A 72-year old man died after being attacked by his own dog in Dunklin County.
Man Killed by Dog
Cardwell, MO - A 72-year old man is dead after being attacked by one of his own dogs. On Wednesday, around 3:41 pm, deputies were dispatched to 203 West Mulberry Street in Cardwell in response to an animal call. A "72 year male had fallen to the ground and could not get up and had been attacked by a dog," states a press release from Dunklin County Sheriff Bob Holder. Medics arrived first but "were unable to get access to the victim due to the presence of multiple aggressive dogs."
Arriving deputies observed a reddish-brown dog on top of the victim, and its snout was covered in blood. As deputies approached the victim, "the dog suddenly charged them and in response to an immediate threat the officer fired his weapon with bullets striking and killing the dog." The victim was identified as Jimmy Miller. He sustained multiple injuries consistent with a dog attack, "including severe lacerations to his arms, face, and throat along with a significant amount of blood loss."
His wife said she tried to help him get back up but was unable to. "Within seconds one of their dogs which she described as a big brown one came over to her husband and began attacking him while he was on the ground." She said, "the dog was biting him all over his arms, face and neck causing him to lose a lot of blood." He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Dunklin County Coroner took charge of removing the man's body. It's unclear which agency "took charge" of removing the dog's carcass.
"On September 25th at approximately 15:41 hours the Dunklin County Sheriffs deputies were dispatched to 203 W. Mulberry Street in Cardwell, MO in response to an animal related call. Information provided to deputies was that a 72 year male had fallen to the ground and could not get up and had been attacked by a dog and he appeared to be unresponsive.
While deputies were en-route Dunklin County Communications updated the deputies with information that first responders were on scene but were unable to get access to the victim due to the presence of multiple aggressive dogs. It was also reported that the victim appeared to be deceased. Upon officer arrival they observed a reddish-brown mixed-breed dog on top of the victim and the dogs snout was covered in blood.
The deputies began to approach the victim and while doing so the dog began to growl As the deputies drew closer the dog suddenly charged them and in response to an immediate threat the officer fired his weapon with bullets striking and killing the dog. After the dog was deceased the victim was attended to and he was identified as Jimmy Miller. Mr. Miller had sustained multiple injuries consistent with a dog attach, including severe lacerations to his arms, face, and throat along with a significant amount of blood loss. Medic One personnel were on scene and after scene was secured they confirmed victim's condition as being deceased. . According to His wife she tried to assist him in getting up but was unable to do so by herself. Within seconds one of their dogs which she described as a big brown one came over to her husband and began attacking him while he was on the ground. She stated the dog was biting Mr. Miller all over his arms, face and neck causing him to loose a lot of blood.
Dunklin County Coroner was called and he took charge of the removal of the body." - Sheriff Bob Holder, Dunklin County Sheriff's Office
It is unknown how many dogs were on the property, but medics could not access the victim due to "the presence of multiple aggressive dogs." One social media comment we saw indicated the victim rescued dogs, and there were many of them on the property. "The owner had many rescue dogs some in his fence and some that were loose." The victim also appeared to be a "dog collector." The Google Street view of the property is over a decade old. It is unknown what the property looks like today.
One commenter indicated the victim had many rescue dogs on his Mulberry Street property.
Related articles:
11/20/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Teenager Killed by a Pair of American Bully-Mixes in Missouri
10/25/22: 2022 Dog Bite Fatality: Dog Attack Suspected After Amazon Driver Found Dead in Missouri
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.
Its sad that he died by the dogs he saved.if the dogs that killed him were pitbull.he should left them alone. If the dogs weren’t pitbull then he shouldn’t save them all.it too much for him to handle at his age.I know people hate to see stray dogs in the street but in my opinion it better they died then saving them all because you don’t the history behind the stray dogs.
The dog was protecting his dinner. He attacked it, killed it, and was eating it.
Two things made this a bad situation. Multiple dogs together is a pack. Packs of dogs are often very dangerous. They support each other.
Secondly, many folks with a pack of “rescued” dogs cannot afford to keep them well fed. Spays and neuters aren’t provided.
Essentially one ends up with a large number of poorly taken care of dogs. Hungry packs of dogs are extremely dangerous. The dogs have no training. They don’t respect people.
This was all very sad.
That hungry dog digging its bloody snout into its owner/dinner – grisly. People should think twice about buying dogs.
