Posted on January 7, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

In Memory of Richard Buffalin, a Prolific Commenter on the DogsBite Blog, a Victims' Advocate and a Cherished Friend

Remembrance Video Released on the First Anniversary of his Death

From the start of the murmuration to the end, the footage depicts the path of the birds at Lady Bird Lake on their final flight at dusk in the fall of 2021. Like these birds, Richard now lives in the sky.

Prescott, AZ - Richard Buffalin, who began commenting on the DogsBite Blog in 2019, passed away on January 7, 2022 in Prescott, Arizona. We did not learn about his death until late March of that year. During the last five years of his life, Richard had walked over 12,500 pedestrian miles, about 50 miles per week. In his time of walking residential streets in Prescott, he experienced several "ambush charge attacks" by aggressive dogs. He believed that dangerous canines had more rights than pedestrians. DogsBite.org eventually became his home page, and he became a vibrant voice commenting on our blog.

It was not until he began walking seven miles a day that he became aware of dangerous canines bolting off-property and their cavalier owners -- both often excused by local authorities. "For more than five decades, I have engineered my life to evade two things: the hostility of the surface of this earth, and dangerous people," Richard wrote in 2019. "Only when I started walking seven miles a day, every day, did both of these things come crashing down upon my head in the form of people who let their dogs ambush attack pedestrians."

A memorial service was held for Richard on his birthday, March 21, 2022, according to his obituary notice. "In memory of Richard 'Richie' Buffalin," states the notice. "He will forever be in our hearts. He is remembered for his scientific knowledge, his humor, and his love for music. He is responsible for saving thousands of lives during his time here with us. He had 27 years of sobriety at the time of his passing. We love you and miss you Richie."

In late March, after not hearing from him in three months, we ran a search on Facebook and found the notice. That is when we first became aware of his death, and became more aware of his life outside of the context of dangerous dogs. In 2019, Richard stated in a comment: "I operate a church property that is being used for multiple daily meetings, and I interact with over a hundred people every day…" No doubt referring to some of the lives he saved during his lifetime.

Richard had corresponded with our nonprofit over the last few years, chiefly when he found a typo on the site, when a link was broken and when he became aware of a troll in comments. During 2021, we started communicating by phone, regarding separate legal matters that both he and our nonprofit were facing. It is that fall when the founder began filming the murmuration that occurred just before dusk at Lady Bird Lake each night. Our remembrance video of Richard ties four of these filming episodes together. His sister kindly provided the personal photographs of him.

It has taken our nonprofit a long time to finalize our remembrance video and this post because we miss Richard so much -- his voice is so clearly no longer present on this website. Comments are not the same without his barbed humor either. Once, after a mother was passed out on medications when her dog attacked her baby, he asked: "What kind of medications? Well, we can rule out anti-narcissism medications." Or his blunt, critical thinking ones, such as after voters repealed Denver's pit bull ban, "Human beings are the only species that forces another dangerous species on itself," he wrote.

Richard could always see through the chronic blame games that play out after attacks, obscuring the underlying problem, as well. After an 8-day old baby was killed by a relatively new family pit bull, Richard identified the factor that ties together many of the attacks documented on this website. “It is not a matter of lack of correct information, or lack of knowledge, or lack of learning, or lack of thinking, or lack of training, or improper raising," he wrote. "It is a matter of risk-taking behavior." He did not assign blame, he simply identified what the behavior was.

It wasn't until we wrote about Sebewaing Police Chief Steven Repkie in late July of 2022 that we even mentioned his death. Repkie had issued a "community advisement" about a neighborhood "living of fear" of a vicious pit bull named "Lucifer" that had attacked a child in the face, but police did not have the legal grounds to seize the dog. Richard would have appreciated Repkie's sentiment, who stated in the advisement: "I will NOT allow my community to be held hostage by a dog. People should NOT be afraid to walk through their neighborhoods."

Richard will be remembered most by our nonprofit for his love of humanity, his love of God, his wit and intellect and his deep genuine caring for people. He will be remembered for always stating the obvious, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and for stating the inconvenient truth, "The only good thing about dangerous breed canines is that they result in medical innovation." Richard will always be remembered for being a generous donor and loyal supporter of this nonprofit, who also encouraged other people to donate. And for every future murmuration we see, we will always be reminded of Richard, who now lives in the sky.

We selected some of his comments to share. Our prayers go out to his family members and friends as they struggle with his loss. Especially today, on the first anniversary of his death.

