Posted on September 9, 2012 by Colleen Lynn

2012 Dog Bite Fatality: Missing Georgia Child Killed by Dog

Fatal dog attack victim Bryton Cason, first responders and his home.

Dog Captured
UPDATE 09/08/12: On Friday afternoon, Seminole County Sheriff's officials located the reddish-blond "bulldog" suspected in killing Bryton Cason. Investigators are now determining what to do next, such as DNA testing or an autopsy to confirm whether it's the dog that mauled the 4-year old boy to death. The boy's father, Shayne Cason told WCTV, "It shouldn't have happened to him. Somebody's going to pay for this. Somebody's going to pay somehow," Cason said.

The sheriff says the boy's mother was in the shower and two other adults home at the time did not see him go outside.

Neighbors believe a reddish-blonde bulldog that was abandoned in the neighborhood may be to blame. Yet the sheriff says no one witnessed the attack or heard it.

"That's been the real issue with the whole thing is nobody witnessed it and so we don't know what dog or dogs are responsible for it," Seminole County Sheriff Heath Elliott said.

[--snip--]

The sheriff says they caught that reddish-blonde bulldog at about 4:30 Friday afternoon. He says investigators are now trying to figure out what to do next, whether it's possible to do any DNA testing or an autopsy to try to confirm whether it's the dog that killed Brayton. - WCTV, September 7, 2012

09/07/12: Family Owned Three Dogs
The family of Brayton Cason told Seminole County Sheriff Heath Elliot which neighborhood dog they believe killed the boy. The family described the animal as a yellowish red bulldog. The dog was previously owned by a neighbor, but was abandoned when he moved away. Cason's family owned three dogs. GBI Investigators determined the family's dogs were not responsible. The crime scene investigators from GBI examined all three dogs, according to Sheriff Elliot.

"Described to me as a yellowish red. Looks to be a bulldog, but possibly mixed with some other breed, but he has more of a bulldog look to him," said Elliot.

The little boy was found dead in his front yard Wednesday night, three hours after he was reported missing.

Elliot says the dog the family described was previously owned by one of their neighbors, but was abandoned at the home when the man moved away. "We're having a problem with the dog issue because there were no witnesses to the incident so we don't know which dog particularly we're looking for."

Elliot says the GBI brought in the dogs owned by Brayton's family. Investigators determined their dogs were not responsible. - WBAL, September 7, 2012

09/06/12: Boy Killed by Dog
Donalsonville, GA - In a developing story that brings back the horrific death of a 4-year old Texas boy, who went missing and was later discovered mauled to death by a chained pit bull, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Steve Turner says missing Brayton Cason,1 4-years old, died of blunt force trauma from a dog attack. Cason was first reported missing Wednesday night by his mother. At 8:30 pm, five law enforcement agencies began a door-to-door search in the area.

Cason's body was discovered just before 11:30 pm in the front yard of his own home.

At the time he went missing, Cason was being watched by his great aunt and uncle while his mother took a shower, according to Cason's aunt, Tabitha Smith. During this ten-minute period, he apparently wandered outside and was attacked by the dog. Smith said that knowing the cause of Cason's death does not bring her family any closure. Police officials are still investigating who the dog might belong to. No one witnessed the attack or the type of dog that killed the boy.

1The child's name is also being reported as Brayton Roland and Bryton Cason.

Photos: Walb.com

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Colleen Lynn

2012 Dog Bite Fatality: Trotwood Senior Citizen Killed by Own Dogs

Son Speaks Out
UPDATE 09/05/12: In a new troubling update, the victim's son, Joe Jurgens, said he does not believe the coroner who determined the cause of death was multiple puncture wounds to the head and neck due to dog bites. "I don't believe that's what happened," Jurgens said. "I don't know what happened ... I'd feel a little better if I really knew, but I do not believe those dogs attacked her out of aggression ... I can't imagine, even fathom, that [these dogs] would attack and kill her."

According to the coroner, the cause of death was multiple puncture wounds to the head and neck due to dog bites.

"I don't believe that's what happened," said Jurgens. "I don't know what happened, I wish I did. I'd feel a little better if I really knew, but I do not believe those dogs attacked her out of aggression."

The family says Dawn raised the animals since they were puppies, and had a special bond.

