Sharon Lee Daniels, 77, was found dead after being mauled by a family pit bull.
Family Pit Bull Kills
Big Prairie Township, MI - A 77-year old woman is dead after being attacked by a family pit bull, according to Michigan State Police. State troopers discovered Sharon Lee Daniels unresponsive in her Big Prairie Township home about 7:00 pm Tuesday. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say Daniels, who is disabled and confined to a wheelchair, was alone with three family pit bulls when one of them "inflicted fatal bites to her body," state news reports.
Daniels was repeatedly bitten, which investigators say led to her death, reports WZZM. An autopsy has been ordered for further investigation. Newaygo County Animal Control officers took all three pit bulls into custody. The dogs remain in quarantine at the Newaygo County Animal Shelter. No criminal activity is suspected, according to state police. The Newaygo County Sheriff's Department, Big Prairie Fire Department and Life EMS assisted the Michigan State Police.
"Apparently, there is blood everywhere," the dispatcher tells Newaygo County Fire. "They estimated two quarts of blood on the floor."
Dispatch log files at Broadcastify.com paint a grim picture of the scene that state police and emergency medical responders arrived to Tuesday. The attack occurred in the 7000 block of East Mary Avenue. "76-year old female, unresponsive, currently has a pulse," the dispatcher states. "Apparently, there is blood everywhere," the dispatcher emphasized. "They estimated two quarts of blood on the floor." CPR was in progress as this rescue team was en route to the location.
So far, no details have been provided about other persons living at the victim's home. No information has been provided about why investigators believe that only one of the family pit bulls participated in the deadly attack either. Since January 2018, canines have mauled to death 33 individuals. Pit bulls have inflicted 73% (24) of these deaths. Of the total number of fatal pit bull maulings, 71% (17 of 24) have been carried out by family pit bulls killing a household member.
Evening Updates
In the news video footage, but not in print, a family friend told Fox 17 the pit bull that mauled and killed Daniels had recently become aggressive. James Little and Daniels' grandson and gone out to get food supplies. When they returned, they discovered the gruesome scene inside the home. "There was just a pool of blood and not much we could do," Little said. There had been talk of giving the increasingly aggressive pit bull to a shelter, Little explained, but that never happened.
"Those dogs have been in the house and they're part of the family," Lt. Kanitz said. "She knew those dogs and those dogs knew her."
Little is apparently the nephew of Adi Huedepohl, who spoke to Wood TV. Huedepohl said that Daniels, who she had known for four decades, was like a mother to her. Huedepohl said the pit bulls were owned by one of Daniels' family members. Despite the irony, Huedepohl claimed, "It's not the animal. It's the owner." Indicating that it was either Daniels or a family member who taught the pit bull to attack Daniels. Police have ordered an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.
View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Michigan Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
07/03/17: 2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Rescue Pit Bull Kills 3-Week Old Baby Girl in Grand Rapids
11/02/16: 2016 Dog Bite Fatality: New Dog Kills 4-Year Old Child, Injures Mother in Michigan
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.
Is wheel chair a new trigger? Maybe it’s just that she wasn’t young enough for the “nanny dog” reflex to kick in. A hospital or adult care home might have been a safer residence or are they still allowing stunt pitbulls to pay therapeutic visits?…all sarcasm aside this is terrible and unacceptable. Will be waiting to see who these dogs belonged to and what is done about it. If they were hers they were a danger to the whole community and she should not have had them. If the dog’s belonged to someone else this reeks of elder abuse.
Cue the nutters………. “she had a seizure and dog was trying to revive her”…………”she ran over their tail with the wheelchair”……………. enter excuse here “______________” This is as horrific as it gets. A PET attacking a completely helpless person. Normal dogs do not do this!!!!
Agree!!!
So, let me get this straight, dogs have killed 33 people, so far, this year alone, 24 were killed by pit bull dogs, and yet it’s rarely seen in the media. An alligator kills one child in disney, and it’s in the news for weeks. What’s the problem here? What am I missing ? If this death toll were caused by a shooting, it would be all over the news. Why is this horrific problem being mostly ignored?
In our political correct age, it is not proper to say one race of dogs is more aggressive than another. There have been 559 victims of pit bulls in the U.S. who have had there throats ripped out by these so called nanny dogs. Three people from my community have been killed or attacked by pit bulls in recent years. The owners were pit bull advocates and stated so in their face book pages and encouraged others to get them.
This phone has been pretty severe with a pitbull attacks. I suspect the year will continue like this in an much like December did last year, with the hyperphagia from pit dogs.
The CDC has done such a disservice when the politicized dog attacked fatalities dog attacks and general, in their refusal to track them and educate the public.
That should say “this fall.”
Locally in Michigan the news media is not revealing the dog breed. https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/michigan/msp-newaygo-county-woman-killed-by-family-dog/69-614450753
Cs, the reason these attacks don’t get so much publicity is because they are dog attacks. And dogs are worshipped in our culture. They can’t possibly do any wrong — or so the myth goes.
Denial. It runs deep. And it’s not a river in Egypt.
Probably the only way this can change is when the shelters and rescues that adopt out these dangerous dogs begin to get sued for monetary damages, if that’ll ever happen. Or maybe one of the TV shows that glorifie pits will have an “issue” tht will shut them down. Unbelievable, a baby is killed nearly weekly because of the idiots who think that these dogs are OK with kids.
And that very thing is happening here in Pima County, Arizona. Here’s a recent news story:
https://kvoa.com/news/n4t-investigators/2018/10/22/n4t-investigators-county-faces-lawsuit-after-adoption-from-pacc-bites-woman-in-face/
What a horrific end to this lady’s life. Undoubtedly the pro-pit side will claim that she must have had some sort of medical incident and that the dog was trying to “help” her as has been touted in previous mauling deaths. This is only made more likely by news coverage saying that she died from a dog “bite” and not a “gruesome and sustained mauling” as was almost certainly the case. But even so, even if the claim of “she must have had (insert medical problem here) and the dog was trying to revive her” could possibly be plausible (which of course it is not) … who in their right mind would want a dog that reacts in such a way if its owner suddenly suffers a medical emergency? For dogs that are advertised as “nannies,” who would ever leave a child in the vicinity of a dog that would attack them if they choke, or fall, or have a seizure? What adult would want a dog that might attack if they have a heart attack or a stroke? Even if their preposterous claims were true, shouldn’t that STILL show that these animals are dangerous dogs unfit for a home? Or to claim “it’s all in how you raise them” but then push shelter dogs with no known history out into adoptions? It’s sheer madness and people like this poor lady and scores of others pay the price.