Posted on March 25, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

Pit Bull Trait Discussion: Unprovoked, Disinhibited Aggression

After a violent facial pit bull mauling, the victim shares account in GoFundMe.

DogsBite.org - On March 20, a fundraiser organized by Tregonie Mount began for an adult female who suffered a violent facial pit bull mauling. Currently, the photograph at the top of the GoFundMe is exceptionally graphic. Please do not click on the GoFundMe link if you are unprepared to see these graphic facial injuries. On March 21, the victim posted a thank you video. "Thank you for the prayers and willingness to give and help me in this time of need," she wrote.

According to the GoFundMe, Latoya, who is a flight attendant for American Airlines, suffered a broken leg in December due to air turbulence mid flight. "One of the most scariest things to happen to someone flying," states Mount. While recovering from the broken leg injury, she was attacked in the face by a pit bull while on her way to rehabilitation. "Words cannot describe the emotionally traumatic, physically devastating and spiritually testing time it is for her," states Mount.

No information was provided about the owner of the dog or if the victim knew the dog. So far, we have seen no media reports about this attack.

"Today was the first of many surgeries she will need on the road to recovery," Mount continues. "The deep wounds from the dog bite also carry a high rate risk of infection. So it's very important that medical treatment is sought out in a timely fashion to lower her risk during this horrifying world crisis (coronavirus)." Mount also explains the other devastating reality Latoya faces. "Not one family member has been able to be with her during this, due to hospitals being on full lock down."

Mount states that Latoya will need, "primary reconstructive surgery, secondary reconstructive, cartilage grafting, skin grafting, fat grafting, flap reconstruction, debulking and laser resurfacing." Mount also asks donors to come together: "I ask that you show her how the world can come together to uplift those in the community which is in need. Let's not allow her to fall into depression," but be a beacon of hope for the next person who suffers "this unfortunate incident."

Disproportionate Response

Even the most minor facial attacks inflicted by a dog can cause serious disfigurement, such as the partial loss of an eyelid, nose or lip. Yet, this is still an "inhibited" aggressive response by the dog. The difference with pit bulls is that they often exhibit sudden disinhibited aggression, which is always a disproportionate response to the stimuli. Thus, the routine act of an owner bending down to kiss his pit bull can result in sudden, unbridled aggression causing catastrophic injury.

This type of unprovoked and disinhibited aggression is also called "impulsive aggression." As animal behaviorist Alexandra Semyonova states in her 2006 analytical paper, "It's also not realistic to pretend that impulsive aggression is not pathological. The environments (the fighting pit, the baited bull, the escaping slave) for which these behaviors were selected as an adaptive response are so extreme that in fact there is no appropriate context for these behaviors in normal life."

"There is such a thing as normal aggression in animals (and dogs). Maternal aggression, territorial aggression, predatory behavior, for example, all depend on different neuronal and hormonal mechanisms, and they are all normal coping responses in a particular environment. These behaviors in the dog have been accepted by humans in the process of domestication, as long as the behaviors can be foreseen. Abnormal disinhibited behavior is not functional, and it is unpredictable. Although high arousal and sudden attack can be functional in certain environments, this behavior is pathological in a safer environment, where a high level of arousal and aggressivity aren’t necessary and only lead to unnecessary attacks and injuries." - Alexandra Semyonova

Earlier this month, we linked to the video of the vicious facial attack of 92-year old Norma Graves, a resident at the Village Green Alzheimer's Care Home, by a rescue pit bull. One sees that this pit bull does offer signals of "discomfort" that many adults would recognize as a warning, but Graves had no ability to recognize this. However, nothing in her behavior (petting the dog) warranted the extreme disproportionate response by the pit bull, which launched a full-scale frontal assault.

For additional context, let's review an acutal routine act of an owner bending down to kiss his pit bull of multiple years that resulted in sudden, disinhibited aggression that caused catastrophic facial damage. This video, like the Graves video, is difficult to watch, though the resulting injuries are not shown in it. When this video was trending last month, we were able to locate a photograph of the pit bull owner's severe facial injuries. Before clicking this link, please do brace yourself.

As one Youtube commenter mentions, "Hardwood floor probably saved the rest of his face." No, the hardwood floors probably saved his life.

Summary

As we just witnessed, the coronavirus crisis is not going to reduce violent pit bull maulings, especially attacks carried out by family pit bulls upon household members and their friends. Like Latoya's story, however, attacks during this pandemic are not likely to receive media attention. In February, just before cities and states started locking down, Lauren of San Antonio was viciously attacked by a friend's pit bull. She's now being treated at University Hospital trauma center.

