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30 thoughts on “2016 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bull Kills Child, Injures Another in Lumberton, North Carolina

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  1. I'm so furious and sad to hear this news! I'm sick thinking of these boys being attacked. Another family ripped apart by a stupid pitbull. This 8 year old is suddenly alone and traumatized in life without his brother and best friend and playmate. Just playing in the woods with his brother, acting like a little boy…. And a miserable bully monster running loose AGAIN! Pitbulls destroy EVERYTHING, I hate them!

  2. ALL OF THESE DEATHS IN THIS COUNTY BY PITS. Just like most of the fatalities nationwide. When does our government step in and protect its apoplectic? It's time for laws specifically aimed at this breed. It's the breed and its mixes.

  3. pit bulls seem to be on a record pace for 2016. How much longer can legislators ignore this? How does the tide turn against these awful animals?

    Just the other day I had to endure someone with a pit mix at an equestrian event. They were next to us and the woman was complaining how "the minute she says its a pit bull mix" (which is obvious) "people are afraid and how the dog is so sweet". I of course am never one to bite my tongue and said "they always are until the day they aren't". She had nothing to say back. I would have happily engaged her.
    This was not the only one there. There was also what looked to be a purebred staffordshredder that I did not notice until I went to sit and watch a class. It fixed its reptilian stare on me so I moved to another part of the arena……

    These dogs were never meant to be pets and never meant to live in society.

    This poor little boy. The boy that lived will carry this with him the rest of his life. That is a huge burden for anyone much less a 8 year old boy.

  4. Its very sad to see a child loose there life over someone elses stupidy. That type of dog should have been chained or fenced in properly. That child had not even began to enjoy life as we know it and having it took away like that was not right. My heart goes out to the parents and the sibiling. If you want to have those type of dog or any dog in that manner as the owner do your job and properly secure your animals and keep them in your own yard and if for some reason u can't then u really don't need them. As the owner of the dog how can u live with yourself knowing your animal killed this poor child whom was playing outside with his sibiling and scared the other for life. No matter what bes done to the dog the family will forever be scared and very much heartbroken. Shame on the dog owner for not doing a better job on keeping your animal chained or fenced in how u gonna live with YOURSELF??????????

  5. This is so sad. I'm sick and tired of stories like this. When will people realize that these animals are not fit to live alongside humans. In the report, Jaylan says Talen's legs were each being bitten by a mauler while the 3rd was ripping his face off. Who in the hell would defend a creature after hearing they've attacked a child like that? That was like a pack of wolves ganging up to attack prey. That is not a pet. That is disgusting. And poor, poor Jaylan. I feel so bad for him. Having to see his brother be torn apart by these frankenmaulers; not being able to do anything to help save his brother. And now he and his family will have to live the rest of his life without him because this nation sees this as okay.

    And of course while I was browsing the internet today I see some obvious pit nutter website with some "survey results" showing the dog breeds with the most and least bites. What were some of the breeds they said had the least bites you ask? American Pit Bull Terrier, American Bulldog (pitbull), American Staffordshire Terrier (pitbull), American Bully (bigger uglier pitbull), Boxer, and English Bulldog (Last two aren't pits, but they're still extremely dangerous if you ask me. Not to mention that they're often mixed with pits). How utterly misleading and insulting to Jalen and all others who've been injured and killed by these beasts. Every attack starts with a bite and pits are the number one mauler on the planet.

  6. I have read this article and it's updates and I cannot figure out why the parents have had their children taken away and are not allowed unsupervised visits! Does anyone know why this has happened?

  7. "That type of dog should have been chained or fenced in properly"

    Pit bulls get off chains and tethers easily, and they can scale 12 foot fences or just break through.

    No fence or chain restrains a pit bull properly. That's what hundreds of years of specific breeding to create a canine gladiator creates.

  8. BREEDERS. Again. Killing a child for greed. Cashing in on the created pit bull marketing fad.

    This is all pit bull advocacy and "rescue" has created. It is built on a foundation of marketing and protection for breeders, and thus we have an ever expanding number of breeders breeding aggressive dogs, and creating an out of control situation for even the dogs themselves

    Pit bull advocacy just greases the path for this massive overbreeding and the destruction that follows

    No one seems to care about anything but enabling the breeders and the money making

    People have to start getting active in animal control issues in their towns and demanding enforced laws to prevent roaming dogs and deal with aggressive dogs before the attack, but also to be regulating the breeders and requiring some responsibility. Why should communities suffer for the greed of a few?

