Wilma Ridner, 61-years old, was killed by a pack of neighborhood dogs in McCreary County.
Woman Killed by Dog Pack
McCreary County, KY - A 61-year old woman is dead after being mauled by up to six loose dogs. Yesterday, the McCreary County Sheriff's Office issued a public safety alert notice stating that two of the dogs were still at large. A report from WKYT states the attack occurred early Wednesday morning on Slab Vanover Road, which is a rural area off Highway 90 west of Cumberland Falls. The dogs attacked her as she walked down the road. The victim lived near the attack location.
Earlier today, McCreary County Coroner Tim Corder identified the woman as 61-year old Wilma Ridner. Corder was notified about her death around 2:00 am Wednesday. The state Medical Examiner's Office in Frankfort performed an autopsy on Thursday. Those results have not been released. McCreary County Sheriff David Sampson told the Lexington Herald Leader that four dogs were captured and euthanized. Sampson also described them as neighborhood dogs.
In 2017, 79-year old Vinson Tucker was killed by a pack of dogs in the same county. That attack occurred at Stephens Towing and Wrecker Service. The owner of the company, who was away at the time, said the dogs were strays. But one neighbor, Eric Branscum, disagreed. "It's hard to say you don't own a dog if you take care of it and it lives at your house, at your business," he told the media. The violent attack was captured on surveillance cameras. No charges were ever brought.
Ridner's death comes after four other pack attacks this year. All of those victims were male, ages 7 to 74-years old. Most of those fatal pack attacks occurred in rural areas, including the death of Kellan Boner, 7, who was killed by dogs on the Fort Hall Indian reservation in January. The most recent fatal pack attack occurred in McDonald Chaple, Alabama. 74-year old Joe Scott had been taking a morning walk when he was attacked by six dogs. Police said those dogs were strays.
Family Member Says Pit Bulls
Authorities did not release the breed of dogs involved. On the WKYT Facebook post, however, a family member said the dogs were pit bulls. Ridner's granddaughter, Samantha Maldonado, states in comments, "Look I’m not scared of pits but yes it was pit bulls that did this to her not all pit bulls are bad dog it’s how your raise them." Maldonado also said that seven dogs were involved. "This is correct. There was 7 in total that took her life just pray for her kids and the rest of the family."
Related articles:
03/01/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Dog Pack Kills 74-Year Old Man in Jefferson County, Alabama
07/12/17: 2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Pack of Dogs Kill 79-Year Old Man in McCreary County
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
Walking home has become far more dangerous than it was a few decades ago.
I’d say if you do a lot of walking around near where you live at and you live in a state that has good right to carry laws you should do just that. Personally I have no qualms about carrying for personal protection and no qualms on pulling the trigger on a neighbor’s mauler. This poor woman’s outcome may have been different if she was armed and had the skills and the willingness to use it. If you’re out there walking folks stay safe.
It amazes me that so often the first comment from a family member is an apologetic remark about pitbulls. It just goes to show how insane pit culture is and how there is in fact a major problem or else they wouldn’t feel compelled to make some qualifying comment about how “they’re not all bad”! Can you imagine someone saying this about a person who murdered their loved one?! “He might have killed my mom but generally he’s a really nice loving guy!”
It is ridiculous when folks leave dogs loose to run in packs and kill. Of course, the dogs have no owner so no dog owner can be charged with this. Were the dogs hungry? Did they kill for sport? We will never know and it’s not very important. Animal Control needs to step up and eliminate dog packs before a tragedy occurs.
In my area, the Humane Society is no kill, and it just opened a new huge shelter within the past two years. It was supposed to be big enough until 2035. It is overflowing with dogs now. Since it’s no kill, the umpteen pitbulls cannot be euthanized.
What can they do about this?
Create a pitbull sanctuary? Pitbull overpopulation is a big problem everywhere.
That video is a hellscape of barking, wandering dogs.
Before I read the story I automatically knew it was pitbull poor Wilma to died a horrific death I can’t imagined the pain she felt dying by those ugly beast dangerous dogs .and the of course the owners or family members said the same things it not the pitbull is the owners.yes Samantha it the breed of dogs that matter pitbull were originally breed to attacked because of the owner he she choose a pitbull innocent people are getting attacked or killed,
I’m sooooo sick of ignorant ppl- the epically erroneous comment it’s how u raise them…OK ppl need to get smart- they need to learn the difference between breeding and training u cannot train breeding out of a dog! U cannot train a border collie not to herd furthermore u don’t have to train them TO herd-tneyre going to do it
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/lansing-woman-dies-in-possible-dog-attack/ar-AA19SRLI
Well glad the granddaughter still thinks pit bulls are good dogs. @@ Let’s make sure everyone knows that so when their grandma is brutally mauled to death they are okay with it being pit bulls. Pack attacks seem to becoming even more common. And Animal Control is doing nothing, cops only respond if active attack or a body. Our streets are becoming danger zones due to pit bulls but still the non stop promotion based on lies and fuzzy feelings.v
I hate the “its how you raise them” comments. It makes my blood boil that the family member said this. How are the people with “nice” pitbulls training them not to kill? Tossing baby dolls at them and giving treats every time they don’t attack the doll. Like come on you nuts, it’s the breed. It’s always the breed with pits!
Repeating the pit bull lie over and over doesn’t make it true. That statement makes zero sense, “it’s all in how you raise them”. Since many put bull people murders are members of the owner’s family, that either means 1. They raised their dogs to murder their family and neighbors, or 2. They are natural murder dogs and you have to train them not to murder. So why in the world would a sane person get murder dogs. The truth is they have breed specific traits that give them the propensity to be murder dogs. The other common comments, “I don’t know why they snapped”, or “something triggered them”, is more BS.
I will say, after reading similar accounts of “stray” packs of dogs that terrorize their neighborhoods, if this were my neighborhood I would not think twice about poisoning the lot of them. If they’re strays and there’s no AC then no one should care. My life and my family’s live are more important than some dogs.
Sadly if somthing like that is even suspected the authorities, the same ones that don’t have the resources to lock up strays or investigate attacks will spend limitless manpower and other resources to catch the “monster” responsible.
If you shoot a dog that it attacking your pet you will be charged with a crime in many places.
The world has gone insane.
This is why I carry a weapon whenever I walk around in my neighborhood. In our county, the number of dog attacks has increased dramatically in the last 2 years. None fatal….yet. It’s just a matter of time. I refuse to be a victim just so people can let their psycho dogs roam free.
I just won’t to say the dogs was not raised to do this and yes they got fees everyday just so y’all know the dogs knew polly they never bothered her before they always seen who she was and walked with her to her home they never bothered her rip polly