Posted on October 25, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

Michigan Tribute to Victims of Dangerous Dogs Zoom Conference, Sponsored by Responsible Citizens for Public Safety

Michigan Tribute to Victims of Dangerous Dogs 2023 - A Zoom conference event (1:22 length).

Zoom Conference 2023
Lansing, MI - In the tradition of National Pit Bull Victim Awareness Day, Michigan-based Responsible Citizens for Public Safety once again hosted the annual event, a Michigan Tribute to Victims of Dangerous Dogs, to honor victims of dangerous dog attacks, as well as to discuss legislative issues in multiple states and abroad. This year's event was a Zoom meeting with participants from Michigan, Texas and Virginia. The meeting was held on October 21. DogsBite.org provided the video editing.

Ann Marie Rogers, the founder of Responsible Citizens for Public Safety (rc4ps.org), hosted this year's event. Rogers, who lost her own mother in a violent dog attack in 2021, interviews two Michigan victims, Leticia Spagnuolo of Livingston County and Jill Deminiuk of Macomb County, each who have harrowing stories of a vicious dog-on-dog attack by a repeat offending dog, the loss of their own dog in the violent attack, and how the animal control agency and legal system failed them.

The event also included special guest Colleen Lynn, the founder of DogsBite.org, to discuss alternatives to breed-specific legislation that will protect public safety including: establishing a state dangerous dog registry, mandatory bite disclosure legislation, mandatory liability insurance for all dog owners, and mandatory intake by tax-funded shelters of dogs involved in vicious attacks. Dog attack victim advocate Bonny Lee, RN, of Virginia, also joined the annual roundtable discussion.

After Rogers' introduction, the main break points are: Spagnuolo shares her account of her dog's attack at 2:20 -- Spagnuolo intervened when a bullmastiff-pit bull mix attacked her dog Pearl; Deminiuk shares the account of her dog's attack at 11:45, and the "mind-boggling" legal shenanigans that followed. Discussing international breed-specific laws and alternatives to BSL starts at 43:26. Discussion of Michigan laws and attacks are scattered throughout, and Lee discusses Virginia at 1:07.

"I wanted to get the story out because I really thought that I was the exception to the rule that dogs were going to be taken care of ... Then I was really angry when I found out how many complaints had been filed against the owners of these dogs. They were basically breeding these dogs and they had 21 dogs bullmastiff-pit bull mixes and a rental house at one point." - Leticia Spagnuolo

"I walk around like a zombie depressed all the time. I do my life, but I just I'm so sad. I miss her so much. People are not getting justice. I've never seen anything so deranged in my life. It's out of control people are getting away with whatever they feel like and the dogs are glorified, like kings and queens. These dogs are put on a on a throne while we suffer, mind-boggling." - Jill Deminiuk

(We did experience significant video and audio challenges due to a poor capture rate during the meeting, which is why video was abandoned all together, and overlays were used instead).

Host Ann Marie Rogers and guests for the Michigan Tribute to Victims of Dangerous Dogs.

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Loose Pit Bull Kills 4-Year Old Boy on Detroit's Westside; the Dog Pulled him Through a Gap Under the Fence

Lovell Anderson, 4, was killed by a loose pit bull while playing in his grandmother's backyard.

Pit Bull Kills Child
Detroit, MI - A 4-year old boy is dead after being mauled by a pit bull. The attack occurred about 3:00 pm in the 9300 block of Pierson Street. The child was playing in the fenced-in backyard of his grandmother's home when the dog grabbed the child through the fence. Detroit Police Cmdr. Arnold Williams told CBS News, "She actually had to pull the child away because there was a dog that mauled the child; tried to pull the child under a gate of a fence. She was pulling the child back."

WBJK reports the pit bull did pull the child under the fence, then killed the boy. EMS pronounced the boy dead at the scene. Animal control took two dogs into custody. Police are still investigating the dog(s) involved and its owner. Family members told WBJK that they are terribly distraught. "As we know in Detroit, pit bulls are a big problem when you don't have them trained properly or tied up" or properly secured, the relative said. This could have been prevented if the dog had been secured.

"The tragedy is with the family and all we can do for everybody, for everybody who is looking at this is to support the family in this process," Cmdr. Williams told reporters at the scene. "So we're trying to do everything that we can just to help everybody through this. The loss of a child who hasn't really started their life is just something huge that nobody can really even fathom." An adult was home with the child at the time, police said. Family members believe the culprit dog belongs to a neighbor.