Sadly, none of these victims likely had any understanding of impulsive aggression and that breeders of fighting dogs selected for this trait -- the willingness to attack unbridled in the absence of species-specific signs that normally provoke aggression. The heritability of abnormal aggressive behavior, which Semyonova argues in her paper can no longer be denied, is the same reason why pit bulls appear so frequently in severe and fatal maulings compared with other dog breeds.

In October 2020, seven months after the mauling, Latoya stated that she still has more to go.

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

Do Not Adopt A Pit Bull, Especially Right Now: Rescue and Shelter Shenanigans During the Coronavirus Crisis

In 2018, attorney Kenneth Phillips began a Do Not Adopt a Pit Bull campaign.

Free Toilet Paper
DogsBite.org - Like many Americans, each new day brings a wealth of new information and new closures to us. In our city of Austin, that process began on March 6 when the city cancelled South By Southwest, an international festival that was estimated to draw about 300,000 attendees. March 6 was also the day CDC released new information about the virus. Pressure had been mounting on city officials, including a petition signed by 55 thousand people to cancel the event.

"Please think about the children, the immune compromised, the elderly, the diabetics and asthmatics -- people who could die because of this."

By March 17, all restaurants and bars were shuttered through May 1 in Austin, and all gatherings were limited to 10 people. Like people in many cities right now, we are weathering the storm in Austin by maintaining social distancing and largely staying home. During this time of crisis, we do not expect to see any media reports of fatal dog maulings. Right now, and potentially for months to come, the sole focus of the media is to provide critical information to the public about COVID-19.

Shelter Shenanigans

That said, we are watching the growing number of shenanigans being played out by shelters and rescues. The most offensive thus far is a March 13 advertisement for a pit bull-mix named "Tootie" by Do Only Good Animal Rescue in Pontiac (the same city where a shelter worker was attacked by a vicious pit bull late last year). Tootie's adoption fee was only $25 and the dog came with a "free roll of coveted TOILET PAPER," states the ad. They also recently had a "Coronavirus sale."

Many shelters and rescues are moving to "appointment only" and begging the public to foster dogs. Today, many taxpayer funded city and county shelters, all striving to reach the single metric 90% "save rate," have been one step away from disaster for a long time because they rely so heavily on unpaid personnel. What happens when 80% to 90% of their volunteers suddenly disappear due to a pandemic crisis? Paid staffers won't be able to properly care for all of the dogs.

Maricopa County Animal Care and Control is even asking for donations, despite drastically reducing their intake, in fears they will become overcrowded and be "forced to make difficult decisions" (euthanizing unwanted pets). They seek donations so that if faced with overcrowding, they can board dogs at private facilities. During these times, we recommend adopting or fostering a cat -- an indoor only pet. A crisis is not a time to adopt a dog, much less an unwanted pit bull.

The Maricopa shelter is already filled to the brim with unwanted pit bulls. As the coronavirus crisis ensues, more unwanted pit bulls will stack up. Pit bull owners are not known for being responsible when there is no crisis at hand, so imagine when one is? Right now, with surging job losses, markets tanking and cities shutting down, not to mention the threat of the catching the virus yourself, is the worst time to let gimmicks and emotions drive a decision to adopt a high-risk dog.

My First Pit Bull Case

In 2018, dog bite attorney Kenneth Phillips began a Do Not Adopt a Pit Bull campaign. The campaign contains several Super Bowl-themed videos. We wrote about this last October in a story about a pit bull adoption disaster. His most recent addition to the campaign was published this week, titled, My First Pit Bull Case, which occurred in 1991. It is a chilling account of a vicious pit bull attack. His client, Alicia, amazingly survived, but with "horribly deformed, scarred legs."

Phillips also comments on the "senseless, even depraved decisions by pit bull owners" and the Facts and Figures about pit bulls. "Most of the time, pit bulls bite, maul or kill their owners or their owners' family members. Most of the time, the victims are females," Phillips states. "There is no reason to have this type of dog or, for that matter, any other high-risk dog." Phillips warns readers, "Do not adopt a pit bull." We will add, certainly do not adopt a pit bull during this pandemic crisis.

