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2010 Dog Bite Fatality: 37-Year Old Philadelphia Woman Killed by Mother's Pit Bulls

Chistine Staab's myspace page, pit bull attack
Christine Staab, 37-years old, was mauled to death by one of her mother's six pit bulls.

Staab's Mother Speaks
UPDATE 02/21/10: The mother of Christine Staab (See: Video), Barbara Erb, told the local paper that the two had been arguing when Christine fell backward (See: Pit bull triggers) causing her pet pit bull to attack and kill her. Erb said she tried frantically to pull off the dog, Jade, but could not get the pit bull to release its grip on Staab's throat. The four surviving pit bulls were taken to an SPCA shelter. Like her husband, Thomas Fowler, Erb would like the dogs returned to her.

Erb described the six pit bulls as "house dogs" that were well cared for and even micro-chipped for identification. "They were spoiled rotten," Erb said. "They were not neglected in any way." The door of the house had one sign that read "Beware of dog," and another saying that in the case of fire, rescuers should save the six dogs inside. It listed their names: Paige, Peaches, Maggie, Satan, Bear, and Jade, as clearly the lives of Erb's dogs outweigh the lives of human beings.

Zupf video buttonRelated ZUPF video

02/20/10: Victim's Step-Father Defends Dogs
In an incident described as a pit bull "brutally attacking" and killing Christine Staab, and police officers being forced to shoot the animal so that it would release its grip on the victim's neck, Staab's step-father Thomas Fowler denounced Staab on local TV and said that two of the family's six pit bulls were doing "what comes naturally to a dog." Fowler said the pit bull, Jade, was only protecting his wife who was trying to take back a set of keys from Christine.

It is not natural for a dog to kill a person during a family argument.

Troubled and allegedly drug addicted 37-year old Christine Staab was mauled to death by her mother and step-father's pit bulls right in front of their very eyes. The scene must have been horrific: A pit bull locked onto Staab's throat shaking it vigorously back and forth, blood spewing everywhere. At his first chance, however, Fowler defended his pit bulls "all of whom he says were friendly, nonaggressive pets" and hopes to have the four dogs returned to him.

02/20/10: Police Shoot Dogs; Can't Save Victim
Philadelphia, PA - In a developing story, Philadelphia police and animal control officers are investigating an incident in which a dog brutally attacked and killed a 37-year old woman. According to police, the attack took place Saturday morning at a home on the 1400 block of East Oxford Avenue in North Philadelphia. Philadelphia police responding to the scene were forced to shoot and kill two pit bulls on the scene. The identity of the victim has not yet been released.

map iconView the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Pennsylvania Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

Images of the mother's pit bulls, she refers to as "The six pack" on her MySpace page. The primary attacker, Jade, is seen top left. (Click for full PDF of MySpace page).


mother's pit bulls that killed Christine Staab
Related articles:
02/06/10: Pet Pit Bull Unleashes Explosive Attack on Owner and Two Others...
01/18/10: 2010 Fatality: 56-Year Old Man Killed by Daughter's Six Pit Bulls
08/12/09: 2009 Fatality: Leesburg Man, 20, Killed by His Two Pit Bulls Trying to...
05/11/09: Animal Agency, PSPCA, Distorts History of 25-Year Old Pit Bull Problem

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27 thoughts on “2010 Dog Bite Fatality: 37-Year Old Philadelphia Woman Killed by Mother's Pit Bulls”

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  1. 7 dogs on the property…Wonder how many wigglebutts this breeder has sold into the Philadelphia community?!?

  2. When police arrived on scene, they saw a 38-year-old woman being attacked by one pit-bull; 5 other pit-bulls were being contained by the victim's mother. Police shot and killed the one dog. Moments later, another dog escaped containment and police shot and killed that dog, as well. Medics were called out, however, the woman was pronounced dead on scene. Animal control was called by police to take the remaining 4 dogs away. Police confirm the dogs were family pets.

    http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7288723

  3. "Police confirm the dogs were family pets."

    I agree that this was more than likely a breeding operation.

  4. Piticide number 86 since January 2005…The Pit Bull community has now doubled the DBRF rate in the US with their breeding practices.

  6. The owner of these pit bulls is Barbara Erb of Philadelphia. Barbara is a long time pit bull advocate who has claimed her pit bulls are ambassadors for the breed. She identifies herself as a "Pitbull Mom" on her Myspace page, and is linked to anti-BSL activists. http://www.myspace.com/barbae2

  7. The father in Law is one dumb SOB…his need to advocate while under investigation probably just elevated this from a mauling investigation into a homicide one.

    Of course he probably made the statements to appease the pit community..In their minds it is much worse to be a "bad owner" than the breeder of a documented man-killing line.

  9. Barbara Erb of Philadelphia is described in this report: http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/Pitbulls_Kill_Oxford_Street_Woman_02_20_10

    The Myspace page for Barbara Erb of Philadelphia features a pit bull loafing on a couch in the profile pic. , http://www.myspace.com/barbae2. Linked from that page is a photo collage titled, ‘The Six Pack,’ presumably six different pit bulls that appear similar, somewhat indicative of lineal relationship. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=46743058&albumID=2801275&imageID=56219239#a=2801275&i=56219291

    The odds are profoundly prohibitive to conclude there may be another Barbara Erb in Philadelphia, also with 6 pit bulls.

  10. That MySpace page is chilling. And no, it is NOT natural for a dog to kill a family member during an argument. If real dog advocates and dog lovers could just begin to see through this crap and start to defend normal dogs as safe, reliable companions and put the blame where it belongs – on the breed.

