A 63-year old Birmingham woman discovered dead on a roadside in Ensley was killed by dogs.
Woman Killed by Dogs
Birmingham, AL - A woman found dead on a roadside in Birmingham's Ensley neighborhood on November 9 was killed by dogs, authorities said Monday. The announcement comes four days after one or more dogs inflicted the fatal attack. The dog(s) responsible, apparently, have not been located either, which means that any person walking in the area is at risk. The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 63-year old Sharon Kaye Billups Portis, who lived in Birmingham.
The autopsy performed by the county coroner determined that Portis' injures are due to an "apparent dog attack." Portis was discovered by a passerby just before 6:30 am on the grass shoulder of a roadway in the 2000 block of 18th Street Ensley. Her bicycle was lying a few feet away. She was known to ride her bike frequently. She was pronounced dead on the scene at 6:45 am. Birmingham police are investigating the circumstances around her death. No other information has been released.
On August 26, 2022, at about 1:00 am, a man was discovered dead on a roadway near his bicycle in Channelview, an unincorporated area in Harris County, Texas. He sustained multiple dog bite injuries. There were no witnesses to the attack, and the area is known for packs of stray dogs. The coroner eventually ruled the cause of death was "multiple sharp and blunt force injuries due to dog bites." It is unknown if authorities ever captured the dogs involved or if that investigation yielded any results.
Family Members Seek Answers
Portis' family members believe she was leaving for work late Wednesday night, when she was attacked. She lived about 100 yards away from the location of the attack. Birmingham police say they are investigating, but Portis' brother, Albert Ford, said that no one from that agency has contacted his family. “No one from that agency has contacted any of her family members. She has a mother, she has an 88-year-old mother, no one has contacted her mother or any of her family,” Ford said.
On Thursday, police finally issued a warning to Ensley residents, encouraging them to carry a big stick or pepper spray, since the dog(s) involved have not been captured almost a week after the fatal attack. “We have not been able to identify the animals and we do consider them to be a danger to the public because they are still loose," officer Truman Fitzgerald said. Police are urging animal control to set up traps to capture stray dogs in the area. Yet, it remains unknown if stray dogs were involved.
Meanwhile, Ford and other family members have been combing the neighborhood searching for the dogs before they attack again. "Someone has died. There is a present danger!" he told WVTM. Ford has been looking for surveillance video and doorbell cameras that could have captured the attack. Ford is doing the work that police should be doing, he said. “I'm out here being a detective because I feel there is no detective, and nobody really cares. I mean, that's just kind of the way I feel.”
The director of The Greater Birmingham Humane Society, Allison Black Cornelius, who urged action after Joe Cleveland was killed by dogs in March, said that no one is safe until these dogs are identified and taken off the streets. We agree, especially if this involved a dog pack. There have been multiple cases of the same dog pack killing two people before being caught. Last year in Alabama, a dog pack killed a public health employee after attacking a woman one day earlier, who also died.
"I'm very concerned at the lack of what appears to be an investigation this week into these, who are these animals? Were they owned, were they are wild pack because I understand that her injuries were really I mean really horrendous and horrific. So, we got to figure out what happened." - Allison Black Cornelius
Ford is also shaken by her injuries, and that attacks like this even occur in a civilized society. "Just to even imagine that it's hard to sleep, is hard to rest, is hard to work, because this is inconceivable that something in this day and age in the city of Birmingham. I mean, for real, seriously, I mean, this is just unimaginable that this can happen." However, if you follow this blog, you will know that fatal pack attacks routinely occur in the South, like the near double fatal attack in Louisiana in September.
Sharon Portis, 63, was found dead on a roadside in Ensley after being attacked by dogs.
The area where a woman's body was discovered dead on a roadside in Ensley last week.
Related articles:
03/01/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Dog Pack Kills 74-Year Old Man in Jefferson County, Alabama
07/30/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Skipperville Man Killed by Dog Pack; Captured on Surveillance...
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
It is absolutely ridiculous that freeroaming dogs are allowed to run loose attacking and killing people. Every dog running loose in the area for the next six months should be SHOT DEAD. I’ll be the owners would start keeping their dog up properly if there were REAL consequences.