This poor man is the 49th American to lose their life because of a dog attack in 2024. If this turns out to be because of another “Pitbull-type dog” he will the the 87th person to lose their life because of those dogs since 2023.
I think we need to retire the word “rescue.”
I mean, come on.
Unless you pulled that dog out of a raging river or carried it out of a burning building, you didn’t rescue it. You bought it.
In other words, it’s a business transaction, not an act of heroism.
I completely agree. The word “rescue” is over (and incorrectly) used when we’re talking about animals these days. Rescuing a starving animal is a legitimate rescue. Acquiring a pet from a shelter is not a rescue, it’s a transaction or a change of ownership.
Bingo. It’s a manipulative word engineered to tug at the heartstrings and conjure an image of a helpless bedraggled starving stray getting sprayed with rainwater from passing cars on a city sidewalk in a downpour when in reality 95% of the time it’s an abandoned pit or pit mix dumped by an owner who couldn’t handle it and was “on the streets” for, like, a day
Ashley–having trained dogs for one shelter and assessed them–this is 1000% true. Most dogs are dumped as they come into maturity and too large to handle by people who thought a puppy would magically raise itself to behave and follow basic commands.
I always thought of shelter pets as being rescued from the shelter itself, back before “no kill”. The shelters use language masterfully to further their agendas.
Amen Quiet.
I did not “rescue” my dog. Someone else removed it–from a sled kennel. They went in there on a raid and took out whatever dogs were not well cared, for. These same heroes and shelter collecting funds from the public didn’t bother to rebreak and splint his broken leg until it was too late to do so without causing more damage.
I *bought* my dog at a shelter. Highly likely shuffled out in shelter space for a pitbull that was sent a province away to be coddled until someone bought it, instead.
I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with the nonsense in shelters and rescues by this point. Their “adoption” contracts require a lawyer and most demand that *they* own the dog and they have the right to remove it, at their discretion.
The sooner we get some common sense legislation to limit the administration of these places, including NOT selling dangerous dog breeds and dogs they *know* to be troublesome and vicious, the better.
The city pound may actually be the safer bet as *they* are at least required to follow the laws and are wary of liability.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.
The worst choice in picking a dog is to get one because you feel sorry for it.
Because your vision is clouded and soon–the one to feel sorry for…will be YOU.
It’s a *relationship* that may have to last 15 years.
Nobody should get into Ted Bundy’s car because he faked a broken arm or take home Jeffrey Dahmer because he was polite and shy.
Tiger cubs are cute too. Until they aren’t.
“The dogs have no training. They don’t respect people.” Training won’t win out over the individual dog’s instinct/temperament as a dog is either inclined to bite to the point of mauling or it won’t. No amount of training will override the instinct, consider the maulings/lethal cases of police K9 left to their own devices and under command of the handler. Even hyped up in a frenzied pack, there will be the individuals that bite and those that do not, again there are fatal maulings showing this. I don’t keep dogs of a dangerous temperament.
I completely agree. A “pack” of Maltese (just one example), trained or not, is less likely to maul people to death, and not only due to size. It’s important to not downplay the role of breed and genetics–hundreds of years of selective breeding for particular traits. It’s the reason why the last time I bought a puppy, he came with not only a health guarantee, but also a temperament guarantee. Yes, of a breed that has never killed a person.
In this sad instance, this poor man probably had pits or molosser types or some other breeds that have not been bred for great temperaments.
I used to get a lot of flak for any assessment that said, “This dog is temperamentally unsound and requires an experienced, single home handler willing to take on extensive dog training”
In other words, basically useless or dangerous and that was putting it nicely.
Most of the dogs I wrote up that way wound up euthanized because the kennel handlers themselves weren’t experienced enough to handle them and got bit.
Yeah, too bad I couldn’t just write “Put this one down before someone gets hurt”
Doggy Political Correctness
Boni, I wish your sound judgement were the norm rather than the exception. I would rather people didn’t get hurt, but I guess whoever was complaining about your assessments really did not care about people.
So his dog waited until he fell down and then mauled him to death.
Man’s best friend?
I can do without that kind of “friendship” and “unconditional love” thank you very much.
I doubt we will ever get a pic of this dog and yet I bet we all know what it looks like.
Still waiting for a “human rescue” to rescue us from the rescue animals.
Pitbulls are known for killing their owners when they fall down. If this dog wasn’t a pit then I hope we’ll hear about it. How does one go about requesting police body camera footage?