A 93-year old woman died after being attacked by a pair of cane corsos in Modesto, California.
Elderly Woman Dies
Modesto, CA - On August 31, Modesto police officers were dispatched to a residence in the 3600 block of Dothan Drive at approximately 1:30 pm regarding a dog attack. Upon arrival, officers learned an elderly female, who had been outside, was attacked by two large dogs belonging to a nearby neighbor. She sustained "major injuries" and was transported to a hospital, according to a media release from the Modesto Police Department. Chanthy Philavong Maetu died on September 1.
The dogs involved, a pair of cane corsos, were captured on a neighbor's security camera rushing her front door moments before the attack. Jeniece Dendulk said she opened her front door after the dogs rushed it, but stayed behind a metal screen door, which separated her from the dogs, (whose combined weight easily surpassed 200 pounds). "I open the door, and there's the screen, there the two big ol' dogs. I'm like, oh we're not gonna answer the door," Dendulk told CBS13 in an inteview.
She yelled to a neighbor, who said they were trying to contact the dogs' owner. It appeared the pair of dogs had escaped from the backyard of Maetu's next door neighbor, reports CBS13. After the dogs left her front door area, she heard a person screaming. "We knew [the dogs] weren't friendly," Dendulk said. When she dashed out, she saw Maetu in her front yard being attacked by the two large dogs. Dendulk and neighbors were able to distract the dogs and get Maetu back inside her home.
"It was chaos. It was a matter of 80 seconds," Dendulk said. "Looking back, it was 80 seconds. Just like that everybody’s lives changed. It was awful."
While reports initially indicated Maetu was in stable condition, her condition rapidly deteriorated. She died early the next morning, according to Modesto police. The two dogs are currently in custody at the Stanislaus County Animal Shelter. According to neighbors, the owners of the dogs were not home at the time of the attack. They also commented that both dogs had shown repeated aggression since they were puppies, reports CBS13. It's unclear if Modesto police are now pursuing criminal charges.
Modesto Police Department
Modesto, CA - September 2, 2023On Thursday, August 31, 2023, Officers investigated a dog attack that resulted in the death of an elderly Modesto woman.
At approximately 1:30 in the afternoon we received reports of a dog attack that occurred in the 3600 block of Dothan Drive in Modesto. When officers arrived, they learned that an elderly female had been attacked by two large dogs belonging to a nearby neighbor. The woman was transferred to a nearby hospital with major injuries. Both dogs were located and are in custody at the Stanislaus County Animal Shelter.
As of Thursday evening, she was in stable condition. On Friday, September 1, 2023, we were notified that the victim, 93-year-old Chanthy Philavong Maetu had unfortunately passed away.
Detectives with our Investigative Services Division have taken over this case. No further information will be released at this time as this is an active investigation.
Our hearts go out to the Maetu family over the tragic loss of Chanthy.
According to various media reports, Maetu had been returning home from a doctor's appointment. She had just exited her car and was heading toward her front door when the dogs attacked. The victim's family has started a GoFundMe, In Memory of Chanty Philavong Maetu. "Our Grandma was brutally attacked by our neighbors dogs. She was taken from us unexpectedly," states the fund's organizer. "Anything that helps would be greatly appreciated." So far, the fund has raised over $3,000.
The pair of cane corsos were captured on a security camera moments before the attack.
Deadly Cane Corso Attacks
The rise of fatal attacks inflicted by cane corsos has been a long time in the coming. We began looking at Google Trends in about 2014, comparing the two terms "cane corso puppies" and "pit bull puppies." By 2015, the cane corso term had surged well above pit bulls. Because pit bull breeders began marketing designer pit bull breeds under a different name, American bullies, around the same time period, we added that to the comparison, showing the years January 2012 to August 2023.
