Anthony Bastardi, 67, was killed Monday while dog sitting for his daughter in Johnston County.
Dogs Had Bitten Earlier
Wilson's Mills, NC - One day before the July 4th holiday, a 67-year old man was killed by a pair of dogs while dog sitting them. The attack occurred around 12:40 pm in the 100 block of Eddleston Court, the Johnston County Sheriff's Office said. When Wilson's Mills police arrived at the scene, both dogs were still actively attacking the man. The responding officer shot and killed both dogs. The dogs, a pet cane corso and a bull terrier, belong to the victim's daughter and son-in-law.
WRLA-TV reports the responding officer found Anthony Gerard Bastardi on the ground in the front yard of the home, where the attack occurred, with "one of the dogs over his head." Bastardi had gone to check on the dogs while the couple was out of town. WTVD reports the cane corso was at least 80 pounds and the bull terrier around 50 pounds. Thus, it was not a mini-bull terrier, but a standard size, which has no height or weight limits, according to the UKC Breed Standard.
According to the JoCo Report, the couple had hired a veterinary hospital employee to care for the dogs while they were out of town. While at the home, the female veterinary hospital employee let both dogs into the fenced-in backyard. That's when the cane corso bit her on the leg. She then retreated back inside the home to safety and notified the pet owners. The family then contacted Bastardi, who was familiar with both dogs, asking for his help. Bastardi arrived at about 12:30 pm.
While in the home alone, Bastardi was attacked by the dogs inside the home. The vicious attack continued after Bastardi exited the front door of the home on Eddleston Court. According to investigators, Bastardi was already dead in the front yard by the time they arrived at 12:40 pm. The timeframe, at least at this stage, indicates that Bastardi was immediately, and fatally, attacked by the pair of dogs just after Bastardi told the hospital employee that it was okay for her to leave.
Pet Sitting Deaths
This man's death marks the fifth fatal attack of a dog sitter this year. In May, Rita Vasquez, 58, was killed while dog sitting her daughter's pit bull-mix in Texas. Also in May, Marion County Deputy Tamieka White, 46, was killed while dog sitting three pit bulls for a friend in Indiana. In April, Dezmond Trawick, 22, was killed while dog sitting four pit bulls for his brother in Minnesota. In March, Kristen Potter, 38, was killed by two great danes she was dog sitting in Pennsylvania.
In each of these cases, the victims were adults, ages 22 to 67-years old. Four of the five deaths involved the dog sitter caring for multiple large dogs at the time. Three of the five deaths involved pit bulls. Bastardi's death also marks another fatal dog mauling in Johnston County, North Carolina since 2021. During the 2021 pandemic year, a pair of family rottweilers killed a baby in Willow Spring, whose parents worked for Wake County law enforcement and Johnston County EMS.
WRAL-TV obtained images of the dogs when the cane corso was younger (July/2022).
We were able to locate images of "Rocky" and "Bruno" a tad more recently (Sept/2022).
Related articles:
05/10/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Marion County Deputy Killed by Violent Dog While Dog Sitting
04/15/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Man, 22, Killed by Brother's Four Pit Bulls While Dog Sitting...
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.
I wonder why dogs being babysat seem to be more likely to kill people. Are these dogs upset about their owners being gone? Which dog bit the clinic employee? Could these attacks be minimized by the dogs having more training in a group of dogs and people? It seems like highly socialized dogs don’t need to be aggressive. Fearful dogs are often aggressive.
Dogs bred to fight to the death aren’t fearful and no amount of training is going to make the breed safe. They bite instinctually.
You can’t train the DNA out of a dog.
More dangerous dogs being owned, more people using pet sitters = more dangerous attacks on pet sitters.
I have been bitten by a fearful dog. These attacks are not fearful dogs, just aggressive maulers. Their DNA can not be loved or trained away.
1000x THIS^^^^ Boston.
When I was training dogs my ex adopted a half-crazed, terrified, battered GSD. How do I know it was battered? Cigarette burns all over her body and two sprung ribs. Not “gee it looked upset”.
Yes, it fear bit me once. It fear bit my ex…once. Both times it ran off afterwards. After that she never bit again. If she was afraid–she ran.
And training dogs, that was my experience with *real* “fear biters”. All of them.
It took a year of work to fix that dog but after that, everyone loved her. I was careful with her around children but she even had one fall on top of her once, and just ran away–not even a snap.
Therein lies the difference. Dogs don’t hold grudges and fear biters nip and run. They don’t stand around mauling the crap out of you. All they want is to get away. To teach/train them, you teach them to manage their fears and make better decisions because they actually have a brain to think, with.
Every time I hear the “pitbulls are anxious that’s why they bite” nonsense I wanna upchuck. They aren’t nervous. They’re under-exercised, agitated and overly excitable with a genetic propensity to maul. Horrid combination.
I wonder if the daughter will want her dogs back.
The dogs are dead, shot by officers on the scene.
Clearly the dog that resembled Spuds McKenzie was a bull terrier. The other dog doesn’t look like a cane corso, does it?
Oh, that’s right!
@ Rebecca, you’re right, it doesn’t look like a cane corso to me either…
What I find interesting is that the vet clinic employee got out with only one bite. Maybe she was lucky. Maybe she was standing in the doorway and could slam the door. So maybe that was enough to rile the dogs into kill mode. The dogs apparently attacked the man as soon as the employee left. Is it smart to get around dogs programmed to bite? Probably not, but he knew these dogs and they knew him.
Genetics matters.