Concealing Aggression

Over the past few years, we have written extensively about how shelters and rescues "encode" and "conceal" aggression in adoption advertisements. Why would this change during a pandemic? Austin Pets Alive (APA), the no-kill agency that contracts with the city of Austin to ensure that Austin maintains its no-kill status, continually updates its coronavirus plan. On March 18, they claimed they were close to reaching their goal of 50% less animal inventory at the facility.

"Decreasing our animals on site: I shared last night that we are close to our goal of getting half our space cleared in case we do have an outbreak, resulting in less people on campus...

At this point, we are specifically seeking dog fosters with homes without children or pets, and/or stand alone homes with yards for our dogs who are wonderful but do require a little more patience and understanding. These dogs are unfortunately often overlooked and would therefore benefit the most with time away from a shelter environment." - Austin Pets Alive

Homes "without children or pets" and dogs that "require a little more patience and understanding" indicate APA is hoping fosters will take in the "long stay" dogs whose adoptions chances are slim. Many of these dogs are pit bulls. The whole point of "no-kill" is to keep these dogs alive, no matter if that means 15 different foster homes, multiple failed adoptions or spending years at the shelter. This is in stark contrast with Brother Wolf who recently admitted, "warehousing isn't working."

Gimmicks & Language

Finally, we expect to see more toilet paper gimmicks to encourage "impulse adoptions," as well as coronavirus-themed language. The worst coined thus far is "quarantine adoptions" from the Nashville Humane Association. As our readers know, after a dog attacks a person, a 10-day quarantine is required to observe the biter for rabies, which has a fatality rate of 99.9%. In terms of dogs, "quarantine" is not a term to toss around lightly or to freely associate with a happy adoption.

Regarding rescue dog shenanigans in the era of coronavirus, one of our Facebook commenters recently said, "They don't let a single crisis or holiday go to waste, but tell people getting a dog shouldn't be on impulse. This is the worst time to get a new pet." On March 1, just after the US reported its first community spread, a New York-based pizza shop began putting fliers of pit bulls on its boxes, offering a $50 certificate for the pizza shop if adopted. Gimmicks to promote pit bulls.

On March 13, one rescue began offering a "free roll of coveted toilet paper" to adopters.

Just before the coronavirus hit the US, a pizza shop began promoting pit bulls on their boxes.

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

2020 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Pit Bull Kills 2-Year Old Child in Portsmouth, Virginia

Demi Witherspoon, 2-years old, was killed by a family pit bull in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Pit Bull Kills Child
Portsmouth, VA - A young child is dead after being attacked by a family pit bull in Portsmouth. On Monday, police were dispatched to a home in the 5600 block of Darby Close at 1:53 pm, according to Misty Holley with the Portsmouth Police Department. When officers and paramedics arrived, they found the 2-year old suffering life-threatening injuries. The child was transported to a local hospital, where she died. The family surrendered the 1-year old male pit bull to animal control.

One neighbor said the child's family had moved in over the weekend.

In the audio dispatch file from Broadcastify.com, the dispatcher for Portsmouth Police and Fire, states: "We have a pit bull who just bit the complainant's daughter's face completely off. She's not breathing." After Engine 3 arrives at the scene, the fireman reports, "We have a pit bull that's covered in blood here." Listening to this dramatic audio paints a portrait as vivid as any person would need to comprehend the dangers of bringing a pit bull into a home with a young child.

Listen: Truncated audio dispatch log from Portsmouth, Virginia Police and Fire

Since 2017, there have been three high-profile fatal pit bull attacks in Virginia. In June 2017, Margaret Colvin, 91-years old, was savagely killed by a pit bull her daughter had acquired from a rescue group earlier that day. In December 2017, Bethany Stephens, 22-years old and a pit bull advocate, was attacked and eaten by her two pit bulls in Goochland County. In September 2019, Morgan Crayton, 31-years old, was brutally killed by her 92-pound male pit bull in Hampton.

Finally, when pit bull aggression "turns on" for the first time, it is often between the ages of 1.5 and 2-years old, when the dog reaches sexual maturity. Owners of these dogs can always say, "The dog's never been aggressive before," because as a puppy or adolescent, the dog had not been. Adoption agencies and humane groups never share this information with the public. Also, many pit bull owners refuse to acknowledge the genetic heritage of this breed: fighting to the death in a pit.