In July, a pet cane corso was involved in a multi-breed attack that killed 67-year old Anthony Bastradi in Wilson's Mills, North Carolina. In March, a cane corso, used for guarding purposes, was involved in a multi-breed attack that killed 42-year old Mateo Salvador at a home-converted business in Jurupa Valley, California. In December of 2021, four pet cane corsos killed 26-year old Karen Rosa-Madrid in East Valinda, California. Rosa-Madrid and her son had been living at the dog owner's home at the time.
Google Trends shows the growing popularity of cane corso puppies compared to pit bulls.1
Rationale of Criminal Charges
Long time readers of our blog may recall the brutal attack of 54-year old Juan Fernandez and his mother in Modesto in 2014. A pack of four pit bulls belonging to Fernandez's neighbor escaped their fencing and fatally mauled Fernandez in his own backyard and nearly killed his mother, Maria Fernandez. She amazingly survived after sustaining severe injuries. Those dogs had a history of burrowing under their fencing and harassing Fernandez and his mother. No charges were brought.
At that time, the Modesto Bee ran a series of editorials questioning the "bizarre lack of laws to prosecute owners of uncontrolled recognized dangerous dog breeds," we stated in our related blog post. Dog bite attorney Kenneth M. Phillips best summarized the subsequent debate: "Four pit bulls equal danger. When you have a dangerous condition, you have to take steps to correct it." Owners who choose to own multiple aggressive breeds must have a higher standard mandated by law.
"If law enforcement cannot charge, then our lawmakers must step up and fix these laws.
Why not require anyone with an aggressive dog to alarm their fencing, just as gates in fences around swimming pools are alarmed? Why not require owners of aggressive breeds to double fence their property? Why not require people who own such dogs to carry significant liability coverage? Since these breeds are responsible for so much carnage, make certain that anyone who owns one can cover the cost. No insurance, no license; no license, no dog." - Modesto Bee editorial, 10/31/14
A pair or more of beagles escaping a property is not comparable to the danger presented by a pair or more of pit bulls or mastiffs escaping (the cane corso is a mastiff). The average fence for a residential property, wooden or cyclone, is not engineered to be a barrier between "life and death." They are not engineered to prevent a pair or pack of aggressive and powerful breeds from escaping either. When owners choose to own "200 pounds of mastiff," stronger fencing should be mandated by law.
Chanthy Philavong Maetu, 93, died after being mauled by a pair of cane corsos in Modesto.
Related articles:
12/30/21: 2021 Dog Bite Fatality: 26-Year Old Woman Mauled to Death by Four Dogs in East Valinda
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.
An elderly person wouldn’t have a chance against ONE of these dogs much less two. Power breeds should not be permitted as PET animals.
I recently moved and had a fence put around my FRONT yard. Now I don’t have to worry about dog running loose, particularly with the number of pits around me. I still keep a weapon on me just in case though.
Tragically, fences don’t always stop game-insane bloodsport dogs. But they can help.
After being anti-gun for my entire life, I acquired several weapons for defense against bloodsport dogs. I might not be able to stop an attack, but I will do everything in my power to stop that dog from repeating its attack.
May she Rest In Peace shessh again an old lady dying by a dangerous dogs I think the owner of the dogs should face the harshest criminal charges .if I make the laws if someone own a dangerous breed whether is pitbull cane caros they should keep eye on them like a hawk and never let them loose around innocent people and pay for the hospital bill if their dog hurt someone.
Cane Corsos are not pets. They should not be owned by anyone but a person with lots of dog training experience. There should be requirements in place for Cane Corsos that dictate the requirements necessary for proper confinement.
Why does anyone need this kind of dog? Farmers don’t let
their breeding animals roam.
Maybe they should let dairy bulls protect their property.
That would be safer.
I dont think anyone needs these dogs at all.
Mastiffs, cane corsos etc were bred to kill people, so are basically an automated extremely brutal weapon, exclusively used against unarmed victims.
Ban them completely.