Not that it makes any difference, I believe from the pictures it appears that they were both intact males. They could have been fighting before attacking and killing the man.
Wow, great catch! I can’t believe these two dogs were left intact. Insanity.
By the way, our vet office stopped seeing pits, rotties and mastiffs if an owner will not spay or neuter by one year of age. I don’t believe altering them makes them less aggressive, but we are all about not being a vet for breeders of these dogs. When they say we discriminate against their dog, we tell them the shelter is full of pits and by not altering their dog, they are contributing to their suffering. Shuts them up pretty fast.
With Rottweilers, I think I
would like to know the client and the dog. I know of Rottweilers competing in conformation in AKC shows that are fine to handle.
One woman was in a bad wreck with her gorgeous male Rottweiler in the back seat. The owner was unconscious. That dog was safely removed by a friend, as police made sure he stayed safely in the car.
Female Rottweilers in my experience are less aggressive than males.
I suppose it’s possible that the two dogs were neutered after the picture was taken although I doubt it.
Mastiffs, in my experience are dangerous around small dogs. A pair of idiots took their beloved male mastiff biter into PetSmart where he bit the Blue dogfood rep in the hand causing nerve damage. They left the store and called back reporting they had to have the dog PTS since that was his third bite. It would seem to me that a person who loved his dog would not have taken it into a store unmuzzled. Instead he told the Blue rep the dog didn’t bite. Dumb!!!!!!
As pitbulls continue to be present in excessive numbers, I think we will see more cane Corsos, Presas, Mastiffs, Dog Argentinas and any other breed of dangerous dog.
Since these two dogs were quickly destroyed, no one could fight to keep them alive.
As far as Rotties go, I was bit in the hand severely by a female with an ear infection. It stopped my sirgery career, and I was a great surgeon. I also had a large male that attacked and killed my Boston Terrier. I have no love for this breed and avoid them in practice most of the time. The breed also killed the child of a Wake County, NC police officer. No love.
I saw two mastiffs, father and son, right before Covid. The owner left one in the car as he brought one into our vet clinic. The younger dog was leaning out the window, actively terrorizing people coming and going to the dentist. People stayed inside their office until the dogs left with the owner. The owner had a history of taking this dog places, leaving him in the car with the downed window, and the dog terrorizing people. When I realized the issue, I told him “ your dog will come out of the window and hurt someone”. He dismissed me. He asked I send a signed form into the county for rabies as the lunging dog had bitten someone on the waterfront.
I sent the form in with a letter that the younger dog was the most dangerous dog I had seen in my career and it would be back on their radar. 3 months later, the two dogs together scalped the mail-carrier. She and I ended up in court for a hearing to have them euthanized because the owner was fighting to get them back! Who needs these monsters? So many other nice dog breeds.
I couldn’t agree more, Boston. I call them Rottenweilers..
Both these breeds are stubborn and need firm handling. They will push around anyone they perceive of, as “weak”.
The Cane Corso bit first–and I’m not surprised by that.
A 67-year old is an easy mark for dogs like these, regardless of what good shape he might be in. They aren’t Snoopy.
Now another senior citizen won’t be around to collect his pension because of someone else’s stupidity of dog choices.
The lesson in this is: Don’t dogsit large dogs, seniors. No matter how well you get along with them, unless you’ve walked with them, done some training with them and know they respond to you without a cookie in hand–do not take your life in your hands. Even if they’re rambunctious you could wind up with broken bones.
And anyone who asks you to babysit their pitbull, cane corso or mastiff better not be in your will.
I don’t think that dog is a cane caro because those dogs are big muscular and black I’m pretty sure that dog is a Fila Brasileiro or a bull massifs which are both ban dogs he or she probably mistaken the breed.
These dogs were not neutered, number one. Also, this was after the weekend before July 4th. They could have been more protective if they were scared the night before.
I would really like to know how many attacks are by dogs who are unaltered.
Altering may help–if only to stop the propagation of the breed, but it won’t change the basic genetics of a breed designed to kill. People adopting a dangerous breed and thinking it will be safe because it has been altered are delusional.
There’s a meme out that has a vet saying: I’m doing a neuter not a lobotomy…..
The big dog might be a mix but I don’t see Cane Corso as their color is more dark grey to black. By face and color this looks like American Mastiff. It seems to me much of America is unfamiliar with Cane Corsos though.becoming more numerous. As frightening as Pit Bulls are, these are bigger and even stronger. In 2015 a young man out for a jog, on a rural Michigan road, was attacked and killed by a pair of Cane Corsos. His name is Craig Sytsma and he had recently survived cancer. It was the third time the dogs had attacked someone. I believe we are being forced to educate ourselves about dangerous breeds in order to protect our families and pets. People who buy or adopt them need to know they take an unnecessary and even deadly risk for which they will be held responsible if they are not the victim themselves.
bull terriers are jerks and worst case scenario suffer from rage syndrome they are not intelligent animals AT ALL I have one
My brother was the very next neighbor to the owners of these dogs. They have moved in this short period of time. My sister in law would not let my 9 year old nephew play at their house because of these dogs. I met these dogs this past Christmas when I was walking my brother’s 10 pound terrier. It’s a sad situation all around.
Do you mean the family has moved away since the attack occurred?
Your sister-in-law is a smart and strong woman. God bless her! It’s quite possible she saved her son from these monsters.
Dogs were originally meant to do a job, not sit around and be fussed over, laze around and be spoilt. Modern dogs think that they are in charge. 25,000 people are mauled to death by a dog every year.