Posted on August 26, 2010 by Colleen Lynn

2010 Dog Bite Fatality: La Salle Student, 7, Mauled to Death by Four Dogs

Jason Walters, 7-years old, was killed by a pack of dogs while visiting the Eric Shanklin farm.

Death Due to Dog Bites
UPDATE 08/26/10: An autopsy conducted showed the boy suffered multiple puncture wounds from dog bites. "One of the puncture wounds was in his carotid artery, and one was in his femoral artery," Coroner David Lenz Jr. said. "Death would have resulted in a few seconds from either one of those." The owner of the three pit bulls was a rental tenant of a mobile home on Shanklin's property who had moved in just a few months ago. Shanklin owns the mixed-breed dog.

      Four dogs, including three described as pit bulls and one of mixed breeds, were captured at the scene and taken to the Marshall County Veterinary clinic. All four were euthanized Wednesday morning by county veterinarian Allan McCully and then taken to a state lab in Galesburg for rabies testing, Russell said.
      An initial news release said the dogs were owned by “other residents of the property,” but Russell later clarified that to say that Shanklin owned the mixed-breed dog. The other three were owned by a rental tenant of a mobile home on the property, whom Russell would not immediately identify.
      The woman and her dogs had moved in there just a few months ago, said Billie Lindstrom, one of the closest neighbors of the site. Lindstrom and her husband, Dick, and their son and his family live in homes just east of the Shanklin property along a county blacktop called Wenona Road. Gary Smith, Peoria Journal Star, August 25, 2010

08/26/10: Student Killed by Four Dogs
La Salle, IL - Four dogs killed a 7-year old boy Wednesday morning at the Eric Shanklin Farm between Varna and Wenona. According to a report issued by the Marshall County Sheriff's Department, "Jason T. Walter, 7, was outside the rural residence when he was attacked by a number of dogs. Family members found him lying in the driveway outside the residence and called 911." Marshall County Coroner Dave Lenz pronounced Walter dead a short time later.

The initial Sheriff's report stated, "Four dogs, three pit bulls and a mixed breed, owned by other residents on the property were captured and taken to the Marshall County veterinary clinic to be euthanized and taken to Galesburg for further investigation." Sheriff Rob Russell initially said that Shanklin personally owned the mixed breed, but he did not provide any other information on the ownership of the dogs. Walter was a student in the second grade at Northwest School, La Salle.

Photo: PJstar.com

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Colleen Lynn

2010 Dog Bite Fatality: Mountain Ranch Man Mauled to Death by Two Pit Bulls

Jerry Yates' seen in his Celebration of Life photograph.

Pleads Not Guilty
UPDATE 09/17/10: Sheryl Sellers pleaded not guilty in a crowded courtroom on Tuesday, despite her dogs involvement in previous acts of aggression. Sellers lawyer, Ken Foley, also filed a motion to dismiss Judge Douglas Mewhinney declaring that he was prejudiced against the defendant. Yates' daughter, Jami Southard, had hoped Sellers would plead guilty and put the incident to rest. "She’s not going to take any responsibility for this. I don’t know how else to take it," she said.

Foley told the deputy manning the courtroom entrance that he did not want his clients hassled, and Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tyson McMahon asked Yates’ family members to leave the entryway.

“This was supposed to be over,” Southard said. “Now she’s got a shyster lawyer.”

A man who identified himself only as Sellers’ stepfather tried to placate Yates’ family members. “She just feels awful,” he said.

“You know what?” Southard said. “Nobody is as sorry as my family. We have been financially ruined. That dog tore my dad to death and now she’s going to plead not guilty?” - Joel Metzger, Calaveras Enterprise

09/14/10: Sellers Dogs Had History
The Calaveras Enterprise reports that Sheryl Sellers is being arraigned in court today on felony charges in connection to the mauling death of Jerry Yates. His daughter, Jami Southard, now believes that Sellers pit bulls were "an accident waiting to happen." She described the failure of Sellers to confine her dogs as "criminal." Southard added, "She knew how aggressive those dogs were. You could ask anybody. Nobody could go near her truck when those dogs were in it."

Problems with Sellers dogs began in 2005 when she was living with Michael Richard off Swiss Ranch Road. The couple had about 10 dogs, seven or eight being pit bulls. After their dogs threatened neighbors and killed one dog, both were cited for multiple violations; fined over $1,000 and ordered to reduce their number of dogs to three, each being neutered. Sellers left Richard in March and began living on Yate's property with her pit bulls. Five months later, her dogs killed him.

