Tyzhel Latella McWilliams seen next to Zulu, which later killed the baby.
The Nanny Dog
UPDATE 06/19/12: The mother of an infant killed by a family pit bull last week called the baby's death a "tragic accident" and expressed disbelief that the very Nanny dog pit bull that seemed to "watch over the infant like a protective parent" would fatally bite her baby. "Never in my life I thought that would happen," the mother said in an interview Monday. The 27-year old mother moved into the single-story apartment 2 years ago with a girlfriend who owned three male pit bulls.
After Tyzhel was born, the mother said she had no worries about letting the dogs interact with her son. "They loved him from the beginning," she said. The fatal bite occurred as baby Tyzhel was playing in a room across from his mother. When he crawled into the bedroom, where his mother and roommate were, a pit bull named Zulu suddenly bit him on the head. "It just happened so quickly," she recalled. Sheriff's detectives continue to investigate the baby's mauling death.
Notably, all three male pit bulls, Blue and his two offspring Hercules and Zulu, were separated at the time of the fatal attack. One was fenced in the backyard and the other was in a crate in a different room. The owner of Zulu agreed to put the dog down; it was euthanized Tuesday. The other two pit bulls were released back to their owner. Outside of killing two cats that entered the fenced backyard, the animals had been friendly and well behaved, according to both women.
06/15/12: Details Still Remain Unclear
Authorities have not yet released the circumstances of the attack or how the baby boy was being supervised at the time. It is also unclear if the boy's mother or her roommate is the owner of the three pit bulls. A woman who works with a nonprofit that helps struggling women knows the mother and her son, baby Tyzhel. Anika Grothe, a case manager, said the mother has had "nothing but hard times, and here she is trying to redo her life and something like this happens."
A separate article by 10News.com reports that the same social agency is working with the Lemon Grove branch of U.S. Bank to set up a fund to help with funeral expenses and provide counseling for the mother. The agency also told 10News that it was "just one of the dogs that attacked the boy in his crib." Currently, all three male pit bulls are being held at Chula Vista Animal Care Facility. Sheriff's homicide officials continue to investigate the case; criminal charges may be pending.
06/15/12: Infant Killed by Pet Pit Bull(s)
Lemon Grove, CA - In a developing story, an 8-month old boy was mauled to death by up to three pit bulls Thursday. The attack happened just before 5 pm in Lemon Grove. When deputies arrived to the scene, a woman was holding the injured boy. By Thursday evening, officials confirmed the infant died after being transported to Rady Children's Hospital. Authorities also confirmed that animal control officers seized three pit bulls from the scene. More details are expected soon.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: California Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.Related articles:
05/21/12: 2012 Dog Bite Fatality: Ohio Newborn Killed by Family Pit Bull-Mix
05/11/12: 2012 Dog Bite Fatality: 15-Month Old Girl Killed by Family Pit Bull
03/09/12: 2012 Dog Bite Fatality: Letter Carrier Dies After Pit Bull Attack in Escondido
01/12/12: 2011 Dog Bite Fatality: Victim of Catastrophic Pit Bull Injury Dies on Christmas Eve
08/18/10: New Blog Dispels 'Nanny Dog' Myth Invented by Pit Bull Fanciers
On my informal count this is the 10th child death under 2 years. If you add the 4 year and the 6 year old it comes to 12 deaths. Then in the next age bracket there are 4 deaths age 59 to 92. I could have made a mistake but it looks like there have been no deaths in the age group from 6 years to 59.
Enough already! It's time to do something to protect the public health and safety.
And I don't mean more education of dog owners. I mean real protection from dangerous dogs.
We've had way too many people dying horrible, needless deaths.
This was California's 41st Pit Bull DBRF!
What an epic public safety disaster the State got itself into allowing the Dog Lobby to install a Pre-emptive BSL prohibition.
Might as well change the name of the state to MAULIFORNIA!
Here we go with yet another set of heart-rending photos. Not of the deceased child, mind you. Of course not.
Let's all shed tears for those poor little doggies behind bars. What did they do to deserve such a cruel fate?
Case manager Grothe says “This family has nothing, and we need to help them bury baby Tyzhel.”