Child Victim Identified

Family members identified the child killed by an unsecured pit bull as Lovell Anderson. At the time of the attack, he was under the care of his grandmother -- his parents were not present, reports WBJK. The news agency also states the "dog managed to grab Anderson and pull him to the other side through a gap under the fence, before fatally attacking him." One of the two dogs taken into custody is believed to be the attacker. The other is a family dog that belongs to the boy's grandmother.

WXYZ spoke to Maple Blackshear and Monique Grant, who are sisters and the boy's aunts. Blackshear and Grant said the boy was an only child. He was visiting his grandmother's home and playing in the backyard when they were told a neighbor's dog jumped the fence and attacked. The family retained an attorney. “The event was so horrific that people across the street could hear,” attorney Peter O’Toole with Fieger Law said. “They're the ones who contacted authorities right away,” he said.

According to police, the dog then dragged the boy back to the other side through a gap in the fence. Neighbors from a block away heard the grandmother's cries for help. One neighbor "thought someone was getting beat." By late Thursday, the dog's owner had not been identified or charged. Media reports suggested the dog was a stray and had been seen by neighbors wandering the street previously. O’Toole said that it's still too soon to know who the owner is or if the city has any liability.

"We have to let the investigation take its course to find out who the owner is," O’Toole told CBS Detroit. "Then, we also have to find out if this is a repeated issue with that animal and that owner. And in that case, we will try to hold the city accountable. We want to seek justice for the family. Whoever should be held accountable, we will hold them accountable," O’Toole said. - Attorney Peter O'Toole, CBS Detroit, October 19, 2023

Broken Record in Detroit

Wayne County has a long history of fatal pit bull attacks. The county's 1.7 million population is smaller than San Bernardino County, California (2.2 million) and Harris County, Texas (4.7 million) -- the other two leading counties in fatal dog attacks. The fatal pit bull mauling issue is so persistent in Wayne County that a case study was published in 2007 that characterized pit bull mauling deaths in Detroit. In April, Daniel Bonacorsi, 58, was killed by two pit bulls habituating a vacant building in Detroit.

In late September, a northeast suburb of Detroit, Grosse Pointe Shores, which is partially located in Wayne County, passed an ordinance banning pit bulls. The ban passed in a 4-3 vote. However, the backlash from pit bull advocates and humane groups that largely reside "outside of Grosse Pointe Shores" was so extensive, that the city reversed the ordinance less than 4 weeks later. Detroit and Wayne County still retain the undesirable title as the "dogfighting capital" of the United States.

loose pit bull kills Detroit child, Lovell Anderson

A white and brown pit bull was seized after a loose pit bull killed a Detroit child.

A male tan pit bull was seized after a loose pit bull killed a Detroit child.

Graphic Medical study: Pitbull Mauling Deaths in Detroit, by Cheryl L. Loewe MD et al., The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol 28, December 2007.

View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Michigan Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

Baseline reporting requirements:
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Tomball Woman, 59, Killed by Pet Rottweiler in the Backyard of Her Home in Northwest Harris County

Jessica Wauters, 59, was killed by a pet rottweiler in the backyard of her home.

Woman Killed by Rottweiler
Tomball, TX - A 59-year old woman is dead after being attacked by one of her own dogs in her backyard, according to Harris County Precinct 4 deputies. Deputies responded to a residence in the 8200 block of Calico Canyon Drive after receiving a call from the victim's 30-year old son, who found his mother unresponsive. Upon arrival, deputies found the woman surrounded by blood. Multiple dogs were in the backyard, deputies said. One of the dogs, a rottweiler, had blood around its mouth.

The victim was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The rottweiler was euthanized (apparently at the scene), and two other dogs were transported to animal control. The sizes and breeds of those dogs were not released. Investigators are now waiting on autopsy results to see if the other two dogs were involved in the fatal attack. This is the sixth fatal dog mauling in Harris County since November 2021. Most of the attacks occurred in jurisdictions outside of Houston.

“The entire incident is under investigation. We’re still working on a few things but it appears to be consistent with an attack by the rottweiler dog,” Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said. KPRC interviewed Bob Holmes, a dog trainer who operates K-9 Obey LLC. Holmes said that rottweilers are an aggressive breed, due to being bred historically for guarding purposes. He also made the interesting comment of how rottweilers can start treating their owner "like an employee."

“They’ve been bred to be working dogs and they possess a little bit of aggression because they were also trained and bred historically to be guard dogs,” said Holmes.

