Posted on January 13, 2010 by Colleen Lynn

2010 Dog Bite Fatality: Pet Pit Bull Kills 3-Year Old Boy in Apple Valley

Omar Martinez, 3-years old, was killed by his family's pet pit bull.

No Criminal Charges
UPDATE 01/12/10: Investigators say they have found no evidence of negligence and have concluded that the death of Omar Martinez was a "misfortunate incident." This conclusion was drawn despite the pit bull's documented 30-year track record of seriously injuring and killing innocent children. At what point will authorities hold parents accountable for these preventable deaths? It is estimated that by 2014 or earlier, pit bulls will maul 200 Americans to death.1

01/10/10: Boy Killed in Backyard
Apple Valley, CA - Just nine days into the New Year and a pet pit bull has already killed another innocent child. Authorities say that 3-year old Omar Martinez died Saturday after he was bitten by his family's pit bull. Emergency personnel were dispatched shortly before 3:00 p.m. to a residence in the 23500 block of Goshute Avenue about a child not breathing after being attacked by a dog.The boy was transported to St. Mary Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Victorville Daily Press reports that the dog's owners were unable to gain control of the dog. When firefighters arrived, the pit bull, covered in blood, came out and started to attack firefighters. A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed the animal. Art Bishop, a deputy chief with the Apple Valley Fire Protection District, said the boy and his father had been in the backyard. The father stepped away briefly. When he returned, his son was on the ground not breathing.

A pit bull bit a toddler on the throat Saturday afternoon and then tried to attack rescuers until a deputy shot the dog, officials said.

Someone at the scene in the 23500 block of Goshute Avenue tried to administer CPR following the 2:52 p.m. attack, according to initial reports.
The dog’s owners were unable to get control of the dog. And when firefighters arrived on scene, the dog, covered in blood, came out and started to attack firefighters, said Art Bishop, a deputy chief with the Apple Valley Fire Protection District.

A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy shot the dog, Bishop said. - Don Holland, Victorville Daily Press, January 10, 2010

View Related ZUPF video

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

1This estimate is based upon calculating the average number of fatal pit bull maulings per year since 2005 (16) with the first recorded fatal pit bull attack being in 1982, Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 22, 2009, by Merritt Clifton, editor Animal People.

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Colleen Lynn

2009 U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Statistics - DogsBite.org

Fatal Dog Attack Statistics
DogsBite.org recorded 32 fatal dog attacks in 2009.1 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 140 U.S. citizens. The only other known entity, in addition to DogsBite.org, that tracks this vital data publicly is Animal People.2

2009 Dog Bite Fatalities

32 U.S. fatal dog attacks occurred in 2009. Despite being regulated in Military Housing areas and over 600 U.S. cities, pit bulls led these attacks accounting for 44% (14). Pit bulls make up approximately 5% of the U.S. dog population.3
In 2009, the combination of pit bulls (14) and rottweilers (4) accounted for 56% of all fatal attacks. In the 5-year period from 2005 to 2009, this same combination accounted for 70% (105) of the total recorded deaths (149).
The combined breakdown between the two breeds is substantial. From 2005 to 2009, pit bulls killed 84 Americans, about one citizen every 22 days, versus rottweilers, which killed 21 Americans, about one citizen every 87 days.
2009 data shows that 63% (20) of the attacks occurred to children (11 years and under) and 38% occurred to adults. Of the children, 60% (12) occurred to ages 2 and younger. In all attacks, males were more often victims, 59%, than females.
2009 data also shows that 38% (12) of all fatal attacks involved multiple dogs, and 19% (6) involved chained dogs. 75% (24) of these deadly attacks occurred on the dog owner's property and 25% (8) occurred off the owner's property.
The state of Texas led fatalities in 2009 (5) followed by Georgia and Illinois (each with 4) and California and Virginia (each with 3). Of the Texas deaths, the combination of pit bulls and rottweilers (4) accounted for 80%.

