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34 thoughts on “2022 Dog Bite Fatality: Beloved Church Leader Dies After Being Mauled by Neighbor's Pit Bull in Richmond, Virginia

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  1. Another dead senior slaughtered horrifically in the jaws of a pitbull.

    My deepest condolences to her family and community who have lost someone so vital to them in such a devastating way.

    Perhaps due to Ms. Jones’ high profile, fixing the Pitbull Problem will get some much needed support in the public eye.

  2. Richmond Animal Care & Control has an escalating record of promotion of Pit Bulls as family pets-“Tommie” license plates and “I love Pit Bulls” stickers abound on cars here after the terrible crime of “Tommie the Pit Bull” Ms Peters the spokesman mentioned in the article presented on just that at the Virginia Animal Control annual meeting in Oct. I questioned the appropriateness of promotion of these animals to families and children with such activities that included a widespread story of 2nd graders at St Michaels school in Richmond. The children wrote letters posing as hard to place dogs to encourage adoptions. My questions were deflected with earnest assurances that only safe animals were adopted out. Seeing as how RACC is a public shelter and populated primarily by Pit Bulls as every other public shelter in the United States, it is a stretch to believe that only safe dogs are adopted out.

    • If you’re being told that only safe animals are being adopted out, and they obviously aren’t, well, there’s a word for that. Let me spell it out, slowly and carefully, so there’s no misunderstanding:

      F-R-A-U-D

      • There’s another element, though, which is that many pitbulls who wind up attacking people have not shown signs of aggression before. Often, they attack their owners (or family members) after having been raised from puppies, for 2 or 5 or 8 or 10 years … then suddenly, boom. Obviously, many shelters DO hide dogs’ bite histories (and should be held legally liable), but ALSO, many dogs adopted out actually DON’T have a history of aggression.

    • Keep it up Bonny Like the beautiful song sung by Ms Jones “Tell em’ what you want’
      Strongly worded Ordinances that is what.

      Promote it and more power to you!
      Susan

    • Bonny T Lee, I recognize your name from your active interest in preventing pitbull mailings. As I recall, you are a nurse and provided the info that pitbull pack survivor Jocelyn S. has been treated in restorative surgeries by the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. That was in response to the pitbull advocate Colin Dayan’s recent article of untruths about pitbull history.

      Thank you for all you do!

      I recall that Virginia is sentencing the grandparents of a little girl, Olivia, mauled to death by their rottweiler. I remember the murder sentence was more fair than what we have seen from some other states. So I hope there will also be strong sentencing by the state of Virginia for the death of Evangeline Brooks.

    • I guess the operative word is “safe”. *Who* is determining that? *How* are they determining that? *What breed characteristics* are considered in determining that? What *timeframe* is used in determining that? Under what circumstances is the dog deemed safe?

      Therein lies the problem.

      Almost all puppies are “safe” relatively speaking. So are most dogs under their teenage years.

      Is a dog that chases cats considered safe? What if the dog catches it? If the dog growls at other dogs, is that safe? What happens if there’s more than growling, going on?

      Since shelter dogs that are surrendered are often surrendered because the owner can’t manage their behaviour through either incompetence or because the dog is genetically hard to manage, how is that determined and what measures are in place for such less optimal dogs to be housed with experienced owners and what assurances do those experienced owners have that it was the handling of the dog and not the dog itself that is the problem?

      See what I’m getting to, here?

      There are relatively behaviourally safe dogs and that does not tend to be the majority of large surrendered dogs unless the dog was surrendered for financial, physical or myriad reasons that don’t have to do with the owner’s inability to manage the dog’s behaviour.

      • Agreed, and also bully dog breeders breed for insanity. Their goal as “mad scientist” dog breeders is to create dogs that will mature to have the pathological drive and the ability to kill family, their own kind.

        It’s not possible to determine or predict the safety of purposely created insane individuals

        The best fighting dogs do not waste energy showing aggression. There is zero reason to give warning before attacking when the “good” game insane bully dog’s reason to live is to attack, maul, kill on neutral ground, for no external reason.

        Good bully dogs carry the reason to maul and kill everywhere they go. It’s mutant man-made instinct: inside, invisible and impossible to predict.

