West Valley shelter, where a pit bull that killed its owner was quarantined.
Records Obtained
Los Angeles, CA - Last week, City Watch LA was the sole publication to report that a pit bull killed its owner by a "bite to the throat." The attack occurred on May 30, 2024 in the West Valley. Records obtained from Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) state the dog, "Ice" was "under quarantine for a Level 5 bite to the throat of the owner." The 53-year old victim was unconscious when transported to a hospital by ambulance. LAAS updated the bite to Level 6 after being informed the victim had died.
"Level 5 and 6: The dog is extremely dangerous and mutilates. The dog is simply not safe around people. I recommend euthanasia because the quality of life is so poor for dogs that have to live out their lives in solitary confinement." - Dr. Ian Dunbar's Dog Bite Scale
Circumstances of the attack state the victim was walking "Ice" on a leash in the apartment complex with a neighbor and her dog on a leash. "The dogs got into a fight and [the] victim tried to break the fight up when her own dog redirected towards her," state the records. This "redirect" targeted the owner's throat and was lethal. "Ice" was a male, 2-year old chocolate-colored pit bull terrier that was not neutered or microchipped. The dog weighed 99 pounds, according to its medical records.
Next of kin provided proof of ownership for the victim and surrendered the dog for euthanasia. On June 4, 2024, the dog was euthanized for "dangerous" behavior. Rabies testing results from the department of health came back negative on June 11. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner listed the victim's cause of death as, "right neck lacerations." The manner of death was an accident. No other information was released. There were no mainstream media reports about this attack.
![Pit bull kills owner with bite to the throat](https://blog.dogsbite.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/bite-to-throat-kills-pit-bull-owner-b.jpg)
The male pit bull "Ice" seen on the victim's Facebook page and while in quarantine at LAAS.
Related articles:
03/24/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Man Killed by Rescue Pit Bull After Trying to Break up a Dog Fight
09/30/19: 2019 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman Dies After Vicious Attack by Her Own Pit Bull in Virginia
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.
In this case there was a witnessed redirected bite. I suspect this accounts for many of the serious and fatal bites. I wonder what the breed of the other dog in the fight was and did it survive?
Regardless, dogs which attack other dogs do get people killed.
Do I feel bad for him that he got killed by his own sweet not so mean pitbull no I don’t .people in his life probably told him that pitbull are dangerous dogs but I guess he listen to the pitbull are good dogs lies.he got killed in his neck by his dog that why they called them pitbull because they’re breed to killed the animals in their neck but the pitbull lovers won’t amitted it.
Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.
Another Darwin Award winner here.
Another woman thinking a pit bull would protect her, not kill her. If she did 10 minutes of googling she would have found out otherwise.
So strange that her name has not been disclosed and there has been no other reporting on a DEATH. It is very disturbing, but sadly does not surprise me at all.
We have documented for several years that the most commonly unreported fatal attacks involve family pit bulls. This victim becomes the “32nd non-media reported death” in our records.
https://blog.dogsbite.org/2024/03/five-dog-bite-fatalities-between-2017-2022-united-states-unreported-by-media.html
“We also reviewed 31 non-media reported deaths collected since 2011, which have a higher percentage of pit bulls, “baiting” bull breeds, and fighting breeds than the 15-year baseline period (97% v. 74%) and are absent of rottweiler deaths. Adult victims ≥40 years old comprised 74% of deaths (23/31). Among these adults, a single or pair of pit bulls inflicted 70% (16/23) of deaths and a single or pair of “family” pit bulls inflicted 57% (13/23) of deaths. Most non-media reported deaths occurred in June.”
I believe, and will continue to believe, that no pit bull can be trusted. We have dear friends that have (had) two service dogs. One Shepard and one Golden. They both got attacked by a pit bull (at the same time) that jumped out of a second story window- came down the roof, jumped to the ground and attacked both dogs. Tore them up terribly. The owners of the pit came out yelling at our friends telling them ‘you have no right walking in front of our house’. THEY WERE ON A PUBLIC STREET ON THE SIDEWALK. Then they were coming out from their vet’s office after a checkup on one of the service dogs that was attacked and ANOTHER PIT BULL got loose from it’s owner and attacked our friends service dog- making it it’s second attack by a pit bull. I FEEL STRONGLY THAT PIT BULLS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE KEPT BY ANYONE EVER. FRANKLY, they are not to be trusted at all, anytime or anywhere. I have Shetland Sheepdogs, and have had only ‘Shelties’ for 70 years. They have two issues – they are vocal and they have lots of hair. THEY ARE NOT A DANGER TO ANYONE. Owning Pit Bulls is like owning an assault rifle. And everyone knows where that leads. Problem is that some are so stupid that they don’t see the danger. Or they simply don’t care. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED.
I absolutely feel for your friend.
I worked protection dogs for years and entire companies of security *hated* pitbulls because the dogs are expensive, take thousands of dollars to train and a long time to get the handler experienced enough to manage a lot of dangerous scenarios.
And pitbull nutters would threaten our dogs on a regular basis. It was so bad that many of us bought our furry partners expensive anti-pitbull collars out of our own salaries. We didn’t want them to walk around looking like punk rockers but it’s all we could do, under the circumstances. It saved one of my dogs’ lives against a young pitbull one night. And we’re not talking Fuzzy McFluffins dogs, here. We’re talking huge, honking, fearless protection dogs with handlers trained to protect those dogs and themselves from deadly force.
I can’t imagine the trauma inflicted on a gentle, biddable, service dog and their disabled handler. The cost is unimaginable.
I’m with you on the “They need to be illegal” train. We had BSL to phase them out, here but it’s been almost two decades and we’ve reverted back to seeing them far too frequently. That WAS my “compromise” position and it’s clear the pitbull supporters didn’t take that position seriously.
So now I’m on the “just make them illegal” train.
So many advocates of “Pit Bull Terriers” are quick to say “it’s not a pit bull, it’s a hybridized dog” to excuse these deaths. Doesn’t matter…do they ALL kill? No, but the fact they have an incredibly high propensity to is enough. The shelters are complicit in these deaths and need to be held accountable too.
So why aren’t these deaths reported by the media? Perhaps if they were then people might think twice before getting one! What a horrific way to die.
What was the banana and 5 monkeys experiment ?
It shows how the behavior spreads among the collective consciousness of the animal species.
After this many KILLINGS among the pit bull species – no wonder that they become even more dangerous and go for human throat more often.
I think that potential victims ( all of people ) should have some kind of education on subject – how to protect themselves in that scenario – deadly dog attack-
One less pit bull owner. Sorry, I tried 3 different ways to say that and sound less harsh, there’s no way to do that.
Just a quick note that we have obtained more records. In the next few days, there will be a sizable update to this post. Note — the other dog involved in the dog fight was a male Golden retriever. He sustained abrasions and punctures; some areas had to be shaved. But he is doing just fine.
It sounds like the pitbull owner lost her own life protecting a golden retriever and that dog’s handler. Most pitbull owners wouldn’t do that.