1At least seven additional victims died due to dog bite-related injuries in 2009. 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: Dolly Newell, 80-years old (Alameda, CA), Vida Isabel Silver, 32-years old (Hayward, CA), Israel Pope Jr., 96-years old (Pickensville, AL), Gregory Isaacson, 58-years old (Kelso, WA), Beverly Head, 62-years old (San Jose, CA), Theresa Foss 47-years old (Plainfield, CT) and Timothy Niemeyer 56-years old (Indianapolis, IN).
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

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Colleen Lynn

Announcement: Wishes for the New Year from DogsBite.org

DogsBite.org - The dawning of a new decade is upon us. The year 2010 will bring many changes to DogsBite.org as we relocate our organization to the state of Texas. Instead of tracking new U.S. nonfatal pit bull attacks and police and citizen shootings of dangerous pit bulls in 2010, we will focus on analyzing the data documented in both areas from 2009. Additionally, once the relocation has occurred, the majority of energies must be focused on building a funded organization.

New Year's Wishes for 2010:

That each of 2009's pit bull attack victims and their families are not forgotten by their local and state government officials.
That in 2010, no innocent humans have to suffer through the most horrific manner of death conceivable to man -- being attacked, bitten, and ripped apart by powerful pit bulls with strong jaws and a tenacious demeanor that would prevent the average person from being able to stop the attack.
That in 2010, no innocent humans suffer significant bodily injury, such as the loss of a limb, facial disfigurement, or mobility through a pit bull attack.
That in 2010, no innocent owner of a domesticated companion animal or livestock will have to witness, experience, or have to respond to a pit bull attack upon their animal, suffering either their death, their significant injury, the necessity for emergency veterinarian services and expenses, or the trauma of such an event.
That in 2010, more organizations invested in protecting human lives will become fully informed about the real and present danger posed by pit bulls in American society and will take positive steps to take formal positions in favor of legal restrictions against pit bulls.
That in 2010, major humane organizations will address the alarming pit bull euthanization problem -- nearly 1 million pit bulls were estimated to be euthanized in 2009 -- and support mandatory pit bull sterilization laws to reduce these deaths.
That in 2010, enlightenment comes to local and state government officials about the hidden agenda of pit bull breeders, dogfighters, and organized criminal conspirators to support anti-BSL efforts.
That in 2010, enlightenment comes to "misguided" pit bull advocates that support dogfighters and breeders of fighting dogs -- people heavily invested in the continuation of creating violent dogs -- and instead, focus their attention on breeding safer dogs.

Readers, please leave your own New Year's wishes in the comments area.

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Colleen Lynn

2009 Dog Bite Fatality: 2-Year Old Killed by Family Dog in Cape Coral

Liam Peck, 2-years old, was fatally bitten by a family dog.

Family Dog Kills Boy archived
Cape Coral, FL - A toddler died Tuesday morning after being bitten by one of the family's dogs. According to officials, the family's 8-year old male Weimaraner fatally bit Liam Peck, 2-years old, in the neck. Connie Barron, spokeswoman for the Cape Coral Police Department, said EMS transported the boy to Cape Coral Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later. Lee County Animal Services seized the dog from the home, along with a female Weimaraner.

Incredibly, yet commonly, this article spends more time talking about what might happen to the seized dogs, one of which killed Liam Peck, rather than focusing on the innocent dead victim. The article also inappropriately includes a quote by Dr. Robert South, an epidemiologist with the Lee County Department of Health. "It really comes down to the ability of the owner to have a well-trained dog and to teach children to be appropriately cautious around animals," he said.

How many 2-year old children understand "appropriately cautious?"1

Weimaraner Safety Record

According to the Merritt Clifton report, "Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 22, 2009," and including this most recent fatality, Weimaraners have been involved in one fatal dog attack in the last 27 years. Of the two attacks involving Weimaraners in this period -- attacks serious enough to make the Clifton report -- both involved children. During this same period, pit bulls (excluding pit bull-mixes) accounted for 153 deaths and 777 maimings.

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