Posted on July 19, 2021 by Colleen Lynn

2021 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman, 59, Killed by Pair of Family Pit Bulls in Westside El Paso Home

A 59-year old woman was attacked and killed by two family pit bulls in El Paso.

Pit Bulls Kill Woman
El Paso, TX - A 59-year old woman is dead after being attacked by a pair of family pit bulls, according to police. Her death was discovered Sunday at about 6:00 pm at 7240 Royal Arms Drive. "A woman having just arrived home discovered the body of her mother being mauled by the family dogs," El Paso Police wrote in an incident report released Monday. "The investigation is ongoing, but all indications are that the two pit bull dogs killed the woman," police stated.

According to detectives investigating her death, the dogs appeared to have been well cared for and had plenty of food and water. There were no signs of neglect. The identity of the victim was not released by police. The last fatal dog mauling in El Paso involved a pack of neglected dogs killing a 4-year old boy in 2017. His parents were later charged with felony injury to a child. More recently, KFOX covered the demise of Luke Westerman, who still faces 19 felony counts in Ohio.

A neighbor told KVIA the brown and black pit bulls acted aggressive behind the owner's fence.

The victim's daughter, who found her mother, owned multiple pit bulls, one was a black male.

View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Texas 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 July 13, 2021 by Colleen Lynn

Man Found Dead in a Ditch After Dog Attack in McDonald County, Missouri

George Martin, 41-years old, was discovered dead after being attacked by a dog in June.

Death Investigation
Anderson, MO - A 41-year old man was discovered dead in a ditch after being attacked by a dog. A person contacted police after discovering his body on June 25. Police Chief David Abbott said the body was located about 20 feet inside city limits in front of 100 Lindsay Lane. Officers identified him as 41-year old George Alan Martin. Multiple bite marks were found on his body and pieces of his clothing were found outside of city limits, indicating he tried to run from the dog.

McDonald County Coroner William B.J. Goodwin said the bite injuries were deep, but were not fatal. Goodman said the size of the bite marks indicate it was a large dog. The exact cause of death is still being investigated. Results from a toxicology report are not expected for weeks. The victim's brother, Joseph Martin, told KOAM that he's not convinced the dog did not kill him. "The coroner's report said it was clearly a dog attack that ultimately caused his death," Martin said.

The KOAM news report came two weeks after his death. Currently, police have no conclusive evidence about the dog involved. George leaves behind four children, according to his obituary.

A 41-year old man was discovered dead in a ditch after being attacked by a dog in late June.

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Colleen Lynn

2021 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman Killed by Pack of Pit Bull-Mixes in Phoenix; Owner Charged with Negligent Homicide

Maria Ruiz, 77-years old, died after being attacked by four pit bull-mixes in Phoenix.

Failed to Impound
UPDATE 07/14/21: Returning to the question of the role of animal control, Maricopa Animal Care & Control, the latest news report from KPNX addresses the two previous occasions MCACC responded to the home of Alejandro Hernandez. On July 6, four pit bull-mixes belonging to Hernandez escaped his property again and fatally mauled 77-year old Maria Ruiz while she sat on her porch. Hernandez has since been charged with one count of felony negligent homicide.

The most recent visit by MCACC was April 2021, after a neighbor reported that Hernandez' dogs were running down the street trying to bite people. MCACC captured the dogs and loaded them into a truck to impound them. But that never happened. Apparently, Hernandez' mother begged to have the dogs back and that all dogs were "safely returned to her." Despite the rarity of fatal dog attacks, we often see this behavior by animal control departments prior to a fatal dog attack.

"He was fully aware that his dogs were vicious and also that the security of the yard he kept them in was completely inadequate." - Prosecutor

First of all, why wasn't Hernandez' mother also criminally charged? Secondly, why didn't MCACC impound the dogs in April? The role of animal control being a type of "sympathetic social worker" to irresponsible dog owners -- in this case the owner had four pit bull-mixes with a history of aggression and escaping a property with "completely inadequate" security -- played a distinct role in Ruiz' death. Ruiz' family members are now questioning this dereliction of duty by MCACC.

Instead of impounding the "pack of dogs" in April, MCACC released the dogs to his mother with full knowledge that the owner (and his mother) had "completely inadequate" fencing on their property. A proactive, public safety response would have been for MCACC to impound the dogs, cite the owner for all relevant violations, charge the owner impound fees, and not release the "pack of dogs" back to the owner until the "completely inadequate" security problem had been resolved.

We emphasize "pack of dogs," because for thousands of years mankind has known of the dangerousness of "pack mentality" in canines, even the "Dummies" book series addresses this aggression issue. Returning a single dog with known vicious propensities back to a property with "completely inadequate" security is bad enough. Returning a pack of four powerful dogs with a history of escaping and aggression to this same inadequate condition is reckless and negligent.

This hole in Hernandez' fence was visible in July after his dogs escaped and killed Maria Elisa Sebastian Ruiz. Was it also visible in April when MCACC failed to impound his dogs?

07/07/21: Owner Charged with Felony
Phoenix, AZ - A 77-year old woman is dead after being attacked by four dogs, police said. Police were dispatched to the area of South 6th Street and Broadway Road just after 7:00 am for reports of a woman being attacked by dogs. When first responders arrived at the scene, they found Maria Elisa Sebastian Ruiz in critical condition. She was transported to a local hospital, where she later died of her injuries. Ruiz was on her own front porch when the dogs attacked her, police said.

Phoenix police said the dogs were not "provoked" before the attack.