"They used to walk through the woods with her - they protected her," Jurgens said. "I can't imagine, even fathom, that they would attack and kill her." - Fox 45, September 5, 2012

09/05/12: Victim "Lived" for the Dogs
In a troubling update, it is learned that the elderly Trotwood couple began raising the pair of cane corsos from puppies two-and-a-half years ago. The victim's husband, Carl Jurgens, said his wife lived for those dogs, "from the day they were born until Saturday." Dawn Jurgens, 76, suffered major injuries to her face and scalp as well as bite wounds to her arm, according to police. It was Carl who discovered her body. At the request of the family, both dogs were put down.

09/05/12: Woman Killed by Own Dogs
Trotwood, OH - In a developing story, Trotwood police say that 75-year old Dawn Juergens was attacked and killed Saturday by her own dogs at her Union Road home. Officers described the dogs, presumably two canines, as cane corsos -- a Molosser type dog, often infected with fighting bloodlines. Her husband discovered her in the yard after he returned home. According to police, no one witnessed the attack. More information is expected in the coroner's report.

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Colleen Lynn

Fourth Death by County Pit Bull in One Year

Offending pit bull picked up a week earlier in Balboa Park in San Diego.1

U.S. Pit Bull Kills
Tijuana - Last Thursday, a 4-year old Tijuana girl was mauled to death by her grandfather's new pit bull. Godofredo Cruz Martinez, 55-years old, said he found the dog in Balboa Park in San Diego a week earlier. He brought the dog home because it seemed "very playful." The pit bull was tied up in the family's yard when it attacked and killed América Viridiana. At the time of the attack, the little girl's mother was not home; she was under the care of her mother's two sisters.

In the wake of her death, the Director of Investigations of the Deputy Justice in Tijuana, Sergio Lagunas Molina, urged those with "pit bull" dogs to take special care with them to avoid causing injury to a person. "They are aggressive by nature," Molina said. Police arrested both sisters, Carla Francisca Cruz Bustamante, 28, and Cristina García, 26. The child's grandfather may also be subject to criminal penalties. A Criminal Judge will make this determination.2

San Diego County Pit Bulls

América's death marks the fourth fatal attack inflicted by a San Diego County pit bull in one year. Last Christmas Eve, 76-year old Emako Mendoza succumbed to the catastrophic injuries inflicted by her neighbor's pit bulls in June of 2011. In March, letter carrier Diane Jansen died due to a hemorrhagic stroke with dog bites as a contributing factor after being attacked by a pit bull on her route. In June, an 8-month old boy was killed by a pet pit bull living in his home.

Despite the trail of bloody deaths left by San Diego County pit bulls in the U.S. and abroad in a single year, as well as dog bite statistics showing that pit bulls are out biting the top most popular dog breed, Labs, by a 2 to 1 ratio, we believe that Dan DeSousa,3 a public information officer for the county Department of Animal Services, will continue being a "mouthpiece" for pit bull owners and breeders and refuse any discussion of a mandatory pit bull sterilization law.

"We are of the opinion that it's not the breed (to blame for an attack), it's the owner of that particular dog," Dan DeSousa, 10News.com, 06/14/12

To better show the contrast of "mouthpiece" Dan DeSousa, who apparently speaks on behalf of the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services, we look to the language of San Bernardino County. In 2010, the county enacted a mandatory pit bull sterilization law after the breed inflicted four deaths in five years. San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control helped craft the law to increase public safety and lower the annual euthanizations of pit bulls.

"This ordinance has the objectives of reducing the clear overpopulation of pit bulls in our County, encouraging responsible pet ownership and, most important, reducing the number of vicious attacks on people," said First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who worked with the County’s Animal Care & Control Division to create the ordinance. "In the past five years, four people in San Bernardino County have been killed by this breed, and just this year there have been seven attacks by pit bulls. No other breed has viciously attacked or killed anyone in that time."

Which county would you rather live in?

1Ironically, San Diego pit bull advocates held Pit Bull Awareness Day in Balboa Park last year.
2DogsBite.org thanks a reader for helping to translate the Spanish articles. Please report errors in comments.
3In the State of California it is legal to regulate dog breeds via spay/neuter laws. Municipalities are prohibited from declaring a particular breed "vicious" or "dangerous." See: San Bernardino County's pit bull brochure.

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Colleen Lynn

Communities Are Safer; Euthanasia of Pit Bulls Drops

Dominic Solesky meets his heroes 5-months after surviving a near fatal pit bull attack.

Whidbey Island, WA - Last week, DogsBite.org received another potent response from Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People. If readers recall, last July Clifton responded in detail to fact cooker Mark Robison of the Reno Gazette-Journal after Robison criticized the breed-specific dog attack log complied by Clifton since 1982. Clifton's most recent response is part of a correspondence
with Meagan Dziura, a second year student at George Mason University School of Law.