I agree 100% should be SHOT DEAD because it just makes sense but most ppl would think that suggestion to be extreme because society as a whole especially in the U.S. have been ‘dumbed down’
It’s nice for me to see that some1 else has some ideas and realizations and grasp of reality as I
Some areas of the USA do not have any leash laws. In those areas, police will not come out on dog calls or impound any dogs.
If the dogs are annoying livestock, the farmer can legally shoot the involved dogs.
Some years ago a woman had contacted the police a number of times because she felt the dogs next door were dangerous. She was scared they would attack her.
The dogs were not fenced in, as laws didn’t require fences. One day the dogs killed her.
There, of course, was an investigation. There was a new law passed, and I believe it was called Emily’s Law.
That was done to increase penalties against the owners for deadly bites.
Agree KaD!!!
Agreed 100%.
These dogs are not animals that exist in nature – someone owns them or dumped them, someone bred them for profit or from carelessness. The person responsible for the dogs should be held responsible for the most serious of crimes: the taking of a human life.
Will the Birmingham police investigate? That bicyclist in Texas wasn’t even identified. “Act of dog,” they probably think as they neglect to treat the killing with anything close to the scrutiny a non-dog homicide would receive. “A tragic accident.”
We need better laws and enforcement.
I believe it’s spelled this way:
Act of doG
Gotta keep the dog worship going, doncha know.
Dog worship, dog idolatry. A few days after the attack, multiple dogs are roaming free outside in the neighborhood – why.
A great question, why the hell are these dogs wandering and running in packs with impunity? The police officer said-almost nonchalantly-yes, we will trap these dogs. Why aren’t they regularly out trapping them BEFORE some innocent soul has to die? Ugh!
Why are they showing a pair of snarling GSDs when there’s far more chance this murder was committed by pitbulls?
Just sayin’
The reality that this is allowed to happen repeatedly in our country – people mauled to death by dogs while just walking or bicycling – is just beyond outrageous to me. I can barely believe it. And it makes me furious. I am an avid walker and I should not have to fear this. No one should.
Most people immediately go into whataboutism mode if the subject is brought up, pooh-poohing the fact that several dozens of Americans are torn apart by dogs every year – it’s not anything to worry about because more people are being killed by this, that, or the other. We offer the dogs these victims as small sacrifices because we want dogs.
Yes, I was told by someone when citing the pit fatality statistics that “Deer kill more”. Talk about apples and oranges. Deer cause deaths primarily (exclusively?) by vehicular accidents, plus they aren’t supposedly domesticated pets that should never maul and kill people, ever.
Yep just looked that up and it’s vehicular that is not being killed by a deer so shame on that person!
It is sad that livestock have more rights than people.
Farmer shoots dog that is bothering cows, that is usually the end of it.
Person shoots dog that is threatening them on their own property?
Cruelty to animals, firing a gun in city limits, disturbing the peace and whatever other charges they can think of.
If you shoot before the dog has bitten you dog cultists will insist “He was only playing! You over reacted!”
If you wait until after you are bitten you will hear that it wasn’t a serious bite and you still over reacted. Wait any longer and there is a good chance you die before you get a shot off.
That is what most of the powers that be consider the best option. Maybe they will look for the dog that killed you, maybe they wont.
Even if the dog is found and euthanized nothing stops the owner from buying another one and nothing happens to them.
Colleen, you are exactly right about owners losing dogs, one way or another. Then replacing them with one’s raised exactly the same. I read somewhere that 10% of pet owners are responsible for 90% of the animal control issues. This will only stop when owners are actually held responsible for damage caused by their irresponsible actions.
Exactly. Had a neighbour that every couple years dumped one dog for another every few years with one excuse or the other.
The one that broke my heart was a stunning GSD that she kept on a short chain in her driveway. I was a kid so I just kept walking up to him and filling his water and petting him.
I think she wanted him to guard the house or something and he was just friendly so she dumped him.
Dumped a cocker, a poodle and a few other dogs for some idiocy or other.
Now, while I don’t think anyone should keep a dangerous dog–some people are just crappy dog owners, period. They see dogs as fungible.