It is WAY past time to start holding the owners of dogs that maul and kill criminally liable. Yes, the dog’s genetics was a major factor in the outcome. The OTHER factor in the outcome was the dog owner that brought the dog into the community in the first place. The dog owner introduced the dog into the neighborhood and then failed to control it, and thus has culpability.
Situations like this should result in statutory penalties that include hard prison time AND monetary compensation mandated by the criminal court. While suing mauler mutt owners is a great idea, the victim and their family should not be completely on their own to prosecute the dog owner. Enough coddling the owners of these murder mutts.
In the 2014 case, no charges were brought. Will it be different this time? I can’t find a timeline of new dog laws being passed in California but I feel like there was something fairly recently.
Or maybe since it’s up to the district attorney, they may just not care enough to do anything. The authorities who are holding these cane corsos for 10 days for rabies refuse to say that they will be put down after that time. It truly does seem like people care more about dogs than their fellow human beings. Plenty of people will proudly proclaim that’s where their priorities are. So much for civilized society.
No, it won’t be different this time. Not in this county. Stanislaus County Animal Services already said they have no previous history on the dogs. This case is also similar to the death of Jaysiah Chavez in Fresno when two rottweilers dug under their fence and killed him while he was in his own front yard. https://blog.dogsbite.org/2019/03/dog-bite-fatality-roaming-rottweilers-kill-fresno.html
Adding insult to injury, everyone that was related or neighbors of that woman will have to live with seeing those murderous beasts next door. I would start a campaign to run the owners out of town.
if those dogs ever step off their property again without restraint, the neighbors should shoot them on sight, and a letter writing campaign to let the owners know that’s what will happen, might ensure they don’t.
“Showed Repeated Aggression”
Those are the magic words regardless of dog breed.
And WHEN did the owners think the dogs would *stop* “showing repeated aggression”?
Their masochistic needs should not outweigh Animal Control’s duty to apprehend those dogs as dangerous, long before another senior was eaten by a molasser breed whose owners knew they were dangerous and failed to secure them, anyway. That’s why it’s not about whether or not the owner can secure them because there’s always risks of accidents or negligence.
A dog that is not safe offlead, isn’t a safe dog. Period.
Because dogs cannot be leashed or fenced 24/7 no matter how hard you try. They WILL have human contact unleashed at some points. Thus, if they are aggressive, the owners should not be given leeway on euthanizing them as public dangers.
Its why I dont believe in leashes being enough- a kid comes around the corner, what do you do?
And if you need a muzzle, your dog probably isnt safe enough to be kept alive either.
Andy I emphasized *repeatedly* to people with power breeds, large dogs and protection trained dogs that if you cannot control your dog off lead–your dog is NOT under your control. Period.
It’s why I am so frustrated with this idea that dogs that kill other dogs/cats/pets, or are aggressive with people, or biting should can be housed in residential neighbourhoods. Shelters are guilty of palming off this fallacy that they know is a con job.
I knew a dog trainer who was fixing a dog that hated skateboards and bikes. As he was training it, a kid happened around a blind corner on a skateboard unexpectedly–the trainer, being agile and clever saw the dog about to go off, kneed it in the chest, knocking the wind out of it and saving the kid–was then promptly set upon by animal control for “being mean”.
If that had been the owner, the kid would be kibble and the owner would have been sued out of his house. Blind corners were not an error that trainer would ever make, again.
While not all dogs are black and white as far as fixing them or what exactly they’re responding to and whether or not the problem can be fixed, there’s one thing for certain.
Owners are not responsive enough in a residential area to stop an aggressive dog from going after anything it deems prey or a threat. Most of them can’t get their offlead dog to sit or stop eating a bit of trash on the ground by voice command. A leash for guiding a dog to correct behaviour–not a restraining device.
Therefore, aggressive dogs have zero business living in residential areas.
Tragically, fences don’t always stop game-insane bloodsport dogs. But they can help.
