Posted on January 26, 2011 by Colleen Lynn

2011 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bulls Kill 5-Year Old Girl, Severely Injure Grandmother

Pit bull attack victim, Makayla Woodard.

Grand Jury Indicts Pit Bull Owner
UPDATE 03/16/11: A Union County grand jury has indicted the owner of the pit bulls that killed Makayla. The indictment formally charges 23-year old Michael Gordon of Waxhaw with felony manslaughter in connection with her death. Deputies arrested Gordon Thursday inside the Union County courthouse while he was to appear on the felony and misdemeanor charges. In the weeks leading up to the attack, Waxhaw police officers had warned Gordon about restraining his dogs.

Makayla's family has set up a petition website to help prevent future pit bull maulings.

01/19/11: Commissioners Set Up Panel
In the wake of Makayla's death, the Waxhaw board of commissioners set up a panel to study how to deal with stray and potentially dangerous dogs. The City of Waxhaw had an animal control officer in training before the fatal incident who is expected to go on duty in the next two months. Mayor Daune Gardner said that the entire community is "torn up" by what happened. The swift actions by the commissioners are not uncommon following a deadly attack.

Last year, San Bernardino County, California, Hinds County, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee enacted stricter dog control laws following a fatal pit bull mauling. DogsBite.org encourages cities not to wait until there is a death prior to adopting proactive dangerous dog laws. The Charlotte Observer article also notes that the owner of the dogs that killed Makayla remains uncharged, but the case has been turned over to the Union County district attorney.

01/13/11: Charges Expected in Deadly Attack
News agencies have been steadily updating details about the pit bull mauling that killed Makayla and left her grandmother hospitalized. WCNC reported that neighbors had complained many times about the two dogs who often ran loose and that police officials had a hard time discussing the case because the injuries were so "gruesome." 9 News reported that Police Chief Michael Eiss said that charges against the dogs' owner may come soon.1

Like in the 2010 the death of Anastasia Bingham, Makayla was only home that day due to school closures for snow and ice conditions. Exactly where Makayla was when she was attacked, either in her yard or the dog owner's yard (the homes are next door or across the street from one another -- reports vary), does not matter given that the dogs had escaped their restraints, and the expected charges against the dogs' owner, 23-year old Michael Gordon.2

01/12/11: Pit Bulls Kill Child, Injures Grandmother
Waxhaw, NC - In a developing story, two pit bulls killed a 5-year old girl and severely injured her grandmother. Makayla Woodard and her grandmother were attacked by the dogs just after 11 am on Rehobeth Road behind the Captain's Galley seafood restaurant. Both pit bulls, owned by Michael Gordon, were fatally shot by law enforcement after the incident. The victims were rushed to Carolinas Medical Center-Union, where Makayla later died from her injuries.

According to police, the grandmother, 67-year old Nancy Presson, was injured trying to get the dogs off Makayla. As of 4 pm Wednesday, Presson was under sedation and listed in stable condition in the hospital's emergency department. Makayla's mother (and Presson's daughter) told WBTV that her mother's injuries were severe, but that she would survive them. Police had visited Gordon's home around Christmas and warned him about restraining his pit bulls.

1Information is still unclear in some areas and unfolding.
2Craven Desires left a link showing that Gordon is a convicted felon, released from prison in 2010.

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Colleen Lynn

2010 U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Statistics - DogsBite.org

Fatal Dog Attack Statistics
DogsBite.org recorded 33 fatal dog attacks in 2010.1 Citations of each victim's story are located on the Fatality Citations page. The last year the CDC recorded human deaths by dog breeds was 1998. Likely due to pressures from animal advocacy groups, the CDC stopped further research into this area. Since 1998, pit bulls alone have killed 162 U.S. citizens. The only other known entity, in addition to DogsBite.org, that tracks this vital data publicly is Animal People.2

2010 Dog Bite Fatalities

33 U.S. fatal dog attacks occurred in 2010. Despite being regulated in Military Housing areas and over 600 U.S. cities, pit bulls led these attacks accounting for 67% (22). Pit bulls make up approximately 5% of the total U.S. dog population.3
In 2010, the combination of pit bulls (22) and rottweilers (4) accounted for 79% of all fatal attacks. In the 6-year period from 2005 to 2010, this same combination accounted for 72% (131) of the total recorded deaths (182).
The combined breakdown between the two breeds is substantial. From 2005 to 2010, pit bulls killed 106 Americans, about one citizen every 21 days, versus rottweilers, which killed 25 Americans, about one citizen every 88 days.
2010 data shows that 61% (20) of the attacks occurred to children (11 years and younger) and 39% occurred to adults. Of the children, 75% (15) occurred to ages 4 and younger. Within this same age group, males represented 60% of the victims.
2010 data also shows that 33% (11) of the fatal incidents involved multiple dogs.4 Nearly a third, 30% (10), involved breeding on the dog owner's property either actively or in the recent past, and 9% (3) involved chained dogs.
Dog ownership information for 2010 shows that family dogs comprised 73% (24) of the attacks that resulted in death; 88% (29) of these incidents occurred on the dog owner's property and 12% (4) occurred off the owner's property.
The state of California led fatalities in 2010 with 7 deaths; pit bulls contributed to 83% (6). Florida followed with 3 deaths and Georgia, Illinois, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas each had 2 deaths.

