Victims are often life-flighted to a different hospital because many hospitals are not equipped to deal with the devastating aftermath of a pit mauling. Then there's the time spent by investigators while they try to sort through what happened and find the truth.
    Also to consider is the cost to people like me when their livestock is devastated by someone's choice of a pet. We farmers walk a thin line monetarily. One attack by an energetic pit can cut into not only our profit, but our ability to feed our animals through the winter.
    One more thing (and I know there are many more costs to consider, but for the sake of brevity I'll stop here), the toll on people's pets is enormous.
    These dogs are just too expensive to justify their existence.

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