After being anti-gun for my entire life, I acquired several weapons for defense against bloodsport dogs. I might not be able to stop an attack, but I will do everything in my power to stop that dog from repeating its attack.
With any luck, the owners will find themselves at the receiving end next time.
I couldn’t read this without thinking of the case just presented at a vicious and dangerous dog hearing in San Francisco (90 miles west of Modesto) on June 13, 2023. Two Cane Corsos were reported to have attacked and bitten people in the city at least five times over the course of a few months. The owner was a young mother who blamed everybody else for provoking her dogs. This case would almost certainly have ended in euthanasia of the dogs–if the San Francisco Police Department hadn’t failed to produce a single witness at the hearing!
I am very interested in that case, Mike Black. Do you have links or names or any other way I can find out more details?
Here’s a link to the downloadable .mp3 file of the entire June 13, 2023 hearing. The case of the Cane Corsos was the third of four cases heard that day and begins at the 10:54 time mark of the audio file.
https://www.mediafire.com/file_premium/ki9u91qlhhdqu2y/San_Francisco_Vicious_and_Dangerous_Dog_Hearing_6.13.2023.mp3/file
The breeding pair of course.
Dear Lord this woman is too dumb to own a poodle, never mind a power breed.
She left her dogs in the car for 30-45 minutes (was it hot out?) while she went out to shop and for dinner.
Even if they DID antagonize her dog–SHE left her dogs out there without supervision. And she can’t see her responsibility in all this.
{{this is me, facepalming into the keyboard}}
A note to all that we missed the CBS13 interview with Jeniece Dendulk (it doesn’t appear to be available any longer). KCRA just interviewed her. It’s powerful. https://www.kcra.com/article/modesto-neighbor-describes-dog-attack-fatal/44981942
I was able to watch the interview. It’s powerful, and the ring camera images so frightening. (There’s the potential killers wagging their tails ready to do what they do best.) The recurring theme seems to be either the dog “never showed aggression” before it murdered someone. (Which brings to mind the Tennessee case where the two little children were killed by the “family pets.”) OR, the dog showed aggression but we can’t do anything (police/animal control) because the dog hasn’t attacked/killed anyone YET. That “yet” keeps these monsters in circulation to maul and murder. This woman looks like the most gentle soul. What a terrible way to die. The owner of the monsters said “she was in Arizona” when this happened. So what? She has blood on her hands home or not home.
Cane Corso owners will swear by “cane corsos are like pit bulls, but safe”.
Its completely ridiculous once you get into the statistics. For how rare these dogs are they still kill people yearly.
There’s no way the owners of cane corsos don’t see their dangerousness as a good feature. They just want to think their maulers are upscale.
A lot of large dog owners really do think their dogs are safe, or at least will aggressively argue that they do. Im sure many of them get a kick out of it in secret, much like people obsessed with collecting or carrying large weap0ns etc.
A friend of mine had a purebred GSD that bit folks at least three times. Was he truly dangerous? No. He was a neutered male with an owner who refused to listen. He was very poorly socialized. I had told his owner to never give him a chance to bite. One bite was a furnace repairman in the house. One was running the front door with strangers outside the door. One was her
daughter’s boyfriend who entered the house without permission. All bites were very minor. I had told her not to neuter the dog if she was relying on the surgery fixing his teeth problem. This dog was legally killed in his own house. A friend and I had worked with this dog a bit. He would not have been killed if his owner had listened. All dog owners must control their dogs’ teeth.
Amen. Had one where I fixed the dog. Both another trainer and I told this woman and her hubby how to manage the dog.
They didn’t listen. They didn’t practice. They weren’t careful in their household management.
And a (which is why, weirdly it’s oddly hilarious) pudlepointer (of all things) put the wife in the hospital with over a hundred stitches.
Even as a dog trainer might be able to manage a dog–they spend their day managing and training dogs because it’s their livelihood. Their premises and daily schedules are set up to accommodate this.