Recent Comments

"The police said that it was not a random attack? That is so nice of them to let us know that. If it was not a random attack, then what kind of attack was it? It was a non-random attack. Better than a scheduled attack, or a planned attack, or a training attack, or love attack or an erroneous attack. It was an artificial selection attack, is my best take on this. Just did what it was simply primarily bred to do. Thank Goodness that it was not a random attack. Such a comforting thought." - R. Buffalin, 09/26/2021

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"The horror of America’s most hushed-up public health crisis is in the living room." - R. Buffalin, 01/01/2022

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"They did not raise it to kill. They did not train it to kill their own selves. Therefore, it is not how they are raised. It is what they were bred for … Until dangerous breed canines are declared by law to be dangerous animals, it will be legal to force them on other people, their own children and their own selves." - R. Buffalin, 12/17/2021

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"The dog’s enclosure was not child resistant. The child’s flesh was not dog resistant. What can possibly happen in a few seconds?" - R. Buffalin, 11/26/2021

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"After 12,500 pedestrian miles in Prescott in five years, and after three dogs sicced themselves on me in ambush charge attacks in that time frame, I marvel at pedestrians who are on the public street completely, totally vulnerable. I am just amazed at such a sight." - R. Buffalin, 06/14/2021

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"The backyard did not also have to be full of fast food wrappers, cigarette butts, empty alcoholic beverage containers and spent cartridge shell casings. The two family pet dangerous breed canines were more than sufficient to effect the expected outcome." - R. Buffalin, 06/10/2021

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"It’s comforting knowing that the veto survived an attempt to overturn. I am sure that the Dangerous Animal Industry will outspend victims on its advertising campaign in the months leading up to the November ballot initiative. The DAI generates megabucks that they will spend on campaign advertising, while the victims do not generate money; instead, they spend their money picking up and repairing the pieces of their shattered lives." - R. Buffalin, 02/26/2020

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"It is not a matter of lack of correct information, or lack of knowledge, or lack of learning, or lack of thinking, or lack of training, or improper raising. It is a matter of risk-taking behavior, because ‘We love our dangerous breed canine, and we love our newborn child, so therefor our dangerous breed canine must love us and our dangerous breed canine must love our newborn child.’" - R. Buffalin, 11/10/2021

first anniversary Richard Buffalin death

Richard Buffalin passed away on January 7, 2022 in Prescott, Arizona. He is dearly missed.

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

2022 Dog Bite Fatality: Newborn, 4-Days Old, Killed by Pet Husky in Cave Springs, Arkansas

A newborn was bitten on the head and killed by a husky in Cave Springs, Arkansas.

Dog Kills Newborn
Cave Springs, AR - Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith confirmed today that a dog killed a 4-day old infant last week. On December 14, 2022, a pet husky “put its mouth on the baby’s head,” reports 4029 TV. “The husky's tooth penetrated the baby's head.” The baby girl was transported to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where she died. The identity of the infant was not released. Police continue to investigate the baby’s death, according to Cave Springs Mayor Randall Noblett.

In a news video update, 4029 TV reported that police investigators characterized the baby’s bite injuries as “severe injuries to her head.”

KNWA/KFTA published the complete statement by prosecutor Smith: “On Wednesday, December 14, my office was notified by the Cave Springs Police Department that they were investigating the death of a 4-day-old baby girl. Based on the statements of witnesses and the opinions of medical professionals, it was determined that the fatal injuries were inflicted on the child by the family dog.” The family's husky has been euthanized, according to Cave Springs Police Lt. Keith Lawson.

The infant’s death marks the third dog mauling death in Arkansas this year, following the deaths of a 1-year old baby girl and 56-year old Sam Sullivan. Authorities did not release dog breed information in either case. The newborn’s death by a husky follows a similar pattern by the breed, whose most common victims are infants. From 2005 to 2017, huskies were involved in 13 fatal attacks. 62% (8 of 13) were infants ≤11 months old and 92% (12) were ages ≤5 years old.

We added in a footnote that: “In comparison with the other top-six killing dog breeds, only 15% (3 of 20) of German shepherd victims were infants ≤11 months old, 13% (6 of 45) of rottweiler victims, 10% (28 of 284) of pit bull victims, 7% (1 of 15) of American bulldog victims, 0% of mixed-breed victims, and 0% of mastiff/bullmastiff victims were infants." During the husky-inflicted infant attacks, the baby is often sleeping too, as was the case in the 2019 fatal husky attack in Georgia.

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 December 14, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

2022 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman, 70, Dies Days After Severe Mauling by Her Neighbor’s Two Chained Dogs

Melanie Catley, 70-years old, died of her injuries after being attacked by two chained dogs.