I am researching and writing a journal article for one of our law journals (the Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy) and am focusing on the rise in Breed Specific Laws and their negative effect on the community. - Meagan Dziura

Merritt Clifton - August 16, 2012 (Links added by DogsBite.org)

Meagan Dziura,

ANIMAL PEOPLE very strongly favors breed-specific legislation following the San Francisco model, which requires that all pit bulls be sterilized.

I'm a step beyond the ANIMAL PEOPLE editorial board position. I very strongly favor the Ontario model, which grandfathered pit bulls in the province at the time their breed-specific law was passed, but does not allow the breeding or import of pit bulls, including their lookalike mixes and close relatives.

My major disagreement with the Ontario model is that it does not cover Rottweilers, who are also about 11 times more likely to kill or disfigure humans & other animals as the average dog, but are much less over-represented in animal shelter intakes and killing.

I don't see any negative effects on communities from breed-specific legislation.

What I see are much safer, healthier communities, where people can jog,
bicycle, play in front yards, and walk their dogs without fear of a pit bull leaping over a fence or out a window or through a screen door or popping up at large out of nowhere, killing or maiming their victims without, in most cases, any previous bite history and any prior warning.

What I see are communities where dogs are again welcome everywhere, as they were during my childhood and youth, before the proliferation of dangerous dogs led to bans on all dogs in many public places, even though more than 80% of the incidents resulting in the prohibitions resulted from the behavior of just one breed type, the large molossers (including pit bulls, Rottweilers, and mastiffs.)

What I see are communities where drug dealers & other criminal elements either prefer not to live, since they cannot keep dangerous dogs to guard their wares, or at least are much less dangerous to their neighbors and law enforcement.

What I see are communities where firefighters -- and I am a former firefighter -- can enter a burning building safely to do a room-to-room search, without risk of opening a door to release a dog who may be more dangerous than the fire itself.

What I see are emergency room physicians who no longer have nightmares about the degloving injuries, especially to the heads of small children, that are typical of pit bull, Rottweiler, and mastiff attacks.

What I see are lawyers screaming their heads off because they are no longer making huge sums representing the owners of dangerous dogs on the one hand and the victims of dog attacks on the other.

And of course I see animal rights activists screaming, without noticing that communities with breed-specific legislation are killing not only a fraction as many pit bulls as those without, but a fraction as many dogs. I don't see any rational reason why anyone who loves dogs would oppose legislation which, if in effect nationally, would prevent the births and premature deaths of more than 900,000 pit bulls per year.

Reality is that opposition to breed-specific legislation favors just three interest groups: dogfighters, people who want to keep dogs as weapons, and breeders of pit bulls, Rottweilers, and other large molosser dogs.

Contrary to common claim, there is no verifiable history of pit bulls in particular having ever been "nanny dogs" or popular household pets. There is, however, quite a long history of pit bull advocates lying quite demonstrably about the realities of pit bulls, dog attacks, and the pit bull record over the past couple of centuries.

And there is also quite a long history of well-meaning young people being taken in by the big lies amplified by the fronts for the pro-pit bull interest groups.

See next several e-mails & the attachment for documentation.

Merritt Clifton
Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

Readers may have favorite parts of Clifton's response, but his response could not be more concise in nailing not only the primary public health and safety concerns these types of dogs pose, but also the enormous shelter killing rate of pit bulls and their mixes. Despite immense efforts
undertaken by humane groups to "adopt their way out" of the unwanted population of pit bulls clogging open admission shelters, pit bull euthanizations still hover above 930,000 annually.1

Bottom-line: 1.) Opposition to breed-specific legislation favors just three interest groups: dogfighters, people who want to keep dogs as weapons, and breeders of pit bulls, rottweilers, and other large molosser dogs, 2.) There is quite a long history of pit bull advocates lying quite demonstrably about the realities of pit bulls, 3.) There is quite a long history of well-meaning young people being taken in by the big lies amplified by the fronts for the pro-pit bull interest groups.

Some of these young people pay with their lives.

12011 U.S. Shelter Data Update, Animal People, July/August 2011, Pg.14

DogsBite blog ::

2012 Dog Bite Fatality: Missing Georgia Child Killed by Dog

2012 Dog Bite Fatality: Trotwood Senior Citizen Killed by Own Dogs

San Diego County Pit Bull Responsible for Death of 4-Year Old Tijuana Girl

Fourth Death by County Pit Bull in One Year

Animal People Editor Summarizes Need for Breed-Specific Legislation in 600 Words

Communities Are Safer; Euthanasia of Pit Bulls Drops