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.

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 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.

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

DogsBite's Giving Tuesday Challenge 2022 - Act Now to Ensure that Our Research is Not Silenced

Join us on Facebook for DogsBite's Giving Tuesday Challenge 2022.

Giving Tuesday Challenge 2022
DogsBite.org - Giving Tuesday is November 29. This year, our iconic little girl, who has been part of our website for 15 years and is our social media profile image, has a critical message to share with our supporters. That urgent message is: “We need your help. Hugely,” she says. “We’ve been under strain for the past 18 months as a well-funded opposition group continues to use the federal civil litigation process against us, effectively to silence our dog bite fatality research," she says.

This year’s campaign discusses lawsuits involving three cities being sued over their pit bull bans that our nonprofit has been roped into as a non-party. This is all because our comprehensive and authoritative database of U.S. fatal dog maulings threatens powerful entities that defend pit bulls. Part of the cost of our research is defending against parties who do not like it. The burden of our advocacy is high. We are a small nonprofit too, having only one paid staff member.

Since May 2021, we have responded to three similar non-party subpoenas, each over 300 pages, that demanded our underlying data for the years 2005 to 2019. Last month, the founder had to sit for a deposition, enduring nearly 6 hours of questioning. This is despite being a non-party; our nonprofit has no direct involvement in these lawsuits. Again, the burden of our advocacy is high, as is the cost of defending our research against well-funded entities that want it silenced.

On Giving Tuesday, you can join us in defending our national research by making a donation. Your gift can be stretched too! Meta is matching up to $7 million when you sign up to donate monthly.

How Does the Match Work?

This year’s match by Meta is about helping nonprofits raise money long-term. This is a shift from how Meta historically matched one-time donations on Giving Tuesday. Right now, when you sign up to donate monthly on the Facebook platform, Meta will match 100% of your donation (up to $100 per donation) after you make your second monthly donation. The match period lasts until the $7 million runs out. To be eligible, you must sign up to donate monthly between now and Dec. 31.

Ways to Participate

You can donate directly to our Facebook campaign by giving a one-time or monthly gift. Facebook also encourages people to start their own fundraiser for a nonprofit. On Tuesday morning, you can start a fundraiser for DogsBite.org by using one of our campaign graphics. You can also create a campaign "In Memory" of a special person or pet or use one of our graphics to create a theme. Then share it on your Timeline and tell your friends why it is important to act on Giving Tuesday.

Other Ways to Give

Many of our blog readers are already monthly or annual donors. Thank you so much to all of you! Giving Tuesday is always a giving day to attract new people to our cause and to invite casual readers of the blog to support our cause on this global giving day. There are other ways to give to DogsBite too. You can give a one-time gift or a monthly gift through PayPal, you can give to our ongoing GoFundMe charity page and you can give to our PayPal Giving Fund page (no fees).

Help us reach our goal of $8,000 for DogsBite's Giving Tuesday Challenge 2022!

DogsBite's Giving Tuesday Challenge 2022 - Don't Let Them Silence our Research.

The cities include: Council Bluffs, Iowa, who recently won their case (Danker v. The City of Council Bluffs, Iowa 1:20-cv-16). Keota, Iowa, whose case is active (Droll v. City of Keota, Iowa 4:20-cv-00088) and Williston, North Dakota, whose case is active (Suckley v. The City of Williston, North Dakota 21-cv-00012). These lawsuits are being financed by one entity.

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Boni

A Serious Discussion In South Africa After Multiple Children Killed by Pit Bulls

Discussion on the pros and cons of pit bull banning after multiple children are killed by pit bulls in South Africa in under two weeks. A third child is killed by a pit bull just after this episode aired.

Discussion in South Africa
Here in North America, we need to be having this discussion openly, given the amount of attacks by pit bulls. Clearly, these discussions have been had in countries where pit bulls have been banned and excluded from entering the country. Numerous voices were heard during this one hour program -- the panel discussion starts at 25:45.

What is not covered in this discussion is that pit bulls are overwhelmingly the most likely dogs to attack livestock and other domestic pets.

"If we have to put in place such drastic measures for a so-called pet, a ‘domestic pet,’ to not be a danger to humans, then this should not be a pet." - Panelist Bangilizwe

South Africa recently suffered a spate of pit bulls slaughtering and maiming children. In some cases there's been a vigilante response from the community, especially in cases where Animal Control or the police did not adequately respond to the threat that pit bulls guilty of a deathly mauling, posed to the rest of the community.

A common thread in the discussion is how pit bulls are seen as a form of protection dog. Yet, there is no discussion of how they are any better at protection work than a dog bred and trained to perform such duties or proof they were ever trained at all. Is that just what the owners believe without providing any actual demonstration of fitness to that purpose? Apparently, South Africa has a high crime rate and that's the oft-cited reason for such a high amount of pit bull ownership. Clearly, they're cheap and accessible due to over-breeding.

If we're going to have these discussions, we need to ask the hard questions, too.

For all the areas uncoverable by an hour-long show, it's a program we are unlikely to see any time soon in North America.

Recent Deaths: Three children have been killed by pit bulls in under two weeks in South Africa: an 8-year old boy in Bloemfontein; a 3-year old boy in Free State, and a 15-month old boy in Eastern Cape. That pit bull, according to its owner, had killed two dogs previously.

Sizwe Kupelo of the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation created a petition calling on the South African government to ban the breed after a 10-year old boy was killed by two family pit bulls in September in Nelson Mandela Bay. The petition has received over 125,000 signatures so far.

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