Kristen Dutton, 9-years old, was fatally attacked by an akita new to her home.
Fatal Neck Injury archived
McCormick County, SC - A 9-year old girl was killed by a dog Saturday at her grandfather's home in Modoc. Kristen Dutton, a fourth grade student at Meriwether Elementary School, was taken to Medical College of Georgia Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her grandfather, Mickey Abercrombie, had purchased the 98-pound Japanese akita1 -- a breed with a well known heritage of dogfighting and guarding -- just three weeks earlier for his grandchildren who lived at his home.
Kristen was reportedly playing with the dog when it turned on her, biting her fatally in the neck. McCormick County Coroner Faye Puckett said that Kristen's younger brother saw her laying in the yard and alerted their grandfather. The Department of Health and Environmental Control took the dog into custody. The dog will be euthanized. Kristen's grandfather said the 4-year old dog had never displayed a "hint" of aggression, even though he had only known the dog for three weeks.
Mickey Abercrombie purchased the pet about three weeks ago for his grandchildren, who lived with him at his home on Hood Drive in Modoc, along with their mother.
Just hours before the attack, the grandfather had taken the dog on a walk, along with the children. Later, Kristen took the dog on a walk by herself, without incident.
Abercrombie told authorities he fastened the dog up to its runner beside the kennel before going inside to help his grandson with his homework. Kristen stayed outside to bond with the new pet. - Bianca Cain, The Augusta Chronicle, January 26, 2011
Photo: The Augusta Chronicle
Creepy. The last akita fatality appears to have been in 1993 and the father was a vet?
"Craig Weathersby knelt beside his daughter's killer: a 100-pound Akita guard dog named Kumite. Surrounded by animal cages, Weathersby's wife, Tiffany, cradled Kumite's head in her lap Tuesday afternoon as her husband injected the family's pet with a lethal dose of phenobarbitol."
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http://tinyurl.com/4z54w2f
Wow, look at how the akita community talks about the breed (way more honest than pit nutters)
-THE AKITA IS DOG AGGRESSIVE BY NATURE
-AKITAS WERE BRED TO HUNT AND HAVE A STRONG PREY DRIVE.
-AKITAS ARE NATURAL PROTECTORS – PROTECTION TRAINING AN AKITA CAN CREATE A TICKING TIME BOMB
-ALWAYS BE VIGILANT AROUND CHILDREN.
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http://gbac1.tripod.com/beforebuyingakita.html
It's a lie. The Akita Inu was used as a fighting dog for centuries and was sometimes also used for hunting large prey. When the breed nearly became extinct the Japanese government stepped in and prohibited dog fighting. They were so good at killing each other they nearly died out!
Akitas are the Japanese version of fighting dog. They too have been carefully bred for many years to bring out aggression and danger.
There are very few in this country, probably why fatalities have been low.
The Japanese fighters keep these dogs out of the house and away from people.
The big question is, who is the breeder? Who bred and sold this dangerous dog to a completely wrong situation for both dog and family?
There are liability issues here, and the breeder is responsible for the property they breed and sell.
Yes, breeders do consider dogs "property."
You may be intertested in some fighting dog afficionados comparing the deadliness of their fighting breeds.
The people breeding these dogs KNOW they are fighting dogs, KNOW they are DANFGEROUS, and revel in that.
They know they are endangering children, adults, and pets in their community. They know they are endangering buyers. They enjoy it.
It is time for legislators to understand this community of sociopathic people who are NOT dog lovers, though they may represent themselves as such.
http://www.faqs.org/qa/qa-8446.html
"The akita is an amazing fighting dog.
I have had several encounters with some ignorant folkes letting their pibulls run free. One damn asshole was walking his pit off leash, on a trail through the woods behind my neighborhood. I was walking my akita and the pit attacked my dog. The fight did not last 10 seconds and the pit was on the ground with my 130 pound beast wrapped around his hole neck. I have had a couple of bad run ins like this with several different pitbulls and orhter breeds, and my akita has dominated every time. My akita almost killed my friends pitbull who thought it would be cool to watch them spar. Well he did not think it was very cool when he spent alot money at the vet to get his dog stitched up."
Discussion by afficionados of Japanese fighting dogs and dog fighting in general, including last comment that more Japanese dog fighters are switching to "game pits" or pit bulls, (sold to them by AMERICAN breeders making a lot of money, and fighting bsl laws here for very obvious and underhanded reasons)
The yakuza (or japanese mafia) is heavily involved in dog fighting, for the same reason that the game dog fighters are here- gambling money, despite the claims of "honour."
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Zg6JGCm5TJIJ:realpitbulltruth.phpbb3now.com/viewtopic.php%3Ff%3D3%26t%3D45+japan+akita+yakuza+dog+fighting&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Another way that pit bulls are sold into Japan, particularly in Okinawa, is by some members of the American military bringing them there, breeding them, and selling them to locals intentionally to fight.
It is something that the American military needs to clean up, as they have started to here.
And a grandfather got this dog FOR his grandchildren.
This is the kind of thing that will happen more and more often with all kinds of dangerous breeds if Berkey's "they're just like any other dog" and "each dog is an individual" BS gets more widespread.
I am flabbergasted that a grandfather would get an Akita for his grandchildren. That is just stupid.
It's incredulous he brought home an akita "for the kids". He had been letting her walk the "new" 98 pound dog alone too. You can't tell me that the grandfather had no idea as to the breed's reputation either. The number of grandparents involved in serious and fatal dog maulings is both haunting and alarming.
This is a real shame, and I feel sorrow for everyone involved.
In looking at the records, though, it seems that death by Akita is relatively rare – the number of deaths by Akita in the 28 year Merrit study was 1. Compare that to the numbers for pit bulls (over 1500) or even rottweilers and you can see that the difference is so large as to be qualitative.
BTW, in response to some of the earlier comments here, the reason Akitas nearly went extinct in Japan during WW2 is that they were being killed by the government for their fur, which was used for lining military clothing. After the war, sanity returned and a concerted effort was made to restore the original Akita.
In response to the fighting dog comment, Akitas, because of their size and strength, had been used as fighting dogs in Japan, but the ancient breed predated all that, in contrast to the pit bull, which was specifically created 180 years ago "to kill things and take a licking while doing it"
I understand the Akita in this report was on a chain at the time of the attack, which was apparently a single bite to the neck – unlike the 20 minute torture session we commonly see in a pit bull mauling, where victims are often mutilated beyond recognition.
Caution is called for with any animal, particularly at 100 lbs plus, but it's clear to me at any rate that there is a huge difference between Akitas and pit bulls.