County Forced to Return Five Fatally Attacking Dogs to Owners
After five dogs killed his mother in September, the son wants dogs returned to him.
Killer Dogs Returned
UPDATE 10/15/21: All five dogs implicated in the death and partial dismemberment of 84-year old Loretta Moore have been released to their owners. Boone County authorities had wanted to euthanize the dogs, as all five reportedly had blood stains around their mouths. The owner of the dogs, James Moore, is the victim's son, who also lives at the home and found his mother's body when he returned home from work that day. Moore fought to get his five fatally attacking dogs returned to him.
State, county and local laws have no provision for euthanizing dogs that kill a person at home. Boone County officials were forced to return all five dogs to their owners. A pit bull that James had been fostering for about a month, "Chance," was returned to Lucci’s House Bully Rescue of Indianapolis. That dog can never return to Boone County. The four other medium to large-sized dogs, including two huskies, belonging to James, were returned to him under an agreement with the county.
First and foremost, James can never sue the county for any potential aggressive conduct by the dogs and the county has each dog's chip information, according to Robert Clutter, an attorney for the Boone County Commissioners. "They must be contained to his property at all times," Clutter said. James has a six-foot fence around the backyard and the dogs may be in the residence or in the fenced yard with the gate secured. The dogs are not allowed to leave the Moore property without a leash.
Boone County Commissioners plan to make a provision for euthanizing dogs that kill a person at residence and hope Lebanon leaders will too, Clutter said. A similar action was taken by a North Carolina county earlier this year after two pit bulls killed a 7-year old girl inside their owner's backyard. Also, Boone County Animal Control Officer Hannah Fisher will ask the Indiana state legislature for a provision in state law that allows for euthanizing dogs that kill a person at private residence.
10/09/21: Woman Dies, Dogs Live
Lebanon, IN - 84-year old Loretta Mae Moore was found dead on September 14 at a home on Elizabeth Drive. Boone County Coroner Justin Sparks said an autopsy determined her cause of death to be mutilation by dogs. The five dogs -- a pit bull, two huskies and two others -- belonged to the victim's son, who also lives at the home. The dogs will likely escape euthanasia because local, county, and state laws do not adequately address vicious dog attacks on their owners' property.
James Moore's four dogs and a fifth dog he was fostering, a pit bull, were in the home they shared in the 1400 block of Elizabeth Drive when he left for work on September 14. James found his mother's body when he returned that day, according to police. Part of her arm was missing and has never been found, reports the Herald Bulletin. All five dogs had apparent blood stains around their mouths, according to the Boone County’s petition to destroy the dogs involved filed on September 24.
Robert Clutter, an attorney for the Boone County Commissioners, explained that Lebanon, Boone County, and the state of Indiana lack laws to give the authority to euthanize dogs that attack on their owner’s property. “I guess none of us contemplated this type of situation,” Clutter said. “We are trying to find a way to dispose of the dogs." There are many remedies for off-property dog attacks, Clutter said. But there are "very limited remedies -- almost none" for on-property dog attacks.
“None of us contemplated this type of situation," echos the response by city and county officials after two pit bulls killed a child in Garner, North Carolina earlier this year. In another on-property attack, Jayden and her mother went next door to care for their neighbor's pit bulls while the owners were out of town. The dogs killed Jayden and severely injured her mother. The owners demanded their dogs be returned to them due to the city's ordinance failing to contemplate this type of situation.
To be clear, the failure of these local and state laws is the failure to account for the owners of dogs that kill a person who demand their dogs be returned to them afterward. James wants his five dogs back after they mutilated and ate part of his mother. The North Carolina owners wanted their two pit bulls back after killing a 7-year old child and critically injuring her mother. Prior to modern times, owners such as these, would have surrendered their dogs to authorities for humane euthanasia.
Petition to Destroy Dogs
Had the Boone County Sheriff's Office and Board of Commissioners not petitioned James Ray Moore and Lucci's House Bully Rescue (the owner of the pit bull being fostered), this dog bite fatality may not have been reported by the media at all. An elderly woman killed by a family pit bull falls into the most likely unreported fatal dog attacks, which is an adult ≥ 40 years old killed by a single or pair of family pit bulls in a city area, of which 89% of cases occurred on the dog owner's property.
The pit bull that James had been fostering came from Lucci's House Bully Rescue of Indianapolis. The county reached an agreement with the rescue and released "Chance" to its custody on Monday (Case no. 06C01-2109-MI-001296). “We agreed to permanent placement outside of Boone County and with a trainer who is very used to working with dogs who have behavioral issues,” Clutter remarked. “As part of the agreement, the dog is not allowed back in Boone County," he said.
The county has been unable to arrive at "satisfactory negotiations" with James' attorney regarding the remaining four dogs. “We’re trying to look toward a possible release of the dogs that would still protect the public as much as we can,” Clutter explained. “We’re looking at a number of options. Mr. Moore’s attorney has been receptive to some different suggestions. It’s just all-around a terrible, traumatic situation," Clutter said. We shall add, made more miserable and traumatic by James.
