Rebecca Carey, 23-years old and a dog rescuer, was killed by one or more dogs.
Adoption Information
UPDATE 08/17/12: A hot tipper sent in a cached web page of two of Rebecca Carey's dogs, a pit bull named Napoleon and a presa canario named Louis. Both dogs were adopted over five years ago from the Gwinnett Animal Welfare and Enforcement Center. This is how Napoleon looks now at the age of 6. We continue to search for answers as to why Jackie (Jacqulynn) Cira, who works at The Village Vets as a receptionist, was having Carey dog-sit her presa canario, named Danai.
Carey would have been 5-years younger at the time she acquired Napoleon and Louis1 -- an age and dog breed combination that ought to rattle the nerves of any sensible animal adoption agency, despite the dogs becoming "inseparable." Thus far, we have little information about the two other dogs Carey eventually acquired, other than that one was 15 pounds. The earlier AJC.com article noted that Carey had been dog-sitting Danai for only a week prior to the fatal dog mauling.
08/17/12: Killed Last Weekend
New information about the death of Rebecca Carey reveals that one of the two presa canarios was owned by Carey's friend, Jackie Cira.2 For unknown reasons, Carey was dog-sitting Cira's presa canario, named Danai. Cira discovered her friend's bloody body Sunday afternoon after she failed to show up for work at Alpharetta's Loving Hands Animal Clinic. Police initially thought they were dealing with a homicide, but it soon became clear that the fatal attackers were dogs.
08/17/12: Young Woman Killed
DeKalb County, GA - In a developing story, a young woman who rescues dangerous dog breeds to spare them death, was found horrifically killed by one or more of the five dogs in her Decatur home. At the time of her death, Rebecca Carey was caring for two presa canarios (See: Diane Whipple), two pit bulls and a boxer-mix. DeKalb animal control took custody of all five dogs and subsequently put them down. Animal control’s interim director Tim Medlin told WSBTV.com:3
"We didn’t know which dog did which. I can’t be wrong. Not just myself, no one can be wrong in putting out a dog that possibly had to do with these type of injuries. I will not put another person at that kind of risk."
Carey's family issued the following statement after her death was publicized:
"Rebecca Carey of Decatur was 23 years old and an avid animal lover. Since the second grade when she read the book Throw Away Pets she vowed to be a voice for all animals. She attended Georgia Perimeter College and worked at a veterinary clinic. Upon placing her first abandoned animal in a permanent loving home in 2003, she volunteered countless hours with rescue networks and animal shelters. There she did what she loved the most: rescuing animals from untenable situations to find them safe, loving homes."
In a separate article, Medlin said Carey’s death was the county’s "first fatal dog bite." According to the Fatal Pit Bull Attacks website, this statement is untrue. As recently as 2007, 2-year old Robynn Banks was killed by a pit bull and mastiff-mix. Other DeKalb County victims killed by pit bulls include Chett Heyder, 2-years old (1988) and Billy Gordon Jr., 4-years old (1986), the latter being an historic fatal pit bull attack involving the landmark criminal trial of Hayward Turnipseed.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Georgia Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.2Cira goes on to say that Carey would have been devastated to learn that all of the dogs had been put down, particularly her pet pit bull of 6-years, Napoleon. Cira also claimed her own presa canario -- that Cira temporarily pawned off onto Carey -- was the "love of my life."
3Notably in May, DeKalb County lifted a zoning code that made it difficult for animal shelters to adopt out pit bulls. The so-called "DeKalb County pit bull ban" was so confusing that it was never even documented by DogsBite.org.
Related articles:
04/06/12: Week of Escalating Violent Attacks by Rescued and Adopted Pit Bulls
08/15/11: 2011 Dog Bite Fatality: Pregnant Pacifica Woman Killed by Family Pit Bull
06/16/10: 2010 Dog Bite Fatality: Lorain County Man Killed by 'Rescued' Dangerous Breeds
Photo: WSBTV.com
Another victim of the pit bull propaganda machine.
Very bizarre that she was killed so close to the anniversary of Darla Napora's killing and so soon after Dekalb county decided to just drop the pit bull ban rather than fix it.
As long as these people keep defining "not dangerous" as "hasn't tried to kill me yet" they're going to keep getting themselves and us killed.
I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in rescuing any animal that may try to kill me. Does that make me a non-rescuing meanie rather than an angel?
Besides, I think the word "rescue" is not called for in this case. It implies an act of heroism.
Like carrying a child out of a burning building. Saving a downed pilot behind enemy lines. Or pulling people off their rooftops in flooded New Orleans like the Coast Guard did after Katrina.
Taking in a potentially lethal dog does not rise to this level of heroism.
OMG – total lie that this was the county's first fatal dog bite by like a thousand miles
These attacks are so horrendous that guy has already been told by others he's dead wrong. This woman who was killed had very little sense and although tragic I'm glad it wasn't an innocent person, like a child, who happened upon the scene. You've got to figure these people involved weren't very smart.
The story made the Drudge Report so many people will have seen this story. Woof
Jackie Cira isn't even photographed with her beloved presa canario that she claimed was a "therapy dog," perhaps Danai wasn't working out too well in Cira's own home "filled with animals"? Talk about a mess with these young women and their misguided rescuing efforts of dangerous dogs. Attorney Ken Phillips said it well recently:
People like Rebecca Carey — I call them "humaniacs" — do not recognize the dangers inherent in such dogs. For that reason, I am urging the enactment of laws that regulate adoption organizations, to the extent necessary to make all of them accountable and to prevent the humaniacs from recycling known dangerous dogs into communities.
@truthbird, thanks for mentioning dog bite lawyer Kenneth Phillips.
He makes another excellent point in the same article that you referenced. Here it is:
"Remember, a rescue dog is an abandoned dog. One must wonder why the dog was abandoned. Was there a reason why it was sent to the animal shelter? It is folly to assume that only bad people abandon their dogs. When a dog is violent toward people, good parents, good animal control officers, and good cops send the dog to the shelter. Not all abandoned dogs are good dogs."
I guess this is how people discover that their beloved canines are in fact insane, uncontrollable killing machines.
I'm all for putting down any dog, anywhere, which is aggressive towards humans.
172.November 2001, DeKalb County, GA
David Raeford, 40
Fatal heart attack after altercation with a pit bull
You know it's pretty bad state of affairs in the Animal Control profession when an A/C rep is unaware that this is their County's 5th DBRF involving Pit Bulls….
The only other possible explanation is they are engaging in Pit Bull Advocacy on the Taxpayer's dime.
"When a dog is violent toward people, good parents, good animal control officers, and good cops send the dog to the shelter. Not all abandoned dogs are good dogs."
No, only BAD people send the dog to the shelter in this case. GOOD people have the dog humanely euthanized while they hug and hold it in it's last minutes so it passes peacefully.. they don't send it to a (stressful, scary) shelter where it's violent tendencies will be eventually discovered (unfortunately sometimes only after they've killed or maimed someone), only to have it put to sleep by impersonal shelter staff while it's feeling anxious, alone and scared and wondering where it's family are.
GOOD people take responsibility and don't pawn off their (potentially deadly) responsibility onto someone else.