1At least seven additional victims died due to dog bite-related injuries in 2010. These deaths involved non-dog bite injury, minor dog bite injury or lacked a "reasonably clear" determination of death due to dog bite injury and are not included in the DogsBite.org statistical fatality data: Carolyn Baker, 63-years old (Cleveland heights, OH), Kenneth Bock, adult male (Snohomish County, WA), Hao Yun "Eddie" Lin, 33-years old (Oceanside, CA), Miracle Parham, 14-years old (McDonough, GA), Richard Martratt, 64-years old (Van Zandt County, TX), Anna Smith Brown, 68-years old (Wilmington, NC) and Larry Armstrong, 55-years old (Gallup, NM).
2Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada, by Merritt Clifton, Animal People.
3Decade of Adoption Focus Fails to Reduce Shelter Killing, by Merritt Clifton, Animal People, July/August 2009
4Modified from 12 to 11 June 30, 2011 to reflect new data revealed by the Kyle Holland investigation.

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Colleen Lynn

2011 Dog Bite Fatality: Colusa Woman Mauled to Death by Pet Pit Bull-Mix

Linda Leal, 51-years old, was mauled to death by her pit bull-mix.

Alive During Mauling
UPDATE 01/05/11: The Colusa County Coroner's Office reported that the victim was alive during the mauling. The time of death has not been determined and the cause of death is pending toxicology tests. Sheriff's Lt. Shane Maxey said the toxicology tests are needed "to make sure she didn't have something in her system that put her in that position." But it is unclear what position Maxey means. A healthy adult man may have been defenseless in the same position.

Maxey said the toxicology tests are necessary "to make sure she didn't have something in her system that put her in that position."

Interim Colusa police Chief Ross Stark said there was no indication of a struggle at the scene.

"We have no indication of foul play," said Stark, adding that the police investigation would be wrapped up soon, and the matter turned over completely to the Coroner's Office. - Tri-County Newspapers

01/05/11: Autopsy Expected Today
Colusa, CA - In a developing story, a 51-year old woman appears to have been mauled to death by her pit bull-mix, Toby. Linda Leal Castillo was found dead by her husband in the backyard of their home Tuesday morning. Emergency responders found the victim with extensive head and neck trauma consistent with a dog attack. Despite this, neighbors want to believe that the dog did not attack Leal, but tried to "drag her to the house in safety" after she fell or was injured.1

Neighbors said Leal was very close to her white, pit bull mix, named Toby. Another dog the couple kept was confined to a pen in the backyard.

"We never had any problems with them, especially with the kids around, never, ever," said Lupe Diaz, whose parents live next door...

Neighbors said they did not hear any sign of a struggle and that they could not imagine Leal being hurt by her own dog.

"She fell outside or something and the dog, since they were really, really close, the dog probably tried to drag her back in or let the guy know that she was outside in danger," speculated Diaz. - News10/KXTV

View the DogsBite.org Google Map: California Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.

1Extensive head and neck trauma is nearly always fatal and an unlikely area for a dog to grab hold of for the purposes of dragging a person to safety.

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Colleen Lynn

Blog Dispels 'ATTS' Myth Used as Arsenal by Pit Bull Advocates

The ATTS Hoax
DogsBite.org - Since August, The Truth About Pit Bulls blog has dispelled several myths disseminated by pit bull advocates to distort the truth about pit bulls, including the Bloodhound and Nanny dog myths. On New Years Day, the site released a post about the American Temperament Testing Society (ATTS). Though ATTS test result data is not based upon a scientific random sampling of any dog breed, pit bull advocates use the misleading data to support their cause.

The detailed post touches upon many aspects of the ATTS temperament test, including: The history of the test, the test requirements, what the test involves, how the test is evaluated, criticisms of the test, why it's junk science, and examples of pit bull owners who acknowledge the test's biases. In a nutshell, and as pointed out by the writers, evaluating these areas shows why a dog breed responsible for roughly 50% of all fatal attacks can score better than Lassie.

We encourage readers to review the full post. There is no other thoughtful analysis of the ATTS on the Web with an emphasis on the pit bull community. If you are already aware of the test and how pit bull advocates harness it to advance the Safe Pit Bull cause, the post serves as an excellent refresher. For instance, the test was originally designed to test working dogs for jobs such as police work (schutzhund) and favors bold, assertive dogs over shy ones.

The post also references Carl Herkstroeter, President of the American Temperament Test Society, who said: "Just because a certain percentage of dogs in a certain breed fail, this does not necessarily indicate aggression. Dogs fail for other reasons, such as strong avoidance. If you look at our statistics just from a perspective of aggression or non-aggression, they can be very misleading." He added that 95% of the dogs that fail do so because they lack confidence.

After reading the post, you will understand why a person even with minimal understanding of critical statistical analysis who utilizes ATTS test result data in debates concerning the adoption of a pit bull ordinance would be guilty of fraud. The only persons who buy into the misleading data -- in that the pit bull's pass rate indicates a non-aggressive dog breed -- have a preconditioned bias in favor of pit bulls. The ATTS testing data does not support this position.

Photo: The Truth About Pit Bulls

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