What happened in Calaveras County is a perfect example of who commonly owns dangerous dogs -- grossly irresponsible types that should be subject to Depraved Indifference charges -- and how the county's current policy failed to prevent the death of Yates. Richard's neighbors continue to live in fear of his pit bulls. Arlene Azzarello, who suffers from cancer and congestive heart failure, said that a pair of pit bulls recently terrified her. Between the pit bulls marauding on her property and gunfire coming from Richard’s residence in the middle of the night, she's afraid.

08/26/10: Autopsy: Victim Bled to Death
Autopsy results confirm that Jerry Yates bled to death after being mauled by two pit bulls owned by Sheryl Sellers. According to sheriff's Capt. Jim Macedo, the official cause of death was the severing of a brachial artery, the main blood vessel of the upper arm. Macedo said the autopsy also showed that the pit bulls continued biting Yates even after he had died. There were no underlying medical conditions that contributed to his death, according to Macedo.

Calaveras County sheriff's Capt. Jim Macedo said that although Jerry Yates suffered dog bites all over his body, the autopsy determined the official cause of death was the severing of a brachial artery, the main blood vessel of the upper arm.

Macedo said Yates also suffered defensive wounds in his struggle with the dogs. "He was trying to protect himself," Macedo said.

Macedo said the autopsy also showed the dogs continued biting Yates even after he had died, and that there were no underlying medical conditions that contributed to his death. - News 10, August 26, 2010

08/24/10: Family and Friends Grieving
Sheryl Sellers was a friend, employee and tenant of Jerry Yates, a businessman, philanthropist and Vietnam Vet. Yates was killed by Sellers' two pit bulls on Sunday after the dogs escaped their pens. When Yates' son Jered went to look for his missing father, he came face-to-face with the vicious dogs, their muzzles were still bloody. Police said there was a lot of blood on the vehicles the victim was found lying between indicating obvious signs of a physical struggle.

Yates' daughter, Jami Southard, told Recordnet.com, "It was a horrible, horrible freak accident," repeating a distortion voiced by pit bull owners after their animal inflicts serious injury or death. A glance at the California Fatal Pit Bull Mauling map shows how frequent these attacks are. But the 27-year history of dog attacks, compiled by Animal People, is far more damning: Between 1982 and 2009, pit bulls inflicted grave bodily harm to 1,451 persons, maimed 777 and killed 153.

Sellers is now charged with a felony for having an animal that caused human death.

08/23/10: Pit Bulls Kill Mountain Ranch Man
Mountain Ranch, CA - In a developing story, a man was mauled to death by at least one pit bull Sunday afternoon in Calaveras County. Sheriff's Capt. Jim Macedo said Jerry Yates, 69, was found by his son Jered a little after 5 pm after he went looking for him. Macedo said about a half hour earlier, Yates had gone outside to check on a woman who rented a trailer on his Doster Road property. The woman, Sheryl Sellers, 49, kept two pit bulls in a fenced area of the yard.

Sellers was arrested and booked into jail for allowing vicious animals to be at large.

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

sheryl sellers and her pit bull that killed jerry yates

1Sellers feeling "awful" doesn't pass a simple smell test.

Posted on August 21, 2010 by Colleen Lynn

2010 Dog Bite Fatality: Tracey Payne, 46, Killed by Pack of Pit Bulls in South Macon

Macon-Bibb County Animal Control loading a pit bull suspected of killing Tracey Payne.

Previous Attack by Dogs
UPDATE 08/21/10: Authorities report the same pit bulls that killed Tracey Payne attacked a man walking past the house the night before. Kerry Whisby, 31, said he was cutting through the alley to go to the nearby Flash Foods convenience store at about 11:30 pm when one of the dogs ran up to him and started biting his arm. "The dog tore me up and kept biting even as I was trying to run away," he said. "Eventually, I was able to climb on the roof of someone’s car and ride away."

Unlike the Memphis attack (See: Pit Bulls Kill Man, Injure Four Others in Memphis) that killed William Parker and injured four others in July, police did not know about the incident involving Whisby. The "badly injured" victim did not file a police report after being taken to the hospital in the predawn hours of Thursday.1 Payne was killed between 6-8 am Thursday morning. The attacking pit bulls belonged to the house's previous resident who left the animals behind after moving out.

In a separate incident Wednesday night at the same location, Kerry Whisby, who lives on Carling Avenue, was bitten and badly injured by one of the pit bulls while walking past the house.

Whisby, 31, said he was cutting through the alley to go to the nearby Flash Foods convenience store at about 11:30 p.m. when one of the dogs ran up to him and started biting his arm.

“The dog tore me up and kept biting even as I was trying to run away,” he said. “Eventually, I was able to climb on the roof of someone’s car and ride away.”

Whisby said the dogs belonged to the house’s previous tenant, who he said had left the dogs behind after moving out.

