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18 thoughts on “Part I: Doretta Zinke, 39, Killed by 9 Pit Bulls (1945)

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  1. But- but – but — Petey!
    Our old standby Petey!
    The one dog pitters Always bring up as the perfect pit!
    Remember Petey??
    Petey, the pit bull on Lil Rascals…
    he was.. he was.. great?
    Everyone loved him, right?

    http://www.tvparty.com/50rascals3.html
    “Even the first Pete the dog was poisoned by an unknown assailant.”
    oh…
    Never mind.

  2. Even then these dog fighter breeders were covering it up and saying “oh, I just breed the dogs to sell.”

  3. “Meanwhile, the humane society received hundreds of telephone calls from people asking that the society intervene in the killing of the animals.”

    Wonder what all of those HSUS hating pit nutters will think about that?

  4. Great Find!

    Curious as to why the Queen of Dog Attacks did not include this atrocity in either of her books.
    Delise conveniently covers 1965-2001 in Fatal Dog Attacks and 1864-1899 and 1960-1975 in The Pit Bull Placebo.

  5. Aaah, the good old days when our criminal justice system actually had balls.

    May 16th Dog attack
    May 17th Investigation launched
    May 18th Dogs lined up in front of a firing squad &
    dog owner charged
    And the following week, the trial takes place.

    What happened? Where did we go wrong? Why are the police and the courts now an extension of social work?

  6. Whats interesting is how they culled the “Maulspawn”… We see many fatalities (Tanner Monk) with pups involved, yet the safety of adopting out the pups from a killer bloodline is never addressed.

    Wonder how many pups Joe Munn sold and if Munn genes are still floating around in the pits of today?

  7. Tommy Bond, who played Butch in Lil Rascals, once spoke on an interview how they all hated Petey, and he did bite.
    He said Alfalfa especially hated Petey.
    Pit Bull People who cite Petey seems to fail to understand that filming is done in takes, and the outtakes, such as bites, are left of the cutting room floor.
    Pete was originally picked because he was born with a three-quarter ring around his eye, no other reason.
    There were several Peteys. I guess after a bite, they would just circle another dog’s eye, toss him on the set, and hope for the best.
    Pete is a poor example once researched.

  8. I always preferred Gentle Ben more based on sheer acting ability. I’ve always bore stigma for not being able to buy a black bear cub for $50 at a Walmart parking lot.

  9. Many of the shots with Petey are closeups done away from the kids

    This dog didn’t live with these children and interact with them. The dog was nothing more than a prop

  10. The Tommy Bond interview was on, I believe, American Movie Classics channel when his book first came out.
    I’ll have to try to find it.

  11. The truth behind another famous pit bull that nutters prop up as great family dogs:

    A DOG’S HISTORY OF AMERICA by Mark Derr
    P 244
    Of course, Roosevelt romanticized Sailor Boy and dogs in general, forgetting Pete-variously identified as a bulldog or a bull terrier-who terrorized the White House between 1905 and 1908. He caused an international incident in 1905 when he treed the French ambassador, Jules Jusserand, who had come to play tennis with the president. Many contemporary accounts claim that Pete chewed a hole in the ambassador’s pants at a reception, but that was not so. He tore the pants and flesh of a naval clerk, John T. Thomas, on May I I, 1907, just ten days after his return from an eighteen-month exile after the Jusserand affair. At the time, Pete had been assigned to help the police patrol the White House grounds at night-specifically, it was said, to hold at bay the reporters who staked the place out, observing and questioning visitors.

  12. Doretta Zinke was my grandmother who I never knew. My father, her son, is dying of Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, he remembers fragments of a life lost. He told me about his mother and left out the details of her death. I would like to address various comments: The "Little Rascals" and Petey were make believe. I hope you understand the difference between Hollywood and real life. I have a crystal clear understanding of the brutality of a vicious dog attack and the profound lonliness of an only child left behind. Certain breeds of dogs are dangerous, specifically, pit bulls, however, a sigificant factor is how they are raised. Despite the enormous loss experienced in my own family, I truly believe people are to blame. I have worked in the legal community all of my life & understand the difference between justice & the law. There are responsibilities associated with raising children, animals and crops. One bad decision can result in a lifetime of consequences. Choose wisely.

  13. End the Breed – Do not bake the bread.
    T-Rex is extinct and it has worked well. Nobody dead from a T-Rex in the last 30 years.

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