  11. Comment on one of the attack articles…I smell murder…

    Chrissy recently began working at THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. She was a hard working, dependable employee. Although I only had brief conversations with Chrissy, we talked about our common interest, bike riding. She had metioned that she rode the American Cancer Society Bike ride in the past. We were to begin training shortly for this year's ACS bike ride. She was going to join the group of employees from the INQUIRER AND DAILY NEWS that ride the charity ride from the Ben Franklin Bridge some 68 miles toward the Jersey shore this summer. Unfortunately, I will now dedicate the first mile in Chrissy memory. R.I.P.

  15. I am aghast. I am literally shaking.

    This young woman's mother is SMEARING her like the dog fighters smear people, and blaming HER DAUGHTER for the dangerousness of the FIGHTING DOGS that this mother owns.

    I had just assumed this was some pit bull breeding operation.

    This is a pit bull "humane" advocate a la Best Friends who is willing to put FIGHTING DOGS above her own daughter's life.

    Her fighting dogs who just PROVED how dangerous pit bulls are.

    It's not the owner, IT'S THE BREED (S)!

  16. Anonymous from the Inquirer

    Please be aware that dog fighters and insane pit bull "advocates" will go into hyper-overdrive to slander and libel this poor young woman, and smear her and blame her for the problems that pit bulls have.

    I hope her friends will defend her against the greed and selfishness of the pit bull breeding and "advocacy" industry, of which some groups like Best Friends are involved

    Pit bulls are big money to these people, and they do not want to admit that pit bulls have problems and should be regulated. So they blame and smear the victim to protect their pit bull profits.

  17. But WAS this a breeding operation?

    Is there any mention of if the dogs are neutered or not?

    And the big question is WHERE DID THESE PIT BULLS COME FROM?

    Where did Barbara Erb get these dogs?

  18. I truly hope that this becomes a murder investigation. The stories of the mother and stepfather don't jibe, and the attitudes of both of them are positively disgusting in light of what happened to this woman. They clearly care more about the dogs. As complete failures as human beings they deserve neither dogs nor human children.

  19. If you look at the Myspace page for Erb, she lists herself as 5' 2" in height

    LARGE, tall, muscled MEN often can't handle even one pit bull, especially when a pit bull snaps and mauls

    But a small woman with 7 pit bulls?

    What were the neighbors thinking, letting this go on under their noses? This could be one of the neighbors (or several) who are dead now.

  20. Actually Mr. Millan, we're all wearing jet black over here in mourning of Christine Staab.

    Cesar Millan, all his family and friends, his staff and volunteers, and dog lovers all around the world today will mourn the passing of one of the most loyal, trusting, well-balanced, and influential pit bull ambassadors the world has ever known.
    —
    http://www.connexion.org/gay-news/news?id=449750

  22. Last night I watched 'Is That A Nail In Your Head?' They milked fifteen whole minutes of sensational television out of a puma attack on a young woman. The victim got to describe how it felt when the puma leaped and made contact with her, impact like being hit by a car. She got to describe her feelings as the animal kept its grip on her. The surgeons who later treated her got air time, astounded by the wounds, explaining how complicated it was going to be to fix them. There were graphic shots of the surgery, where we got to see how awful the wounds were — the surgeon lifting her cheek from her face so we could see what such a bite to the head means, an detailed comments about how hard it is to repair the damaged facial nerves. Then we got post-healing close-up shots of the mutilation this woman will go through the rest of her life with. And to hear her feelings about looking in the mirror and her face isn't her own face anymore.

    The wounds were about as bad as a medium pit bull attack.

    Why aren't they making fifteen minutes of sensational television, including victim hit-by-hit descriptions of what it felt like, pics of the wounds and surgery, and surgeon comments, about pit bull attacks much worse than this puma attack?

    According to ITANIYH, the puma was tracked down and shot. Why didn't the puma first get to do an aggression test to see whether it was really aggressive?

    Just wondering…

    I guess PB attacks have become so common that we aren't astounded by the wounds anymore, and they just aren't really news anymore.

    Anyone have any other explanations?

    But I still don't get why a PB gets an aggression test after an attack, but this puma didn't.

  23. A comment left at a recent story:

    These pitbulls are nothing but trouble. Spare us how they are good dogs and the sweetest family members. These dogs have inbred vicious genes and should be outlawed. These dogs are unpredicatable and only serve the urban ghetto culture. My friend had a neighbor's pitbull bite her leg for no reason. The dog ran up to her and just bit her. Look at the kennel worker at Elkins Park Kennel who was nearly killed by a vicious pitbull recently. These dogs are liabilities for the general population. Only insane and careless people keep these monsters.
    —
    http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Moms-Pit-Bull-Kills-Daughter-84942692.html

  24. The more I think about this attack, the more disturbed I become. It is "typical" pit bull attack behavior to jump on its victim, knocking the person to the ground and then latching onto the victim's neck. I do not believe that Staab fell over "accidentally". I believe the dog launched the attack by knocking her to the ground (step 1) then latched onto her neck (step 2 and final step). The parents are liars and the only living witnesses.

  25. I agree 100% with you, Trigger. The dogs who attacked me did everything they could to try to knock me to the ground first and continually lunged for my face and neck. I don't believe this girl tripped on a "mirror" on the floor. Who on earth leaves a mirror on the floor, anyway? It's fishy through and through. These people need murder charges.

  26. I agree with you all — this is definitely fishy. It smells bad that they both tell the story with such detail and step-by-step exactness. When people have gone through something traumatic, they rarely recount things in such cold, systematic detail — unless they are regurgitating a lie, a cover up story. I am disgusted beyond belief with this so-called "mother" and her "man."

    2010 is starting off as a horrible year for pit apologists….there is another story out of Philly today about an owner whose own dog practically severed her wrist.

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