Whisby did not file a police report about the dog attack after being taken to the hospital for his injuries Wednesday night. - Carl Lewis, The Telegraph/Macon.com, August 21, 2010

08/20/10: Fatal Dog Mauling Suspected
Macon, GA - In a developing story, an autopsy conducted Friday confirmed that a woman died of blunt force trauma and lacerations by a pack of pit bulls. She had been dead for about six to eight hours prior to being discovered. Tracey Brazzell Payne, 46, was discovered Thursday in the backyard of a vacant south Macon home with severe lacerations that appeared to be inflicted by dogs. Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said a pack of pit bulls was found in the same yard.

A woman whose body was discovered in the backyard of a south Macon home Thursday afternoon died after being attacked by a pack of pit bulls, an autopsy conducted Friday has found.

Tracey Brazzell Payne, 46, was attacked by dogs that were roaming in the yard at 1284 Glendale Ave., near Houston Avenue. Police found her body lying in the bushes in the backyard of the house about 2 p.m. Coroner Leon Jones said Payne died of blunt force trauma and lacerations from the dog attack. She had been dead for about six to eight hours.

Macon police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet said police are waiting to see the full autopsy report before making any decisions about exactly how the death occurred. - Carl Lewis, The Telegraph/Macon.com, August 20, 2010

1This raises a "spidey sense," which indicates that a "pit bull spin" or "shift the blame spin" is in the works. Whisby was "badly injured" in the biting incident and police are blaming him for not reporting the attack after he was treated in the hospital, which may have been as late as 2, 3, 4 or 6 am Thursday morning; the same time the pit bulls were killing Payne. Shame on Macon police authorities!

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Colleen Lynn

New Blog Dispels 'Nanny Dog' Myth Invented by Pit Bull Fanciers

The Nanny Dog Myth
DogsBite.org - A new blog, "The Truth About Pit Bulls," launched Tuesday with contributors CKing and Craven Desires. The first myth they address, the Nanny Dog myth, is widely disseminated by pit bull advocates and pro-pit bull groups. According to the authors, the first mention of "nanny dog" with regards to any breed did not occur until 1904 when the first stage production of Peter Pan opened featuring a nursemaid dog that was never portrayed as a Staffordshire bull terrier.1

The first known reference of a Stafford likened to a nursemaid dog appeared in a 1971 New York Times article. Lillian Rant, President and magazine editor of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America, states in the piece that the breed formerly had "an unsavory reputation for fighting and violence and his name became associated with ruffians." Rant adds, "The Stafford we know today quickly becomes a member of the family circle. He loves children and is often referred to as a nursemaid dog."

To learn more about the Nanny Dog myth, please read the complete post.

The Authors Promise:

"This blog has one goal: to expose the lies created by pit bull advocates and repeated to such an extent that they become regarded as truth. This propaganda strategy is known as Proof of Assertion and it is a favored tactic employed by the well organized pit bull apologia as it requires no critical thinking skills, only strength in numbers. The pit bull apologia's measure of success is even more simple. The Machiavellian like army of pit nutters need only drown out the opposition, regardless of the fact that their arguments completely lack any substance or merit. The pit bulls' army is made up of a handful of elite pit bull advocates like the sinister Jane Berkey, Ledy Vankavage, Cydney Cross, Karen Delise, Donna Reynolds, Dawn Capp and Diane Jessup2 who orchestrate the campaign for thousands of dedicated gullible drones that perform the grunt work; infecting the internet with the rote memorization of fabricated talking points. As their insane and baseless rantings begin to leach outside of the cult like bubble they live in and infect normal citizens, humane societies and law makers, it is critical that their lies be exposed."

1Note the invisibility of references in Google News Archive from 1870 to 1984 for the term "nanny dog." 1984 marks the year when municipalities began enacting pit bull laws, which started in the Village of Tijeras.
2In brief: Jane Berkey owns and operates Animal Farm Foundation and the National Canine Research Council, both of which disseminate mass pit bull propaganda. Berkey's group donates tens of thousands of dollars to Bad Rap, a pit bull rescue group run by Donna Reynolds. Cydney Cross operates "Out of the Pits," another pit bull rescue group, who adopted out a pit bull that nearly killed Frankie Flora last year. Cross formerly worked for Berkey and was allegedly mauled by a pit bull on her property between 2002-2004. Karen Delise formerly operated the National Canine Research Council until it was purchased by Berkey in 2007. Diane Jessup operates the Working Pit Bull website and authored the book, "The Dog who Spoke with Gods." She was represented by Berkey's agency, the Jane Rotrosen Agency who uses a creepy Tim Racer (husband to Donna Reynolds) pit bull carving as it's mascot. Ledy Vankavage is a hired gun for Best Friends and formerly worked for the ASPCA. Dawn Capp operates Chako the pit bull rescue, which was formerly Chako the lobbying group.

Photo: The Truth About Pit Bulls

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