“Sometimes they will assume the role and guard the house from strangers. Because if they start becoming a little bit aggressive, they will start treating their owner like an employee,” said Holmes. - K9 trainer, Bob Holmes, KPRC interview

KHOU reports the victim has been identified as Jessica Flores Wauters. She was found Sunday at an undisclosed time covered in blood, as was her pet rottweiler. "The victim was still alive," Constable Herman said. She was transported to a trauma center in The Woodlands, where she died of her injuries. KHOU also reports that all three dogs have since been euthanized, indicating the other two dogs in the backyard participated in the fatal mauling or cannot be excluded from participating.

Harris County Fatal Dog Maulings

In November 2021, Tiffany Frangione, 48, was killed by her own two dogs in the backyard of her Houston home. In February 2022, Drué Parker, 4, was killed by four pit bulls while visiting his aunt's home in Baytown. In June 2022, Nicolas Vasquez, 51, died after being brutally attacked by three pit bulls in Huffman. In August 2022, a 43-year old man was killed by dogs in Channelview. In February 2023, a 69-year old man was killed by two pit bulls that got into the backyard of his Houston home.

Just yesterday in Katy, which is part of western Harris County, two pit bulls attacked three people, including a Harris County Sheriff's Office deputy, leaving an 83-year old man with critical injuries. The attack was captured on a neighbor's Ring doorbell camera. The man's step-daughter grabbed an umbrella and started beating the pit bulls. A bystander jumped out of a car to help and was bitten too. A Harris County deputy, who was bitten multiple times, open fired on the dogs, killing them both.

The most recent fatal dog mauling in Harris County, Texas is the sixth since late 2021.

"Max" and "Riena," a male and female rottweiler, on the victim's Facebook page 2014-2015.

Home in the Miramar Lake subdivision where Jessica Wauters was killed by her pet rottweiler.

Join Texas Dog Bite Victims' Advocacy - Join our Texas email list to stay informed

View the DogsBite.org Google Map: U.S. Fatal Rottweiler Attacks By State

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Man, 47, Severely Mauled by Pit Bull in September Dies While Hospitalized in San Antonio

Paul Anthony Striegl Jr., 47, dies while hospitalized after being mauled by a pit bull.

Mauling Victim Dies
San Antonio, TX - A 47-year old man is dead after sustaining severe injuries from a large pit bull on September 5. Paul Anthony Striegl Jr., died at Brooke Army Medical Center on October 1. His attack marks the fifth consecutive dog mauling in San Antonio, which began on February 24, when Ramon Najera Jr., 81, was killed by two pit bulls in the 2800 block of Depla Street. Firefighters "were fighting off these pit bulls with pickaxes and pipe poles to try to get to the patients,” officials said afterward.

City Investigating Dog Attack on City’s Northeast Side

SAN ANTONIO (September 5, 2023) — A dog attack happened this afternoon, September 5, at 9511 Heidelberg. Two American Staffordshire Terriers severely attacked a man at a mobile home park. The victim is a man in his 40s.

The man was sitting in his backyard when the dogs, residing at the mobile home next door, were let outside. These dogs appear to have escaped the next door fence, which led to the attack.

The victim was bitten on both arms and the stomach, causing serious injuries. He is in critical condition in the hospital.

Neighbors and nearby persons intervened to rescue the victim from the dogs. The two American Staffordshire Terriers are currently in the custody of Animal Care Services (ACS). The dogs remain under the 10-day state-mandated quarantine at ACS. The dogs are an unsterilized male and an unsterilized female. - City of San Antonio

The attack occurred while Striegl was in the backyard of his home in the 9500 block of Heidelberg Street around 11:30 am. Striegl was sitting in a chair, smoking a cigarette when the neighbors two pit bulls -- a pair of breeding XL pit bulls -- slipped under the chain link fence that separated the two properties. Of the two pit bulls, a male, named "Ghost" and a female named "Venus," only the male inflicted the attack. According to neighbors and friends, Striegl was well acquainted with both dogs.

During the attack, Striegl's roommate, Chuck Sutton, 62, ran outside with a gun to stop the mauling. "It was just a nightmare," Sutton said. "I knew that day that the damage had been too much." According to the police report, both of Striegl's arms were "destroyed" by dog bites, reports the San Antonio-Express News. Firefighters had to apply tourniquets on his arms to control the bleeding. Striegl's condition at the hospital seemingly stabilized, but then he developed multiple fungal infections.

"No flesh. No muscle. Nothing. No arm left but bone," Sutton said describing Striegl's injuries. "Have you ever seen what a bear can do to a human body?" he asked the reporter. "That's about the best I can describe it."