  3. I scroll to free dog on Nextdoor that folksy little ‘just your neighbors’ site based out of San Fransisco and direct them to dogsbite.org which thankfully turns to blue so anyone can click on the word to get to this site from there the education begins.

    We just had a thankfully reported and of which I need to go back to news report and send to this database incident where 2 pit bulls (mixes their sires or dams. that is Ordinance wording that you must learn in order to make the world a better place by calling your Mayor/Sheriff
    and having a strong Ordinance put in place)
    came out of no where and mauled to death 2 4H pigs that were housed ready for showing.
    Pit bulls then ran to the entrance of the Elementary school where they were properly shot by a Sheriff’s Deputy.
    I also just subscribed to Arkansas Police Activity youtube channel which covers most of the Jurisdictions in my State where I then comment about ‘stepping up to the plate’ and protecting citizens on each video I view.
    I use that high speed chases involve P.I.T. which is a police maneuver to push the narrative back to pit bulls.
    And those my brave and caring friends is how we will change the world to safer place for humans their babies, livestock and companion pets
    Susan

    • I refer people to this site too, some suggest it’s a biased site but I tell them that each case is verified, these attacks and deaths actually happen, it’s not just made up to upset the pit nutter cultists.

      • I refer people to this site too. On a forum I belong to, we recently had a discussion of a lowly pitt bull that recently killed a baby and a child. One guy was constantly defending the beasts because he owns 2 “Sweety Bears that would never hurt a fly,” but everyone else pointed out how he cared more about the beasts than the children involved, and ignored all the stories people linked. He opposed every person who dared go against him, using all the usual defenses, including other dogs bite and kill too. I got sick of this and finally ended the discussion by posting a link to this site’s “study of dog bites”, with DogBite’s quote that pitts have the MOST devastating bites requiring the MOST extensive surgery.

    • Susan, thanks for your activism on behalf of pitbull attack survivors. A toddler was mauled by a dog one week ago in the NW corner of your state Arkansas in Washington County. There has been no further info available from the Sheriff’s Office in the news.

      My first university is located in the contiguous county there, where Sam Walton began Walmart, so I am aware there has been great sorrow in that corner of Arkansas in the last week or two. My condolences to you Arkansas residents.

      • There are a few articles about a child being killed by a dog in Springdale Arkansas on Nov 4. No mention of breed but someone on Facebook said a neighbor said it was a pit bull. But unconfirmed.

        • Last week there was also a heinous murder situation in several contiguous counties north of Washington County. I am guessing that the Washington County Sheriff’s Office perhaps has participated with its neighbor counties and the FBI so may be why WCSO has not shared more info w the media. Also, I think I remember reading here that when a child has been mauled by a family dog, sometimes it is more difficult to get more attack info than if the dog was a stranger.

          • You are right about less information often being released when it is a family dog. They don’t always want it out, they immediately hide any information on the dog that might be out there. Their friends often are not going to talk about it to protect pits, so they don’t contact the media or put out information on Facebook saying anything about a pit attacking a child.

  4. Just today overheard two young teenagers loudly talking in my workplace.
    One was showing the other pics on her phone: “I finally got to play with so-and-so’s dog. He’s so cute! He’s a pit/lab mix. But he scratched me up so bad.”

    She pulls up her sleeves to show the other girl, who reacted with disgust.

    “My cousin got bit by a pit/german shepherd mix and it was not good,” the other said.

    “Yeah, German shepherds are rough,” said the scratched girl.

    There’s a whole generation of kids growing up where it is normal to get hurt by dogs, and yet you never, ever say anything bad about a pit bull. They’re still so “cute,” even when they hurt you. I don’t see anything changing anytime soon.

  5. In one of the video news reports it is mentioned that clothing and jewelry was scattered across the yard. We have seen from many previous reports of pitbull attacks that that is typical – those dogs tear off the clothing of their victims. They have an M.O. – these aren’t unique and unexpected incidents, they are repeated tragedies that play out just like others have done before.

    The felony dog attack law they passed in 2006 was designed to protect the owners of these dogs. We wouldn’t want to inconvenience the owners of dogs that injure people now would we? “He’s never done anything like that before.”

    This is infuriating.

    • I agree Rebecca. It is beyond infuriating that no one ever seems to be held accountable for what their choice of dog has done. If there were real consequences, like negligent manslaughter charges and jail time, perhaps, just MAYBE, some people would get a different breed than a pit bull.