Woman Dies of Injuries
Hampstead, NC – A 70-year old woman has died after being attacked by her neighbor’s two chained dogs. On December 8, at about 2:05 pm, a 911 call was placed by the property owner at 206 Holiday Drive about a woman on the ground in his backyard. According to officials, Melanie Catley had entered into the neighbor’s backyard when the dogs attacked her. She sustained severe injuries and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, where she died several days later.

Multiple units responded to the scene, including Pender County Sheriff’s deputies, Pender County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Unit and EMS. No criminal investigation was undertaken because the dogs were restrained on the owner’s property when they attacked her. Both dogs were surrendered by their owner to authorities and were euthanized. The breed of dog information was not released, but a person living at the home had a litter of pit bull-lab puppies in early 2021.

It’s uncommon for adults to be killed by chained dogs; children are most often the victims. In January, two chained dogs attacked 56-year old Saad Al-Anazi in Las Cruces. The owner believed that one of the dogs had jumped over the fence and was left hanging on the other side, choking. Al-Anazi may have been trying to free the dog, only to have the dogs attack him. Of the 42 people killed by chained dogs since 2005, only 7 were adults, 17%, and each were ≥ 50 years old.

Breed Information Released

In February of 2023, we obtained the sex and breed information of both dogs involved through a FOIA: “Sonic,” a male 8-year old Labrador-pit bull mix and “Tiny,” a male 5-year old pit bull. The owner’s husband returned from work and found the victim in the circle with the chained dogs, police said. She sustained bites “all over” her body and died three days later. Two previous animal control complaints had been made about the owners not having adequate shelter for their dogs.

In 2023, our nonprofit obtained breed information about the two chained dogs through a FOIA.

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

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

2022 Dog Bite Fatality: Pack of Dogs Attack Two People, Killing One, in Separate Attacks in West Memphis

Sam Sullivan, 56-years old, died after being attacked by a pack of dogs near a scrapyard.

Multiple Attacks
West Memphis, AR – A man died and a woman was seriously injured by a pack of dogs in two separate attacks in West Memphis. The first attack occurred on November 8. Officers found a man lying in a ditch covered in bite wounds around 1:00 am near a scrapyard in the 100 block of South 19th Street. Sam Sullivan was transported to a local hospital then transferred to Regional One Trauma Center, where he died of complications related to the dog attack on November 21.

Sullivan’s fiancé, Emma Willis, told WREG that “five dogs were on him for twenty minutes, and nobody would help him.” She described his injuries (presumably degloving injuries), as appearing as though “someone skinned him.” Willis added, she’d “never seen anything like that before.” The second attack occurred on November 16, also around 1:00 am. Police were called to the same location after reports that a woman was attacked by a pack of dogs while riding her bicycle.

The woman sustained severe injuries to her ankle, including portions missing, and bite wounds on her arm, according to police. She was also taken to Regional One Trauma Center. Her condition is unknown. A police report stated that animal control was contacted after the second attack, “but did not come to the scene at that time.” On November 29, nearly two weeks later, 14 dogs were taken into custody by animal control. Willis could not understand why the dogs weren’t seized sooner.

The dog pack, four adult dogs and 10 puppies, belong to a man residing at 121 South 19th Street, a property described in media reports as both an abandoned home and a scrapyard. Kerry Facello, Animal Service Director for West Memphis, said the dogs’ owner has been cooperative so far and claims the dogs were only protecting his property. Given the delayed seizure of the dogs -- 3 weeks after the first attack – it may not be possible to prove which dogs attacked Sullivan.

WMC published the police incident report that was written after the November 8 attack. According to the report, “Sullivan advised he was walking past 121 South 19th Street and was attacked by multiple dogs. I observed at the residence multiple dogs standing by the open gate of the residence.” Through dispatch, “animal control was contacted, and they advised a follow-up with the owner at 121 South 19th Street, will be conducted in the morning,” states the report.

Facello did investigate the first attack, which resulted in Sullivan’s death, but stated it was still unclear where the attack occurred. “If someone approaches or trespasses on that property and a dog bites, then it’s very difficult to blame that dog,” she said. Yet, Sullivan was found by police “lying in a puddle of water in a ditch,” which should be a public area. Certainly, the second victim, who was attacked while riding her bicycle down the street, involved an off-property attack.

One of the adult dogs seized from the scrapyard on South 19th Street in West Memphis.

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Remembrance Video Released on the First Anniversary of his Death