Dog Owner Keeps 5 Pit Bull Puppies
UPDATE 05/11/08: Several weeks prior to the attack that left three horses injured, authorities removed the same dog from the horse owner's property. The offending dog was returned to its owner. But the pit bull "got away" again, this time costing horse lives and the horse owner over $8,000 in damages.
Authorities euthanized the offending dog after the attack and also left the dog owner to care for 5 pit bull puppies. In about a year, all five puppies will be raring to go. The dog owner could not constrain one pit bull, how will he constrain five? Moreover, each puppy will have a clean slate: each dog must have 1-2 documented attacks before authorities can euthanize.
You see how existing dog laws grossly favor owners of dangerous dogs and not the victim?
DogsBite.org imagines that the horse owner Debbie Wilson, and neighbor to the dog owner, must be in an absolute state of shock.
05/11/08: Another Pit Bull Attacks Horses in Maryland
Harford County, MD - A pit bull, whose owner was previously cited for failing to secure his dog, has now attacked several horses. Of the various breeds that attack large livestock, DogsBite.org has only come across one that will attack a group of horses by itself: a pit bull. This aggressive trait in pit bulls stems back 2,000 years to the sport of bull and bear baiting.
Three separate attacks on horses (and herds) by these dogs have occurred in Maryland in the last 2.5 weeks alone.
The young male pit bull attacked the horses pastured at a local farm, injuring one so severely that it was put down. Another horse might not survive its injuries and a third has nearly 50 stitches on its face. Harford's animal control officer said that based on the dog's past history and witness accounts, the dog was destroyed for the safety of the neighborhood.
The dog was often seen running loose in the Forest Hill area near the Grier Nursery Road farm. Twice since March, Jonathan Russo, the dog's owner and the farm's neighbor, had been fined $60 for not securing the animal. Russo, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, received another $95 fine Thursday.
Minute fines hardly prevent future attacks. So far, Russo is out $155 dollars and the horse owner's loss is $8,500.
Phil Klein of Darlington witnessed the attacks on the horses and struck the dog with a metal pipe. He had been helping his 12-year-old daughter lead her horse to pasture when the dog ran toward them and lunged at the horse. As the horse ran away, with the dog in pursuit, Klein and his daughter, Danielle, raced to the barn, where she remained.
Klein grabbed a pipe and returned to the pasture. "The dog ran into a herd of horses and started attacking," Klein said. "One horse kicked him hard but couldn't stop him." The dog grabbed a 6-year-old Welsh pony by the nose and hung on, despite the horse's efforts to shake it off. It took 45 stitches to close the pony's bite wounds.
The dog then chased a 2-year-old Chincoteague pony and tore at its left hind leg so deeply that its survival remains in question. A 350-pound yearling sustained a fatal injury when the dog grabbed its foreleg and pulled it down. The deep bites exposed joints and tendons -- its leg was broken. Dell Bearsch, who was baby-sitting her three grandchildren at the time, saw the scene unfold.
"It was like a lion attacking gazelles," she said. "Thank God that the children were not out there."
Wilson, the horses' owner, credited Klein with saving the remaining animals. She has mounting veterinary bills, already in excess of $1,500 and has lost a horse worth about $7,000, she said. As of yesterday, Wilson said that Russo -- once again following the pit bull owner's Conduct Unbecoming Guide -- had not even bothered to contact her.
Related articles:
05/02/08: Semi-Rural Area Endures Another Horse Attack
04/24/08: Pit Bulls Attack 2 Ponies in Severn
See all: Horse Attacks by Pit Bulls
The previously cited pit bull owning scumbag should be arrested for felony animal cruelty! a)He owns a pit bull. b)He has a history of the pit bull being at large. Therefore, this is not an accident. This is mission accomplished for the moron whose dog was bred to do this! No mercy. Hog tie this piece of human trash and drag him down a gravel road, all the way to jail.
And for all the pro mauling activist, let us for once see that, “Ban the deed, not the breed,” is more than a hollow, insincere slogan. Let them for once petition the District Attorney to pursue the highest possible charges and penalties, with hundreds of them on the steps of the court house to demand justice.
How many horses killed does this make for 2008?! Sheesh…
The silence from the Animal “Welfare” groups is deafening on the issue of Pit Bulls killing livestock and pets!
The thug punk who owned the pit bull still has 5 puppies!!!!! And the county will closely watch to see that they are licensed and vaccinated.
They should also be closely watching for the next “accident”.
http://www.abc2news.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=ade4ddb1-c386-4d25-b266-00392b5ff8ca
Great! 5 more Bullbaiters soon to be sold with zero product liability.
To the horse owner…..go to City Hall, find out who is the deeded owner of the property. Go online and find out which insurance carriers provide homeowners insurance in the state of Maryland. Contact each insurance company and send them documentation of the risk….better yet, sue the dog owner for medical costs and the cost of replacing the animals. The dog owner will have to identify the insurer…if the carrier won’t pay, I am sure they will cancel the dog owners policy when they find out about the puppies. If he has a mortgage, he will have to have insurance. He will have no choice but to get rid of the puppies.
Make sure the insurance carrier knows the owner is BREEDING aggressive pit bulls.
This insurance thing did work once, but then the insurance people didn’t want to talk to me after that. The insurance people don’t want to be the bad guys even though they don’t want to insure the dogs.
“Wilson says animal control and state police had removed the same dog from their property weeks earlier”
Incredible!!!!
The deadbeat doesn’t own the house. He is a freeloader living with his girlfriend and annoying the neighbors.