But apparently the mother and the roommate who lived in that place had enough between them to support three pit bulls.
I suppose 'having nothing' is relative to some people. You know, it all depends on what you have left after you've fed the pit bulls.
I wonder if this social agency is just trying to cover their tracks? The poor mother was homeless previously and had been abused (and probably much worse). Her so-called "recovery" and her trying to "redo her life" included living with three male pit bulls and a baby in a small apartment? This caseworker was well aware the woman was living with these dogs and apparently this was OKAY? This social agency might be directly responsible for this woman getting her baby back; it's highly likely the child had been under the care of other forces when she was "unrecovered." So now the agency might have a dead baby on their hands…
" woman who works with a nonprofit that helps struggling women"
A social worker didn't report these dogs on premises?
That is a crime. They helped set up this child to be killed.
McAlister Institute has a lot of explaining to do.
Are they helping and protecting kids, or are they protecting and enabling fighting dogs?
I'm glad the one pit bull is dead, but the rest is insane. Animal control thinks it's irrelevant that the other two have killed cats? These women both wanted the other two pit bulls back — and got them? After this, they still believe the other two would never do such a thing cos they seem so friendly, just like they thought the first one wouldn't cos it seemed to friendly?
It's mind-boggling.
There's no baby in the house at the moment, not anymore. But what if there is again a year or so from now? I suppose Grothe (or any other case worker) won't be able to do much even if they want to, since there's not law that says you can't keep babies with a house full of pit bulls.
This all just too sad.
This story seems to illustrate, more than any other I've read, the horrors that these pit pushers are causing. If the story is accurate, the women did not leave the child alone with a baby. They had judged the dog as an individual, and they judged it to be a nanny dog.
Their apparent beliefs and practices seem to clearly have been gleaned from internet pit bull pushers' propaganda.
They also seemed to be practicing "crate n' rotate." More advice from pit bull pushers that tells you its ok to keep dogs that show aggression to each other – it is workable and safe, and further, it is negligent to do anything but keep them and separate them once you've got them.
My guess is that the dogs weren't altered, but this also comes from pit bull propaganda. The pushers say out of one side of their mouths that pits should be neutered and un-neutered dogs are more dangerous. But out of the other side of their mouths they say MSN is bad. This is to please the breeders and the AKC, but it has the effect of telling people, its ok, its a valid choice to not neuter and to breed.
Heck, Donna Reynolds of Bad Rap even said – who can blame people for trying to make ends meet by breeding a few pit bull puppies?
I see the mother as probably having had no breaks in life and having made bad decisions with no one in her life to teach her how to make good decisions. She has been preyed upon by pit bull pushers. And now they're throwing her under the bus.
I agree, Sweetie Pie, it does boggle the mind that they'd take these dogs back.
My link to Donna Reynold's thoughts that no one should blame poor people for choosing to breed pit bulls doesn't work. Here it is:
http://badrap-blog.blogspot.com/2011/11/grateful-for-everyone-who-steps-outside.html
In my neighborhood, animal control returned dogs that chased several neighbors. Including me. No one's been hurt — yet.
candorMD
"A social worker didn't report these dogs on premises?
That is a crime. They helped set up this child to be killed."
I know a social worker or two, and they don't report things that they can't really do anything about. It isn't illegal to have pit bulls around children. If someone had displayed some behavior of neglect regarding the animals it might have been reported, but one would have to be pretty damn stupid to do something like that in front of a social worker.
skeptifem gave incorrect information about social worker activity.
Yes, social workers are to report situations where the child is endangered, such as a living situation with three large breed dogs that are so aggressive they must be separated from each other, as was the case here.
Also, a pack of large breed dogs in a small living situation can easily knock down a child and cause injury.
Social workers are also required to report situations where assistance may not be going to the needy child, such as assistance being used for dogs instead of needs of child, or there is an unreported business, such as a breeding business.
Social workers have failed to report situations like these, and have been fired or sued when injury or death occurs.
There are countless pit nuttery books out there, some of which are geared toward children. Has anyone thought of writing a book exposing the truth behind the the pitbull talking points? (I'm thinking maybe the folks behind the Truth About Pitbulls website.)