Jonah Jellison left his enclosed yard and was killed by a loose pit bull in Hunt County.
Pit Bull Kills Child
Quinlan, TX - A toddler is dead after being attacked by a dog, according to the Hunt County Sheriff's Office. On June 29, about 11:10 am, Hunt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 9900 block of Private Road 3820 in the Easy Living addition of Hawk Cove for a dog bite. The first deputy at the scene observed a toddler in the roadway who sustained major trauma due to a severe dog attack. The deputy began CPR until American Medical Response (AMR) arrived.
In the audio dispatch logs from the Hunt County Fire Department Dispatch on Broadcastify.com, one hears the AMR paramedic unit asking dispatch, "Do we know if this is a single bite wound? A multiple bite wound? Do we have any more information on this patient?" Dispatch responds, "It's a 2-year old male, bitten from head to toe. He's not breathing effectively at this time." The AMR paramedic unit then responds, "Let's go ahead and put a helicopter on standby please."
The child was transported to Hunt Regional Medical Center in Quinlan, but did not survive his injuries. Preliminary information from Hunt County Sheriff's investigators show the toddler had gotten out of an enclosed yard unnoticed by his family and walked down the gravel road. The dog, described as a pit bull, was in its yard enclosed in a four-foot chain link fence (an insufficient height for a pit bull). The dog was able to escape the yard and attacked the child in the roadway.
A similar tragic scenario occurred many times in fatal dog attacks during the 80s and 90s. A young child "wandered away from the home" and back then, entered into the "death radius" of a chained pit bull. The "wandering toddler" scenario is no longer common in dog bite fatalities. The most recent deaths occurred in Texas in 2012 and Arkansas in 2009. Both attacks involved boys, ages 2 to 4. In 2010, a chained sled dog in Alaska killed a 3-year old girl under similar circumstances.
The Hunt County fatal pit bull mauling did not involve a chained pit bull, but the concepts are similar. A chained dog in a yard accessible to children -- particularly a chained pit bull, rottweiler, sled dog or wolf-dog hybrid -- is a recipe for disaster. Attempting to confine a pit bull or other powerful, athletic dog breed with a four-foot fence is irresponsible. Even a six-foot fence is not meant to be a barrier "between life and death," but certainly might have better secured this dog.
A commenter on the Herald-Banner News Facebook post left this comment.
The same commenter left these comments on the Hunt County Scanner Facebook post.
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View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Texas Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
10/29/18: 2018 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman Dies After Being Mauled by a Mastiff in Hunt County
People and dangerous wild animals don’t mix. People and dangerous canines don’t mix. Any time that any dangerous canine exists where any person exists, the real risk of grave threat exists. The owner of this canine was not unaware of this fact. This event is not due to unknown reasons. This was caused by a person not in love of neighbor, who allowed his dangerous animal to turn a so called civilized neighborhood into its own Serengeti Plain hunting ground. This event is not an accident, for the same reason. This event is the predictable outcome of living with people who obviously do not love their neighbor. People who love their neighbor do not select dangerous wild animals as pets. The owner was not uninformed. The owner knowingly selected a dangerous animal as a pet due to his/her lack of love of self and others.
I think an owner owning a dangerous wild animal might be better than owning a dangerous pit bull. Wild animals are scared of people and will avoid people if they can. On the other hand, dangerous dogs as some pit bulls have no fear of destroying an innocent child. A wild animal kills for food. A pit bull kills for entertainment.
And we have strict regulations for the keeping of wild animals. We have little to none for the keeping of life threatening vicious dogs.
In the fevered imaginations of the pit advocates who are so quick to claim “Nanny Dog,” the heroic pit bull would have leapt the fence to rescue the wandering toddler from the road and return him safely to his family. The Dodo could make a story about it, “Heroic Pit Saves Lost Child.” But in the real world, a little boy has wandered out of his yard only to fall prey to a dog which had no business being anyone’s “pet” kept behind a meager 4 foot fence. For a pit bull which has set its sights on a victim, 4 feet is not even a hindrance. This little boy didn’t stand a chance against such a dog.
“I don’t know how it got out,” the owners will say. “Where were the parents?” victim blamers will say. “Look at this picture of my sweet pibble which has never hurt a fly,” commenters will say. But you know what none of them will say?” Pit bulls are dangerous and do not belong in homes and neighborhoods.” They won’t say this because they are deluded. They believe the fantasy. They don’t accept reality, or hear statistics, or believe that it can ever, ever happen to them.
But I know who does accept reality… that deputy who tried in vain to breathe life back into that mangled little body. Those doctors who had to say, “There was nothing we could do.” Those parents who now have to choose a tiny coffin for their child because a neighbor made the choice to own the world’s most deadly breed of dog. They have to accept the reality of this dead child, while the pit advocates continue in their fantasy land in which pit bulls are the bestest most lovingest nanny dogs ever and everyone needs one to properly nanny their children.
Poor parents. One moment of inattention should not have led to this devestation…. especially if the dog had been known to be a danger.