Owners just aren’t that dedicated. They might claim to “love” the dog–doesn’t mean they’re willing to spend 4+ hours of their day managing the needs of a difficult animal. Never mind the actual physical strenuousness of managing large, difficult dogs.
Large weapons? Please explain- I’m a real whiz at analogies and I’m not getting what u mean here
I’m not sure exactly what Andy was thinking of but some men like to collect swords and knives. They may display them or keep them locked up.
What makes some people collect these items rather than, for instance, coins? Why do some people keep large, potentially lethal dogs? Could it be that it gives them a similar feeling? At least weapons collectors tend to leave them at home instead of taking them out where they intimidate and maybe hurt other people.
Also, we need to stop worshipping dog trainers.
The fact is, unless the dog trainer is keeping the dog–it’s not about the dog trainer. It’s about the *owners*.
Sure a dog trainer can take a dog home and can sometimes fix something an owner cannot–sometimes within hours.
But the dog doesn’t live there. The question at Animal Control should never be, “Well get a dog trainer to help you fix it and you can keep it”.
The question should be, “Is this *owner* able to successfully manage this dog and maintain a household routine and training schedule for the next dozen years?
Dog training isn’t rocket science. It’s made up of people who genuinely like dogs (most of the time) that have a particular set of skills they’ve learned through reading, observation, experience and training.
Training can mitigate some genetics, suppress or redirect those urges. That’s fine if your Border Collie goes from sheep to herding tribballs–not so useful if your pitbull or Cane Corso wants to murder other animals and maul people. There is one workaround I know of used to retrain protection dogs for retiring–and 99% owners would never be able to manage the amount of intense labour and observation it takes to make it work (so I’m not going to suggest it, publicly since it requires a high level of dog handling skill )
Let’s not stop there. We also need to stop worshiping dogs.
Exactly. And we need to stop feeling sorry for them.
There are lotsa great dogs out there. Yet people waste an inordinate amount of time “saving” dogs that are just as miserable as the people living with them.
It’s like wasting your life with a wife beater and claiming to love them. Well maybe yes, maybe no, maybe it’s just trauma bonding but what it *isn’t*–is a healthy relationship.
A dog is a 15 year relationship. Choose wisely and know when to cut your losses.
Don’t endanger the next family by palming them off to reduce your guilt load. You can live with the guilt. They might not survive the dog.
LOL The dog trainer for my neighbor’s new PAIR of killers once tried to run over a cop on his supervised visitation with his kids.
Just unpack that: a vicious dangerous man with no sense of boundaries is training my neighbor’s vicious dangerous dogs who have no sense of boundaries.
Twice the dogs have chased me and my mini into our property from the shared public road. They will get “lucky” someday and kill my dog and maim me.
People who shouldn’t have even one of these freaks often have two. The two dogs by me have no collars, no leashes, no fence.
The dog warden says get a surveillance camera. How stupid is that? It will take a video not save our lives!
If we are hurt it is the fault of the owner, the police, the trainer, and the dog warden…none of whom has taken any real responsibility.
It is unacceptable, for me to have to live in fear
I once sent a nasty two year old intact male Saint Bernard to a friend who trained dogs. In the vet exam room, this dog had slammed me in the face with a muzzled head. I was not pleased, as he was dangerous in my opinion.
What I found out is that this dog had amazingly good temperament. Within days of arrival, the trainer could play tug of war with this dog and easily get the toy back.
Why was this dog dangerous? He was a big puppy who had barked and acted stupid on a leash. Because of that, people avoided him. His problem was strictly socialization. I saw him more times in the vet clinic and never muzzled him again. He had never been petted and played with by a stranger. He was a big baby that loved attention.
This is a problem. We really need to evaluate biting dogs. I had a very nasty six months old small mixed breed puppy in for boarding. She had come from a shelter at eight weeks.
She really was not handleable.
I crawled into a cage with her and sat with my back to her.
About five minutes later I had a sweet puppy in my lap. She was never again aggressive with me although she could be with my staff.