The dogs were described at "Staffordshire terrier-mixes," which is another euphemism for pit bull-mixes. It's unclear if this description came from the owner, Alejandro Hernandez, 33, or Maricopa County Animal Care & Control. The MCACC adoption page shows plenty of dogs labeled pit bull-mixes. Hernandez is being charged with one count of negligent homicide. Police said Hernandez told them his dogs had escaped multiple times in the past, and that they had bitten neighbors.

MCACC had also warned Hernandez in the past about his dogs escaping. He was instructed on at least one occasion to fix a gate to secure his dogs and was also issued multiple license warnings. Negligent homicide is a Class 4 felony in Arizona. The first offense carries a 1 year minimum prison sentence and a maximum 3.75 year sentence, according to an Arizona criminal defense attorney's website. The dogs were taken into custody by MCACC; one is being tested for rabies.

Wednesday Update

Family members want the dog owner held responsible. The victim, known as Elisa Sebastian, was sitting on her porch when the four dogs mauled her. Elisa, who was named after her grandmother, would not show her face on camera. She said when they tried to confront Hernandez about getting his dogs under control, he became hostile and threatening. "One of my uncles would tell him that his dogs were loose and everything, and all he wanted to do is fight and take out guns," she said.

"I just want the guy to pay for what he did to my grandma," Elisa said. "If the dogs were tied up or anything, this would not have happened. She would still be living. She would still be out here." MCACC was first called to his home in February 2020 after five of his dogs were loose -- he was issued seven license warnings at that time. In April 2021, MCACC was called out again when two of his dogs were loose. Hernandez was told at least once to fix a gate to keep his dogs secure.

Negligent Homicide

A number of dog owners have been charged with negligent homicide after their dogs killed a person. In some states, however, negligent homicide is a misdemeanor. Arizona statute § 13-1208. Assault; vicious animals; classification, would also apply to this recent fatality (Section B), but that is only a Class 5 felony. We are thrilled that police and prosecutors went with the higher charge. If convicted, perhaps Hernandez will also have to pay restitution to the victim's family.

Alejandro Hernandez, 33, was charged with negligent homicide in connection to her death.

This commenter claims MCACC is the problem and insinuates the owner attempted to surrender the dogs, but was turned away. MCACC has been at "critical capacity" for the last two weeks. If what she says is true, we saw this in a 2019 fatal pit bull attack case in Texas as well.

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

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Colleen Lynn

Owner Shares Heartbreaking Louie's Story; Warns Dog Owners, 'You Should Never Trust a Pit Bull'

Louie is seen after the violent pit bull attack (left) and after reconstructive surgery.

Owner Shares Story
Boone, NC - On June 22, Dax Benfield, the owner of Louie, shared Louie's Story on Facebook. Benfield's post contains multiple photographs and videos. This is not for the faint of heart as, "Louie’s injuries were devastating and left him grotesquely disfigured." Benfield states, "Louie's maxilla had been fractured to the point his entire nose starting in front of his eyes was hanging by just the skin, multiple teeth had been broken off and his eye was partially bulging out of socket."

Benfield also correctly states the following: "After reflecting at length I have concluded you should never trust a pit bull and it's not the breed or the owner, it's both." Benfield wisely deflated the circular debate ("it's the owner not the breed!"), which "resets" this debate back to 1985, and chucked it out the window. "Sophia asked two times if the dog was friendly and if Louie could play with him. The owner told her that her pit bull was friendly and would play fine with Louie."

That did not happen. Pits will be pits. "As soon as Louie walked up to this pit, wagging his tail in his friendly puppy manner, this monster just latched onto his face with no warning. The pit would not let go and Sophia had to fight for Louie’s life," Benfield states. "Louie was making this indescribable gargle as he struggled to breath with his mangled face. At the same time I could see the owner holding her pit bull back. After mauling my puppy this pit bull was glowing with joy."

Correct. Pit bulls were selected for impulsive aggression to excel in the fighting pit. As animal behaviorist, Alexandra Semyonova states: "You will also not prevent the dog from being what he is genetically predisposed to be. Because the inbred postures and behaviors feel good, fitting the body and brain the dog has been bred with, they are internally motivated and internally rewarded." Thus, a breed selected for fighting, like pit bulls, may indeed be "glowing with joy" after a fight.

"You could see it in his face that he enjoyed what he had just done."

Benfield also offers an important warning to other dog owners. "As a closing remark to other dog owners, what happened to Louie will happen to your dog if you trust enough 'friendly pit bulls.' It only takes one encounter to kill your dog. Don’t take the risk. Don’t be afraid to tell someone you don’t trust their pit bull no matter what they say, it could save your dogs life," he states. Louie survived, but will be permanently maimed and emotionally scarred. It's not worth the risk.

Dog-on-Dog Attack Studies

Back in March, we published the results of two peer-reviewed European dog-on-dog attack studies. The UK study showed that 39.9% of the attackers were Staffie bull/pit bull terrier. The Netherlands study showed that 55.5% were Amstaff/pit bull terrier. Dog-on-dog aggression is a common behavioral problem, yet there is a glaring absence of data -- peer-reviewed and otherwise -- about the most common type of dog attack, dog-on-dog attacks, in the US.

In our March post, we also asked why is there a glaring absence of dog-on-dog attack data in the US? "Possibly because the results would be self-evident, just as the UK and Netherlands studies show," we stated. "Dogs purpose bred for dog-killing aggression are the most 'efficient' dog-killing breeds on earth. It's not rocket science. No one is surprised that racing dogs are the fastest dogs on earth or that herding dogs are the most effective herding dogs on earth either," we stated.

View Charts: UK Dog-on-Dog Attack Aggressors | Netherlands Dog Killing Aggression

Louie's Story by Dax Benfield. June 22, 2021 (facebook.com)

Related Facebook page:
Our Pets Were Attacked By Pit Bulls - Share Your Story