Amen. Very well said.One more innocent life taken… completely preventable. I continue to be astonished and baffled by the pit plague. Unless and until the national news covers these deaths, they will be seen as isolated “accidents” appearing on the local news. But no network will ever take this one on. We live in a culture of dog delusion and dog worship. Anyone who speaks out will be dismissed or threatened.
I am sick to death of reading these stories. The parents will be questioned on how they could let their child wander. No one will ask the owner of the game bred killer how they could let it wander. Canine supremacy dictates that dogs can be anywhere. Humans must control their presence if they want to live.
What the pitbull lovers are NOT asking is, “If the pitbull was *securely contained*, how in God’s Green Earth did a toddler with limited dexterity–get in there?”
This was not a case where a child who stuck a finger into a cage and got bit.
Exactly what Brandy Jorden said was my initial thought. Two things I do not believe for one second: 1st that the pit(s) were in an adequate enclosure and 2nd that the family had pit-proof fencing in their yard to keep pits from getting to the child. I also agree with the above posters that the pitbull peebles will blame, blame, blame the parents. Not for one second will they blame the dogs that got out, especially if it cannot be proven that the dogs removed the child from his yard. Per the laws, I can see how this will go: both (supposedly) were on public land so both are wrong and the blame will be considered equal.
This appears to be something that we all need to think about when we fence in parts of our yard for our quiet enjoyment. There are so many pit bulls that we now have to consider making our own yards into fortresses to keep them out not just to contain our own children and pets. Privacy fencing would be needed to limit the visual stimuli from these sight terriers (dogs that hunt by sight not smell). Fencing would need to be at least 6 feet tall in all areas and where fencing ends, secure attachment to another structure. Gates would need to be firmly secured. The fencing would also need to come the whole way to the ground and possibly be buried to limit access by digging. You want a picket fence? Forget it. You want a wrought iron fence? Well, that will have to be at lea$t 6 ft tall and with very close rods/picket$$$.
Christy, I hear you. It’s unbelievable that we’re living under siege constantly. When I’m out in my garden and see someone walk by with a pit tugging at the leash, I feel afraid. When I go for a walk, I wonder will one rush me from a house or yard. When I take my beautiful little grandchildren to a park, I’m on high alert. What would I do? Yes, I’d die for them. But we read all the time that these monster mutts won’t let go! This is the world I live in now on my lovely NW island. I am seeing more and more of these “rescue” dogs lurking everywhere. The stuff of nightmares.
Sadly my city will not allow me to construct a fence on my own property at my own expense that is at least “pit resistant” Front fences can only be 4 ft high. No barbed wire or electricity is allowed. We have all seen the videos where proud owners show their pits scaling 10 ft fences. 4 foot the could clear in a running leap.
They also won’t enforce leash laws and wont stop pimping out the maulers as “great pets”.
Pit nutters are going to go crazy blaming the parents for “allowing” their child to wander. Or worse, they’ll blame the literal child for being outside. This was a 2 year old toddler; they want to explore. Being outside is not an valid reason to suffer an attack. Furthermore, if this was any normal, safe breed, this child probably only would have gotten some bad bites at the worst. He wouldn’t have been murdered had this been a loose yorkie, poodle, shihtzu, etc. Pit bulls are the only dogs stalking and killing chidren like prey.
Furthermore, why wasn’t the pit secured? Why was it able to wander from the owner’s yard. Why did they have a mere 4 ft fence to keep this thing “contained”? Why wasn’t it muzzled? I don’t care if the toddler was wandering, this dog should have NEVER been able to get to the child.
Charge the dog owners with felony animal neglect and abuse and ban them all from any dog ownership or contact for life.
Well… I must be freaking old or something.
When I was a kid, if a child wandered into a yard and the neighbour’s dog bit them (never mind mauled or murdered them) the dog owner shot their own dog. I suppose that would be considered “barbaric” nowadays–caring more about humans than pets.
We told children not to approach chained dogs for *their* safety but we never expected that if an occasional toddler wandered into the yard, it was somehow the child’s fault they were attacked.
Never mind a dog who hopped a fence and murdered the child.
Nor did we blame the parents because in those days, families were often large, the occasional toddler wandering off did happen and it was just a matter of someone walking the child, home or bringing them in for safety and calling the parent.
This child is dead now. There’s no one to blame but the dog owners and the dog as even a wandering toddler should be safe in their own neighbourhood from being dog-murdered.
Parents have enough worries if a child wanders off without worrying about insane dogs eating their kid before they find them.
It bothers me that I just know that the parents are going to be the ones blamed for this and the pit will be let off the hook for murdering a child. Their child got away from them, yes. But a dog that murders children for no reason is not an animal that should be living in our neighborhoods. (Of course, nutters might look for ways the child “probably provoked the dog somehow”).
This child wandering off should have simply resulted in a kind samaritan bringing them home and the parents relived. Instead, the child is dead. Murdered by what I’m sure will be called a loving family pet that never showed aggression before this. I feel for the parents because they’re likely to blame themselves, and they may never forgive themselves for this.
Totally agree and that is what breaks my heart too, the blame that will be placed on the parents while the dog owners can just shrug and say “He never did this before.” And the pit apologists crying “provoked” make me sick.