View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Indiana Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
09/10/21: Owners of the Pit Bulls File Lawsuit to Get Dogs Returned to Them After Attack
06/01/21: Discussion Notes: 2020 U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Statistics - DogsBite.org
12/14/20: 2020 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Pit Bull-Mix Kills Infant in Lafayette, Indiana
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.
So what do Indiana authorities do when the family pit bull kills and devours the entire family? Just leave it alone and wait until it leaves the home due to hunger. Then have it “rescued”?
Taking past experiences into account, I think the only way that I am EVER going to pass through Indiana again is by flying over it.
Have a look at ” Lucci’s House Bully Rescue” facebook page.
And be forewarned- I suggest only doing so with your latest meal firmly in the clutches of your digestive system.
“We agreed to permanent placement outside of Boone County and with a trainer who is very used to working with dogs who have behavioral issues,”
Brutally mauling and partially eating someone’s Mom is a “behavioral issue”.
I hope there’s a special place in hell for people like this.
And what use is training the dogs anyway? Only a complete nutter would want one.
Adoption Notice: Lovely trained dog. Ate someone’s mom but is very friendly now and shakes paw on command. Free bag of vegan treats and walkie harness included. Call: 1-800-GUD DAWG
The law fails to account for people with anti-social personality disorder who are capable of emotionally bonding only with dogs that kill babies and mothers, even their own babies and their own mothers.
American society, which is obviously evil-based, silently disposes of the victims of dog attack. American law only in a tiny fraction of cases provides for justice for victims of dog attack.
This is another case that local leaders hoped would never be reported. The real number of people who are killed annually in America by dogs; the real number of people who are admitted into the hospital annually due to dog bite traumatic injury, the real number of Americans who are bitten annually by dogs: Take all of the official statistics, and multiply by one order of magnitude, for a good start in the correct direction.
What can change when big agribusiness, the insurance industry, local real estate associations, local law entities, national news media and local society forcibly demand hushed-up maintenance of the status quo: Millions of Americans severely injured by dog bite. Nothing can change when all of our countries’ institutions are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dog Almighty.
How little he must have cared about his mother to put her life at risk then want the dogs that murdered her back.
Okay so lemme see if I got this right.
This fellow had four other big dogs living with his Mom at his house. It seems to be all peachy keener, short of the risk of maybe knocking her over in their exuberance.
Then he fosters a pitbull with an unknown history.
Next thing, his mom is dead with one arm missing and all the dogs have blood on their mouths.
The dogs are removed.
He wants the dogs back. According to the law because *his mom was dog murdered on her own property* nobody will refuse to return them because nobody had the legal imagination to suppose that some day…a pack of dogs would eat their owner’s own mother.
That’s the stupidest argument I ever heard from law enforcement. They can trump up charges, drum up nonsensical charges against anti-cop protesters and charge people with “malicious poofery” and whatever else they fancy just to get bail held–but they can’t kill these dogs first, and ask questions, later? Jaysus, they’ve even been known to crush cars that have been impounded then claim “gee, clerical errors, so sorry” but THIS is suddenly a squeaky clean investigation?
“My mom was shot with my gun. You can’t prove I did on purpose it so I want my gun back.”
Insanity.
All these dead old moms? I’m thinking about now that half of them are murder-by-dog.
Matricide by dog.
What I would give to have MY mother back. She died of old age in 2019, and I miss her every day.
I feel for you. Mine died in 1991 and I still miss her.
This is insanity. Dude has 4 big dogs then adds another, a PIT BULL of all things, and leaves his 84 year old mother alone with all of them. Then after the monsters kill her, the son wants the beasts back????? What in the world? How little do you have to value your mother to wants to keep the creatures that ended her life in such a horrific way.
Couple this with the stated info that ALL the dogs had blood stains on their mouths. Now perhaps the other dogs were just nudging the deceased to see if she was still alive. I don’t know tho.
And that son wants the dogs back?
Straight out of Edgar Allen Poe. Ghoulish. Just downright Ghoulish.
ANY dogs, of ANY breed or kind involved in the mauling homicide of any kind of person, for any reason, on any premises should be put down without any other consideration — even if they are protecting “their” property or are momentarily “disordered”…Since the concept of prevention is the foundation of public safety they should not be given a second chance…
Why would anyone leave a pack of large breed dogs with an elderly woman? I am elderly and I wouldn’t trust a pack of five large dogs with me anymore.
How about just using good common sense?
I would like to see pictures of the two mixed breed dogs. Do they have very large jaws? The son apparently likes huskies and pit bulls. Does he like husky/pit bull crosses? I bet he does. Is he required to confine his dogs?
I think this is dangerous. Does he have experience training? Does he have insurance? I have a property with many GSDs on it. They don’t bite or escape. I trust all of them. None has ever bitten.
The dogs have now been returned to their owners.
https://www.reporter.net/across_indiana/killer-dogs-return-home-after-dismembering-woman/article_97ec8c14-2df1-11ec-9bd0-9bd6e227b5bd.html
The government is officially OK with returning the killer dogs, as long as they only kill people on the property that the dogs reside at. The owner of the dogs is perfectly happy having his killer dogs returned to him, because after all, they killed his mother on the property that they reside at. When the psychopathic government and the psychopathic dog owners overwhelmingly outnumber pro-social, normal victims, it is the victims that get blamed for being in existence.