Jonathan Adair, 46, and a life-long friend of Striegl said the infections worsened his condition, and that he suffered heart, kidney and liver failure, and a collapsed lung. He had to be placed onto a breathing machine. The dogs' owner, Gregory Leon Palmer, 54, called the attack "just a terrible thing." Palmer was at work when his dogs attacked. He blamed his girlfriend's elderly mother for letting the dogs outside without his knowledge. He also alleged the victim reached his hand over the fence-line.

In mid-September, a San Antonio Municipal Court judge ordered Ghost to be euthanized. By that point, Striegl's left forearm had been amputated up to the elbow. The other pit bull, Venus, was sterilized before Palmer could reclaim her. At the time of the attack, both dogs were 3.5 years old and unsterilized -- Palmer had been breeding his dogs, as depicted on his Facebook page. Venus was in heat at the time too, reports the Express News. Thankfully, neither of these dogs can be bred again.

During the dangerous dog hearing, investigator Meryem Martinez played an audio recording of an account provided by Striegl from his hospital bed. “I was by the fence playing with the dogs. He got jealous. He got mad. He nipped at her. I told him quit, stop it." That is when Ghost bit him once, Striegl said. "Once a dog bites you one time and you get freaked out, then they freak out even more," he said. Striegl, who is seen with a pit bull on his Facebook page, called the attack a "freak accident."

Brandon Posey, a fire department paramedic, also testified during the hearing. In addition to both of Striegl's arms "destroyed" by dog bites, and the application of tourniquets to them, there were "obvious fractures to his left forearm, with large chunks of muscle and skin missing on both arms," Posey said. Due to his injuries, paramedics could not put intravenous lines into either of Striegl's arms. Instead, they placed IVs in his feet to administer medication and whole blood, Posey said.

The Five Maulings

On February 24, Ramon Najera Jr., 81-years old, was killed by a pair pit bulls in the 2800 block of Depla Street. Part of the attack was captured on video that leaked to social media. Three other victims were also injured by the dogs. The pair of pit bulls had a history escaping their property, biting people and aggressive acts. San Antonio police arrested and charged Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, and his wife, Abilene Schnieder, 31, with two felony counts each under the Texas dog attack statute.

On July 16, a 13-year old boy was bitten over 50 times by a pack of pit bulls -- XL pit bulls/XL bullies. The attack occurred inside a home in the 22200 block of Escalante Run at approximately 1:30 pm in the afternoon. The boy was life-flighted to University Hospital due to his injuries. The boy's parents were not home at the time; he had been left under the care of a grandparent. At least three of the six dogs involved were euthanized. All of the dogs, apparently, "were raised for retail," reports KSAT.

On August 16, Max de Los Santos, 76-years old, was severely attacked by a pit bull and German shepherd in his own front yard. The attack occurred about 2:30 am in the 7400 block of Fieldgate Drive. "I could see blood gushing out, from the knee to the ankle the whole bone was exposed. Two minutes later and they would have killed him. He was in bad shape," said neighbor Rodolfo Pantoja. Doctors had to amputate his right leg. The criminal investigation of the dogs' owner is ongoing.

On September 3, a 68-year old man was attacked by a dog in the 5000 block of Blossom Canyon at about 8:30 am. "The victim suffered multiple puncture wounds to both of his legs and his groin area, as well as to his head. The victim also reported that this is not the first time the dog has been aggressive towards them," the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said. Police arrested the dog's owner, Kelly Max Oshaughnessy, 33, for Injury to an Elderly/Serious Bodily Injury and Dangerous Dog Attack.

Summary

Since Najera' death in February, city officials, the animal control division, and local and state legislators from San Antonio have been focusing on the dangerous dog/biting dog problems in the city. Media outlets have been scrutinizing these aspects as well. The degree of injury seen in these five maulings is a strong indicator of just how bad the problems are. These are death and amputation injuries inflicted by powerful, high-risk dogs, chiefly pit bulls and their XL pit bull counterparts.

No felony charges are expected after Striegl's death, but prosecutors should charge Palmer under the felony dog attack law because his dogs escaped his fencing and inflicted horrific injuries to a man who was on his own property. His injuries were so gruesome that the only way paramedics could get an intravenous line into him to administer medication was through his feet. He also sustained an arm amputation, chunks of flesh torn off his body, the misery of organ failure and death by infection.

"Bitten, sick, dying, dead. This tragic end didn’t have to be. Dogs brought about this end. It’s not enough that you’re in your own backyard minding your own business, when you are viciously, gruesomely attacked by a pit bull, in San Antonio, Texas." - Paul Striegl Memorial - Pit Bull Attack San Antonio, GoFundMe.com