    As long as lawlessness for breeders is tolerated, then everything gets worse for everybody, and again that includes the dogs themselves

  9. I got the comment from Fa Kyu this afternoon on my blog post. Who ever this is they are piling on. I feel that the lack of compassion and the need to rush in and take those kids so fast may result in something just horrible happening.

  10. I just don't understand. Whatever this woman's history she had earned her children back. How is someone's pit bull murdering her child on her? What a very cruel turnfor this family.

  11. Talan is the seventh person killed by pit bulls in North Carolina in just the past 27 months. For the record, the other six recent NC deaths by pit bull:

    Katherine Atkins, 25, killed by boyfriend's pit bulls on November 4, 2013
    Braellynn Coulter, 3, killed by parents' pit bulls on February 24, 2014
    Kasil Haith, 4, killed by family friend's pit bulls on May 7, 2014
    Alemeaner Dial, 83, mauled by granddaughter's pit bulls on October 25 2014, died on November 2, 2014)
    Joshua Strother, 6, killed by neighbor's pit bull on July 7, 2015
    Cathy Wheatcraft, 48, killed by neighbor's pit bull on August 24, 2015

    It may be that NC social services has some strict protocol, but it may also be that they are aware that CPS in California is being blamed (and sued) for the death by pit bull of Griffin-Heady's brother, Tyler Trammel-Huston, just three weeks earlier. No matter the history, a judge found that Talan's mother was now fit to have custody of her children. That makes this new action by NC social services look (wrongly or rightly) like a 'cover our asses' operation.

    The more so because, as the above list shows, the problem with pit bulls in North Carolina is not one of parents allowing their children to play unattended outdoors close to home. Like Talan's death, the other NC deaths by pit bull attack also occurred while people were doing normal and/or essential daily activities — feeding the pit bulls (Atkins), playing with the family pit bull in the parents' presence (Coulter), going for a quick pee while a child continued to play with well-known pit bulls he'd been playing with all day (Haith), sitting on one's own porch (Dial), checking the mail (Wheatcraft), returning to a neighbor's yard to play again with a pit bull the child had played with many times before (Strother).

    Developmental psychologists agree that it's essential to a child's physical, mental and social development to spend time playing outdoors without adults present. A seven-year-old boy is old enough for this, especially if he's out with older friends or siblings. It seems that NC social services and NC legislators would now blame a parent for trying to follow developmental wisdom by giving their children this opportunity. It seems that NC social services and NC legislators would rather take this essential activity away from children than ban the non-essential activity of keeping a type of dog created only to maul, maim and kill.

    However, banning outdoor play for children would not be enough. To save children's lives from pit bull attack, social services / child protective services would also have to ban parents from peeing while there's a pit bull in the home or in the neighborhood. They'd have to ban parents from allowing a child to be with them in their own living room if a pit bull type dog is also present. To save other lives, they'd have to ban sitting on your porch, checking your mail, and even feeding your pit bulls (which of course would lead to animal cruelty charges as the pit bulls starve to death).

    This newest action by NC social services looks like a blatant attempt at blaming a woman who was doing what was best for her children rather than taking on the issue of the danger pit bulls in any community present for everyone.

    Shame on North Carolina Social Services.

    They should be fighting to have the owner of the pit bulls prosecuted for criminal negligence aggravated by depraved indifference. How dare they suggest that it's just fine to leave pit bulls out unattended and unconfined, and that instead we have to confine our children? They should be pressuring legislators to rid North Carolina of this entire class of dogs. How dare they suggest that the rest of us are criminal and should lose custody of our children because some disturbed neighbor chooses to keep this type of dog?

    It boggles the mind.

  12. I sent the comment to you at [email protected]. This person does not mispell a word and is articulate. If this person is connected to SS, then privacy laws are being broken. I've known SS to do worse. I've had to deal with them once when my special needs child was very young. I feel "VENDETTA" going on here. There's a harshness to this person's words. It's excessive!!!Give me a word back that you got the email.