Awwww, the poor widdle doggies must have been lonely.
(Sarcasm off.)
I’ve worked in some places where there was a lot of drama, a lot of gossip.
I don’t know what Mr.James Moore does for a living or how many people he works around. But let me just say that his decision to take back his hounds would have made him perhaps the ALL-TIME target for back talking ridicule.
I think perhaps he may even beat out the fellow I worked around whose son was taken from him and his wife by DCF services over an alleged application of a scalding hot washcloth the face. Had another one {ex teacher} who murdered his wife. Then there are always the ever present sexual predators who strongly represent an overwhelming majority of shop discussion. Most all of the above examples carry a degree of guilt and remorse.
But, You , Mr. Moore. With your choice and decision here, you may very well be standing on that vaunted gold medal pedestal.
Congratulations, Sir.
Would you recommend sleeping with the killer dogs? Is the owner a breeder? Maybe he will manufacture more sweet doggies? I assume the pitty bull was altered. Maybe I’m wrong.
Maybe the owner was expecting very valuable puppies. Great Advertisement:. Ate mom.
Thanks for the information. I, like many pet owners and veterinarians, have personally rescued many animals. I have always hoped I made the right call. I placed one adult GSD male that was quite a problem. I knew his history, and he went with rescuers with full disclosure. What made it doable was he hated me, liked cats, and only showed his teeth and growled.. No bites. I also knew his temperament was bad due to his prior handling. I set up a demonstration showing this dog’s issues. If he loved you, he would do anything for you. He hated me (prior tenant’s dog). Knowing what I knew about this dog, I did not think I could fairly destroy him. Nor have I heard anything negative about him after he left. He was abandoned on my property and had manageable medical problems which were also fully disclosed.
At any rate, I personally feel that shelters and rescuers use mandatory spays/neuters to justify adopting out dangerous dogs. I would never trust the temperament of a neutered dog if I knew the surgery was done to try to fix an aggression problem.
If the dog was highly.trained by a good trainer, I would still want to see its behavior before I trusted it.
However, shelters routinely hand over poorly trained, spayed/neutered dogs to people who cannot handle them. People also create these monsters with lousy genetics and lousy training.
Knowing these folks were rescuers, I suspect all their dogs might be altered. Certainly they knew about proper facilities. Knowing the rest of the story would have made me consider returning them too.
I made one very bad decision placing a drop dead gorgeous neutered male cat in a pet home.
I just could not believe something so beautiful could have been so dangerous. He hospitalized his new owner on a full vicious cat attack. We simply do not always make great decisions.
Sometimes animals are mentally ill.
Just like people can have rage syndrome from head injuries that go unseen, so can animals.
It’s rare but it happens.
Knew one protection-trained dog who got heat stroke that caused brain damage and became unstable, thereafter.
It’s not a bad decision, it’s a decision where we cannot ever know what a pet is thinking, or suffering until they fly off the rails.
Expanding upon that question of what to put in and what to leave out, it must be quite a call to assure that the bits of newsworthy items don’t convey the feeling of reading shock value National Inquirer headlines.
But for Goodness Sake’s! It’s becoming virtually every incident lately reaches yet another plateau of incredible absurdity.
I’m actually feeling a bit of strained disbelief after seeing that gravestone. What next? Probably wont have to wait more than a day or two to surpass it.
I am curious what Lucci’s House Bully Rescue of Indianapolis will do with this pit bull. Clearly, the dog has aggression tendencies when in a pack. James and his mother had no issues with the dogs they had but adding a pit bull to the mix changed the dynamics.
Lucci’s House Bully Rescue is sort of sneaky. There are only a few dogs available to adoption and fostering and no description on any of them, just photos. They use Petfinder to broadcast the dogs they adopted out and not to post available dogs. The descriptions on Petfinder include the least amount of information and appear to be the result of box clicking. Clearly, they have been doing their best to prevent a documentation trail in the event of an attack by one of the dogs.
Sort of sneaky? I’d be willing to bet that it’s the biggest grifting operation in the state of Indiana!
I wonder why the fostered pit was returned. Under the law, this is not a family dog living in its family home. It was passing through and I am sure there was a foster contract in place with James.
Craziness prevails sometimes. I get into Nextdoor discussions with pit bull owners in my upscale (well, my house isn’t) L.A. neighborhood. More and more pits here all the time. A recent posting was a woman who felt a pit owner and her dog was deliberating following her. She didn’t say it was a pit (you get reviled here if you say a bad word about them) but no doubt it was. Pit bull owners suggested she get “professional help.” with her dog fear. I posted I thought that was a bit much. I was accused of being against therapy and “shaming” people who needed it. I posted I AM a therapist. Now one poster is repeatedly telling me I need to contact this woman and “please help her!” I am being requested, by a stranger, to help another stranger with her dog fears. Have you guys ever heard a story like this? I am incredulous.