Should a dog have the right to kill a child even IF provoked? No, never. No amount of provocation (and how much could a 2 year old really do if any at all) should result in a death sentence… maybe one doesn’t blame a tiger in a zoo if someone gets in its enclosure and hits it with a stick and it kills the person, but this is a DOG. A supposed “pet,” not a wild beast. And because they are deemed as appropriate pets for people, a child should be able to do anything to a dog without instant death being the result. If the neighbors had left an explosive device in the road and the child had wandered up and triggered it, wouldn’t those neighbors be held liable for having something so deadly within reach? Homeowners are often held liable when trespassing children are injured on a trampoline, a pool, or by a horse on their property. It seems like a vicious dog NOT contained on their property which kills a child who is NOT even trespassing would result in a harsh penalty.
Those poor parents. Little kids get away sometimes, it happens. It can end tragically. But it shouldn’t have to end tragically just because a neighbor couldn’t bother to contain their unsafe dog.
I’ll take it one step further Sellis 😉
A tragedy happened because their neighbour was allowed to own a wild animal in their own neighbourhood without any restrictions on owning wild animals in a residential area.
Or, the neighbours were allowed to leave a loaded gun, with the safety off, in their yard where a child could reach it, and it was all perfectly legal.
And now some dog/gun nutters want to blame a toddler for what?
Being a toddler who doesn’t know not to pick up shiny metal things or get too close to a wild animal?
That’s the level of logic from the pitbull nutters.
Nobody ever says, “Hey, look at that Beagle, chasing squirrels. It’s a beagle…beagling…I am so shocked as he never beagled before!”
Yet pitbull nutters are “Oh pitbulls don’t pitbull. They’re friendly. He never pitbulled before so I am shocked”
This was not a wild animal. It was a socialized dog completely comfortable with killing a child. If this dog had been a feral dog that was extremely hungry, I might be a bit more understanding. I’ve handled a few feral dogs in my life. Those dogs simply try to escape. They would not attack a child standing there. They would flee. The killer dog here was socialized and fed. It did what its DNA dictated.
there is never (practically) a stiff undesirable consequence for the dog owner(s) thats why this sort of thing will continue to occur and quite likely become more and more frequent
There were consequences for the woman who let her two Presas kill Diane Whipple nearly twenty years ago. As far as I know, she’s still in prison.
The comments on Facebook are just vile and misinformed. Some are claiming the pit that killed him was “feral,” and of course not just feral but also must have been “abused and abandoned” because it was loose on a gravel road. They picture s poor, ownerless, wandering dog, probably felt threatened the baby. By their logic, the toddler was feral too since he was loose in the roadway!
Why can’t they see reality? The dog belonged to someone, it got over its terribly inadequate fence, and it killed a little boy who also happened to have gotten out of his fenced yard. But according to pit apologists, the child deserved to be killed for not being in his yard. I guarantee that if the roles were reversed and this toddler had gotten out, then somehow managed to strangle and kill a pit bull puppy that had wandered out of its yard, the blame would be entirely on the toddler in their minds. As long as it’s never on the dog… at least not if it’s one of the holy breeds whose image can’t be tainted by “misinformation and hatred.”
It’s illegal to plant landmines in your lawn or wire a hand grenade to a gate.
Why is it legal to continue to cruelly breed for the man-made mutations for the dogs to mature to become game insane, with the drive to attack and kill family, their own kind.
No fear or anger is necessary for a bully dog to attack and kill, just as no fear or anger is necessary for a beagle to bark and chase rabbits.
It simply feels right to the dogs, because that’s what they’re bred to do.
Add the fact that bully dogs are often escape artists, and the cruelty spreads to many various victims, both pets and people.
Judge the morality of a Nation by how the weakest are treated. Sane moral Nations do not permit the continued breeding of “kill or die trying” fighting dogs.
At least a landmine in my yard or a shotgun trap on my shed door won’t wander off of the property, go into someone else’s yard and attack. These “biological booby traps” are much more dangerous than the real thing.
FWIW my yard is not nined nor are their traps on my shed. I can’t say I wasn’t tempted after the 2nd time the shed got broke into.
Coleen, I hadn’t noticed the comments at the bottom of the article initially. They were pointed out to me on reddit. Do we know how reliable they may be? Because they are claiming that the boy had been dragged from his yard by three dogs and not that he wandered away and was mauled by one in the street. I’m curious if there is a chance that this child hadn’t even been out of his parent’s property when the attack occured.
Okay. Thank you for the explaination.
I believe that was a different case? involving an older boy, around 6 😣 right in front of the boys mother…sorry if I’m further muddling up stuff 😞 so many children are dying from canine homicde in the US, I am getting a little bit confused, RIP to all people, killed by dogs around the world each year…
Wanna bet the parents are charged with negligence because their kid got out while nothing happens to the dog owner who let his dog wander free?
We will probably here “This is the country, dogs run free, it is what they do.” When I grew up in the country kids could wander free and not have to worry about being eviscerated by bloodsport pits.
Dogs that will escape fences to attack small animals (and children) are unsuitable as pets. Pit bulls do this often enough. I can’t believe they aren’t illegal to keep.