Of course, this was before the era of pitbulls, cane corsos, bullies, etc. Those dogs are too dangerous to chance a bite.
We still have stupid people. I read an article last week where a reportedly “in heat” dairy bull attacked an employee, broke his neck, and paralyzed him for life. I never learned that bulls (intact male bovines came into heat). Nor will I waste my time studying human stupidity.
Well big and dumb is a thing. Like you Rachel, I kept telling people that rude, pushy jumping big dogs are a *bad thing*. Because a big dog can knock down children, disabled and the elderly or even, someone looking away when they jump. They can break bones. “Look he’s playing/friendly” isn’t an excuse.
Also agree that with some breeds what seems to be mean on the surface is sometimes just a result of poor handling.
The problem with bully breeds is that owning one is not a risk families should be taking.
Plus, a GSD, or St. Bernard, or some other big, pushy teen-aged dog likely isn’t trying to *kill* you and if they are that out-of-control, they’re mentally unhinged because they were not *bred* to kill you, or your pet.
The problem is right now that pitbulls are infecting the mongrel gene pool creating monsters that don’t look like monsters. This is deliberate on the part of culties so they can say, “See? You can’t know what a pitbull looks like.”
We also need to stop discussing dog bites and maulings as if they’re the same. They’re not.
There’s a reason pitbulls and their ilk are not trustworthy. They were the first choice of slavecatchers for catching and killing/mauling runaway slaves as well as for dogfighting and as butcher’s dogs.
Yet somehow, it’s “racist” to say these dogs were bred for this behaviour.
But breeding more of them somehow isn’t carrying on a racist tradition?
Colour me confused.
As for the bull…ah, was he trying to mate with the guy? {{Insert Moose joke here}}
Is that what the reporter was trying to say with that politically polite but inaccurate word salad?
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/american-xl-bully-will-this-be-the-next-banned-breed-in-the-uk/ar-AA1gBZ3E?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=4b6d8936c0b049c7b108d0b4029e28de&ei=22
American XLbully to be banned in UK ?
Something is going on in the right direction in UK , unfortunately after another tragic events.
Colleen I wanted to share this story.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12520857/HALF-Britains-XL-Bully-dogs-descend-one-inbred-animal-named-Killer-Kimbo-decades-inbreeding-created-shallow-gene-pool-unstable-fighting-beasts.html
I still don’t understand how an APBT is illegal but a XXLAmBull is legal.
Dr Duke:
The short answer is…
Because the Pitbull Industrial Complex Lobby is funneling millions to keep as many bull breeds off banning legislation as they can.
They’re tireless, have thousands of volunteers and plenty of money.
Victims, on the other hand are; tired, traumatized and generally not wealthy enough to fight back.
Wow, and I thought Genghis Khan got around…
So, bred to kill other animals, attack people AND genetically unstable.
That’s the trifecta of death right there.
No charges against the of these dogs. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office released this statement:
“After a thorough investigation by the Modesto Police Department and review of the
case by the District Attorney’s Office, there is insufficient evidence for criminal charges
to be filed against Kareem Morrell, the owner of the dogs that killed Chanthy
Philavong. Detectives conducting the investigation, which included a search for prior
attacks or bites by the dogs, a canvas of the neighborhood and social media posts,
witness interviews and review of camera footage, found no evidence to support
criminal charges. As tragic as these cases are, in order for the owner to be criminally
liable, the owner must have some prior knowledge or notice that the dogs are
dangerous and would act in such a manner. Here, there was no evidence that the dogs
had previously bitten anyone or that the dogs were trained to be vicious or attack
people. The decision not to file charges and the reasons behind it have been shared
with the family. Though we are ethically bound to follow the law, we recognize the
devastating loss the family has endured and they have our deepest condolences. “
https://www.kcra.com/article/modesto-family-upset-dogs-mauled-great-grandmother/45659390