From left: Jisseth Moquete, Jonathan Hall and Rocky the pit bull.
Young Girl Attacked
Charlotte, NC - It was reported on Thursday that a 9-year old girl was attacked by a pit bull under circumstances that all parents must be made aware of. A neighbor, Jonathan Hall1, had been given the adult-sized pit bull one day earlier "for free" and was attempting to sell the dog to the girl's family. When Jisseth Moquete tried to pet the dog, it suddenly bit her in the face. Jisseth's brother said he had played with the pit bull the previous day and the dog was "nowhere near being mean."
- (x) An adult-sized pit bull with an unknown background given away "for free"
- (x) A person trying to "sell" an adult-sized pit bull that he had known for one day
- (x) The pit bull appeared "friendly" and had been nice the day before
- (x) Level 5 mauling2 to a child quickly ensues
- (x) No charges
Any adult-sized pit bull that is given away "for free" presents a very high risk. Such a dog has either bitten in the past or has come from an unstable or black market breeding environment including being bred for fighting. No other dog breed suffers this same reality nor presents such a high risk. In 2004, while Shannon Smith was at the Bronx police station, an officer talked her into taking home the stray pit bull he had found that day. Within 24 hours Smith's baby son was nearly killed by the dog.
2"Level 5 Mauling" involves two or more Level 4 bites, a concerted; repeated attack (Ian Dunbar's Bite Assessment Criteria)
Related articles:
09/28/08: Pittsburg Girl Recovering Well After August Pit Bull Attack
12/12/07: New York City to Pay Huge Damages to Pit Bull Attack Victim
No matter what they say, no rescue group or shelter has a successful "behavioral test" that weeds out aggressive pit bulls.
A pit bull can pass a behavior test one day, and unprovoked kill a child the next day.
Some shelters and rescues are not being honest about pit bulls in their zeal to place dogs, and the new owners suffer the consequences.
Do NOT let a shelter or rescue talk you into taking a pit bull or pit bull mix!
"Do NOT let a shelter or rescue talk you into taking a pit bull or pit bull mix!"
And be skeptical about what's being passed off as a "boxer mix," a "lab mix," even a "border collie mix." I have seen a black and white pit mix listed as a border collie. I have a border collie and have been around dozens of border collies; that dog was zero percent border collie and no less than 50% pit bull. When I pressed a kennel worker about the dog's listing, she even admitted that it had been moved to a separate cage following an attack on its kennel mate!
This crap is endless! Before I embarked on the learning curve and started reading DogsBite, I knew what the heck a pit bull was. But I did not know the whole American Staffordshire terrier renaming bit or the "boxer-mix" or "lab-mix" bit. I really like the boxer breed and I drove 45 miles out to visit one (MOST OF THE DOGS IN THE CITY SHELTER ARE PIT MIXES!) The dog that I saw was NOT the dog in the photo on PetFinder. It was a full-blooded 65-70lb American Pit Bull Terrier, totally untrained and a total mess. At the time, it was being fostered by a couple. The Petfinder Rescue person met me at the couple's house. I was like, "Where's the dog that was in the photo?" She said, "That's Bella alright, she's just a lot healthier now." Then I said, "You listed her as a BOXER-MIX not as a pit bull. I don't want a pit bull, particularly one that is currently biting the hand of the foster owner who is "trying" to teach her to play fetch! (No distinction between the ball and the person's hand.) She BEGGED me to take that dog! This is after I told her that I in no way could handle a dog of that size, enthusiasm, strength and LACK OF TRAINING. Bella had been trucked across state lines from Arkansas to Washington (or so I was told). God only knows what happened to this dog, but it did not come home with me. I was SO PISSED at that rescue lady. A complete absolute liar with "angel rescue sickness" coursing through her veins. If I had met her with a child in my arms, she still would have BEGGED me to take the dog. I recall the feeling of getting back into my car that day, it was like, "Get me the hell out of here!" Bella was of BRUTE FORCE — I had never seen anything like her before. An absolute disaster waiting to happen if taken home to a large apartment complex in a major U.S. city, which I had been clear to the psycho angel rescue woman about my living environment.
^ I wonder if there is anybody these fraudulent rescue people can be reported to. Listing a dog as one breed when it's clearly another and playing the bait and switch game with photos should be illegal. It's fraud, plain and simple, and these people need to have charges pressed when they pull this sort of thing.
Part of the problem lies squarely with Petfinder. They are letting fraudulent rescues lie and risk the lives of adopters.
They are letting rescues with no street address given, no names, just an email address.
Even though Discovery channel bought Petfinder, I think that founder Betsy Saul is still running it. Unfortunately Betsy is letting the inmates run the asylum, and letting people get hurt by these false rescues, and destroying the reputation of rescue and adoption.
I don't know if Betsy is smart ewnough to figure out she is letting these crazies hurt rescue, but someone has to get through the loons she has running that site.
There are puppy mills falsely listing on Petfinder as well.
One option is to report these rescues to the government for falsely running charities. Many of them have not filed the appropriate paperwork, but they are soliciting donations that they just put in their own bank accounts.
There is supposed to be some accountability for non-profits.
They are supposed to document their finances.
Its not just the duped owners that suffer, what about all the neighbors that have to put up with these pit bulls? There should be a law where you need the approval of anyone's property you border before getting a pit bull.
No kidding! How safe should anyone feel with dogs busting out of windows to attack?
Some of these recues, like Bad Rap, are placing animal aggressive pit bulls.
Indeed, the neighbor's poor pet dies when an adopter brings one of these disturbed, defective animals home.
Disagree with this blog entries premise.
ALL pit bulls are a huge risk…
They all come with the genetic baggage of two centuries of selection by animal mutilating degenerates!