  13. It is the same person — she comments a lot on this very long comment thread (http://wncn.com/2016/01/25/nc-mom-speaks-out-after-son-dies-from-pit-bull-attack/). She claims to work with a rescue worker that was on site after the attack, "and my best friend was working ER when the children were brought in." She talks about the comment she left on the GoFundMe page. She is extremely vitriolic toward the mother and father. Of the many accusations she makes about them, she also said she's heard rumors that the dogs belonged to the boy's father. She goes on and on about the machete too, which actually turned out to be a pair of pruning shears — so even her alleged "on scene" information is not accurate.

    I'd be shocked if "Fa Kyu" is 25-years old yet.

  14. This Fa Gyu is revealing personal information about this family

    Is this person connected to the social services department or perhaps the dog owner and trying to help the dog owner avoid charges and being sued, which someone in those comments referred to?

  15. This is so sad. And it's infuriating that people are trying to blame the children and their mother for this. Is it really that strange for children to be playing outside of their house? When I was a kid, me and my young brother and our friends played outside behind our house in the yard all the time. We were also able to walk to and from our school bus stop.

    Children should be able to play outside without being killed by dogs. Plus, pit bull advocates seem to forget that these dogs are capable of killing supervised children. What about the young child who was killed recently when walking down the sidewalk with his mom? Once one of these dogs has its fighting instincts triggered, it can be impossible to stop it without a gun and several shots. And frankly, people should be able to walk down the street without being armed.

    I'm so disgusted by all of this. I had dogs as a kid (various mixes) and they were a wonderful part of my childhood. I love my current two dogs. However, so many kids have to fear dogs because of sociopathic people who insist on breeding fighting breeds.

  16. In one of her comments, she claims that she got some information from her friend who works in the emergency room of the hospital where this boy and his brother were taken after the attack

    So someone in the emergency room of that hospital is breaking HIPPA laws

    Social services is also refusing to comment to the media but is disclosing personal information to a young woman barely out of her teens? This makes no sense.

    Does anyone from this family recognize who this is who is preying on them? They have some valid complaints about this vendetta and the players involved in i, and about state and federal laws being broken.

    Where does the Robeson County Board of Health stand in this? I saw on Decatur's page that the head of that department was blaming the boy after the attack.

  17. Her Facebook page is a violation as one HAS to use their real name. If enough people reporter page they will take it down

  18. She also wrote that one of her friends giving her personal and restricted informaion about this was a first responder to the scene. So does that mean a police officer or an EMT?

    This is very ethically troubling.

  19. Whoah, i take some of that back.

    I reread her comments

    She works with a rescue worker who was on scene after the attack, who disclosed personal and confidential information to her. Works!

    So this Fa kyu works in either the EMTs office, the police department, or the social services department!

    Can anyone figure out where the rescue worker first responders are deployed from in Robeson County? This could also be through the fire department. Or could she work for animal control through the Health Department?

    So that explains how she gets personal and confidential information, through local government departments.

    Now the question is, why haven't the dog owners been charged?

  20. I'm so glad that you do moderate this thread. There aren't many places you can go and not be bombarded with the pro-pit propaganda and victim hating. I cannot understand how someone could be so vicious to someone who just had a child killed, and their entire life turned upside down, because of a neighbor's pet. The lack of empathy alone is stunning. When you try to respond to these haters the thread then becomes all about them and their pits. The victim gets lost.

  21. A little more background on Robeson County. "Operation Tarnished Badge," the largest in the state's history, was the result of a 6-year investigation into corruption in the county (It began in 1994). "The investigation shook the Sheriff's Office, leading to the conviction of one-sixth of its force." Sheriff Sealy became the next sheriff (in 2005), rebuilding the department from scratch. Sealy has been sheriff during the last three fatal pit bull attacks in the county. There was also a big dogfighting (and cockfighting) bust recently.

    1988 – Robeson County's 'Third World Ills'
    2008 – Ex-sheriff gets prison time for corruption
    2013 – Operation Tarnished Badge: Years later, tarnish remains
    2013 – Five Sentenced in Dog Fighting Ring

  22. My son was mauled by a pit bull on Oct 20th,2015. The owner of the dog has no assets and no insurance. What are we supposed to do with this $45,000($45,000 after being cut in half if we pay) bill for the hospital and plastic surgery?

  23. Way to go Jamie West! She is a miracle worker! I'm so glad she got this done in honor of her son. What a woman!

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