  6. Sad that Evangeline died its terrible but these are the same people who fought NOT to have pitbull bans.they’re saying you should not ban the pitbull you’re discriminating against the breed if these people didn’t demand to overturn the ban of pitbull then innocent people wouldn’t have to died a horrific death.

  7. Thank you, Rev. Cheryl Ivy Green, for singing that great Gospel song “Jesus on the Mainline.” We sang that in the church of one of my tutoring students. What a joy for you to share how you felt about Miss Evangeline.

    I share in your sorrow at how Miss Evangeline passed but look forward as you do to seeing her again in heaven.

  8. Ms. Brooks’ story, of course, was not on national news tonight. Instead, we got a “feel good” story about free adoptions of dogs (mostly pit/mixes) to traumatized veterans. They label them “service” dogs that are trained to help vets when they wake up from nightmares. If the war didn’t get them nightmares, some of these maulers will. It’s sickening. Recently, an Australian TV news commentator, Chris Kenny, just did a powerful opinion piece on dangerous dogs after a two-year-old was mauled to death at a motel. Google him if you get a chance…it’s well worth the watch.

    • If veterans are suffering from PTSD, the choice of dogs is critical. They need dogs like goldens and Labradors. Those breeds should be hard to trigger aggression in. An insecure veteran can trigger aggression in his/her own dog if it has aggressive tendencies.

      • Absolutely, Rachel.

        Why does a PTSD sufferer need a dog that is behaviourally hard to manage to increase their symptoms? It’s lunacy. PTSD is caused by the inability to predict when something horrifying will happen and prevent it. Pitbull behaviour is inherently unpredictable and too often, horrifying. The 50%+ dog aggression rate alone, disqualifies them from being useful.

        Plus, as we’ve all noticed here–pitbulls tend to target easy prey. Someone in the throes of flashbacks or thrashing with nightmares IS “easy prey” because they’re not focusing on their surroundings or the dog.

        There are plenty of breeds of dogs that are either don’t respond much to human emotion because they’re less inclined to rely on humans for social cues (sled dog types, some working dogs) or are gentle enough that their response is to move away or sit quietly.

        There’s a wealth of suitable dogs. Hounds, spaniels, labs, collies etc that are not nervous or dangerous.

        Pitbulls are not among them.

        • Ironically, I think one factor makes pitbulls seem particularly attractive as PTSD service AND “nanny dogs:” The fact that they were bred to not display warning signs prior to an attack.

          Where other breeds might growl or show obvious signs of agitation when they’re uncomfortable or frustrated, pitbulls might appear totally calm … and people misinterpret this as extreme tolerance and tranquility.

          Since (luckily!!) MOST pitbulls won’t maul MOST people to death MOST of the time, tolerant and tranquil pitbulls are all MOST owners will ever see. And that’s really why they’re so dangerous: On the rare occasions they do attack, they more than make up for all those years of apparent calmness … but by then, it’s too late.

    • I saw this story on TV, too, of pitts being given to traumatized veterans to soothe their night time terrors. And all I could picture in my head was a veteran screaming and tossing in his sleep from a nightmare, to screaming and tossing from being attacked by his pitt that had gotten aroused by the veteran’s screaming and tossing.

      • I pictured the same scenario.They even demonstrated someone flailing in a bed. The fake service dog simply jumped on the bed and started licking and pawing the person. (It was such a stupid example.) We’ve seen lots of stories about pit bulls being “triggered” by seizures.Of course, the dog defenders blame the victim and use it as an excuse as to why the dog attacked.

  9. I got so mad when my local news reported this tragic story. They waited till the very end of the story to tell that is was a Pitt Bull, and then blurred the beast’s image out in the picture like IT was the victim. I thought, “Oh my gosh, show the beast so others will know what danger looks like!”

    • They wanted to protect the identity of the dog? That’s so wrong. What is the purpose of news reporting – to obfuscate the facts or share them?

  10. I will not a be a bit surprised is the only thing to come from this attack is a crack down on stray cats in the area..

    I could see them sending the cops from house to house, shooting cats in back yards.

    I won’t be surprised if this page gets pushback counting this as a dog bite related fatality.

    “It is actually the cat’s fault. If the cat had not been there the dog never would have attacked.”

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