Victim Identified

The obituary for the victim identifies her as Demi Marie Witherspoon. The GoFundMe created for her funeral expenses has reached over $6,000 and states, "Demi just lost her father a year ago. This alone was an experience no daughter or mother should ever have to face." Photographs from her mother's Facebook page indicate her father was Eric Witherspoon, Jr. He died of gun violence in Hampton, Virginia in November 2018, according to a national gun violence memorial website.

The little girl's family now has two family members on national memorial websites prior to each reaching the age of 25. Demi became the 601st American killed by pit bull violence since we began tracking this data at Fatal Pit Bull Attacks - The Archival Record. Demi also became the 238th child killed by pit bull violence since 1980, when the pit bull problem began to emerge, and the 187th child killed by pit bull violence since the CDC stopped tracking breed data in 1998.

A male family pit bull attacked and killed a 2-year old girl in Portsmouth, Virginia on Monday.

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

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 March 10, 2020 by Colleen Lynn

Citizen Responds After Denver Mayor Vetoed Pit Bull Ban Repeal

Youtube artist Robert Crawford thanks the Denver mayor for his desire to keep people safe.

Denver, CO - On February 14, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock vetoed a bill that would have rescinded the city's 30-year old pit bull ban. The hasty repeal effort began in mid-January driven by Denver City Councilman Chris Herndon. On February 24, the attempt to overturn Hancock's veto of the pit bull ban repeal failed in an 8 to 5 vote. In between those dates, Youtube artist Robert Crawford responded. Crawford debunks the ridiculous arguments of pit bull worshipers.

Crawford opens, "Say No to Pit Bulls!" by congratulating Mayor Hancock for his desire to "keep people safe, not to assuage the pit bull owners." Crawford calls out the false and shameful argument of comparing "pit bull rights" to "human rights." That is just a bunch of "idolatry and nonsense," he says. "I find that really insulting." That "saving a pit bull from euthanasia" is somehow similar to saving a minority person from the Ku Klux Klan. "This is absurd," he says.

The Denver mayor did the right thing. "He's more concerned with people," he says. "Human beings who may or may not get mauled." We want to stop the maulings, and we also want to stop people from having to live in fear when there is a pit bull in the neighborhood. A lot of these pit bulls get loose. "We know the damage they can do -- we see it in the news all of the time." Crawford also addresses the archaic and ridiculous argument, "It's all how they're raised."

"There are plenty of stories of how people raise their pit bulls well." These pit bulls still turn around and maul their children or their owners, sometimes to death. These dogs "always go after their neck and face," he says. "We just can't take that chance -- that's the bottom line." Why take a chance with a pit bull dog when there are so many dog breeds that were not selected for fighting? "Get yourself a collie. Get yourself a golden retriever. Get yourself a Labrador," Crawford says.

Next, Crawford talks basic biology. "All dogs were bred with a certain goal in mind. Certain dogs were bred for herding," he says. We will add that there is no question that specific breeds exhibit breed specific behaviors -- border collies herd, greyhounds race, and retrievers retrieve. These behaviors are exhibited very early in life and do not require specific training. "The pit bull dog was bred to kill other dogs," he says, and to take down bulls. Pit bulls were selectively bred for fighting.

"Often times, they are too strong for their owners and the owner's can't even control them," he says. (There is an endless array of graphic videos showing just that too). Finally, Crawford also addresses the "blame the owner" mantra that does nothing to prevent the onslaught of new violent maulings and deaths. "I'm not talking about blaming anybody," he says. "I'm trying to prevent people, especially children, please prevent these children from being mauled," Crawford says.

A lesson from public health: The blame game does not prevent injuries. As a country, we did not revolutionize car safety in the late 1960s by blaming the driver or the car. One year after the publication of Ralph Nader’s book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” Congress unanimously enacted the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The act forced the automobile industry to build safer cars -- which was the proper solution. Our motto for pit bulls? "Unsafe with Any Owner."

On February 14, Mayor Michael Hancock vetoed the pit bull ban repeal to keep people safe.

DogsBite blog ::

Victim Shares Video After Violent Facial Pit Bull Mauling

Pit Bull Trait Discussion: Unprovoked, Disinhibited Aggression

Do Not Adopt A Pit Bull, Especially Right Now: Rescue and Shelter Shenanigans During the Coronavirus Crisis

2020 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Pit Bull Kills 2-Year Old Child in Portsmouth, Virginia

Video: Citizen Offers Straight Talk About Pit Bulls and the Priority of a Pit Bull Ban, to 'Keep People Safe'

Citizen Responds After Denver Mayor Vetoed Pit Bull Ban Repeal