Yet another pitbull story.
A Connecticut woman has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in the mauling death of her toddler niece by three pit bulls.
Police say 30-year-old Erica Hobdy was also charged Thursday with reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor in the death of 20-month-old Neveah Bryant.
The girl was mauled by three pit bulls on Sept. 30 while she was in Hobdy’s apartment. She later died at a hospital.
Note of course “Pitbull” can be read the same as “Assault Weapon”, its just a dog, and shouldn’t be treated with any more fear, or any less respect than any other dog. All dogs can be potentially dangerous, and unlike guns, animals, having free will, can indeed “Just Go Off”.
Of course this story isn’t pointing to banning dogs, or even specific breeds (which would be an exercise in futility AND stupidity), but charging the adult in charge with the crimes she indeed committed leaving children alone with animals.
h/t Bob
A tragedy regardless of the cause (and the cause was truly the stupidity and carelessness of the adult as you point out). I love dogs, but do not fool yourself that all dogs are created equal. See http://blog.dogsbite.org/2011/01/2010-us-dog-bite-fatality-statistics.html for some food for thought (and another reason to be armed).
Well, no they aren’t. My Neighbor’s dust mop certainly won’t do anything more than require a few stitches if it goes completely berserk, meanwhile a breed made for baiting bears, or chasing lions, or attacking intruders has a LOT more hardware.
Still breeds are irrelevant, as you throw a little mix-and-match and you can have some messed up mutt with the jaws of a pitt bull or a Rottweiler, but nothing to distinguish itself as that.
But of course I agree, and have rung that bell a LOT, guns are NOT just for two-legged predators!
At least they’re charging the adult in this case, half the time they don’t. But seriously, she left the 20month old home alone. At that point the type of dog doesn’t matter. The label will just be used as an excuse for more breed legislation, just like they use every gun crime as an excuse to try to come up with more gun legislation.
WE NEED TO BAN PIT BULLS!!!!! FOR THE CHILDRUNZ!!!!!
I’m almost 42 years old. In the 1970’s we HAD TO BAN GERMAN SHEPHERDS!!! THEY’RE KILLERS!!!!!11!!1elventy!!!!
In the 1980’s, we HAD TO BAN DOBERMAN PINCERS!!! THEY’RE KILLERS!!!!!11!!1elventy!!!!
In the 1990’s, we HAD TO BAN ROTTWEILERS!!! THEY’RE KILLERS!!!!!11!!1elventy!!!!
Now it’s the pit bulls. I’ve had friends who’ve owned all of the breads listed. These dogs are all very protective, but once they determined you were not a threat, they were some of the most affectionate animals I’ve ever encountered. It’s all in the upbringing. The owners are responsible.
And it really pisses me off when I spell, “eleventy,” wrong. Repeatedly.
WEEE NEED TO BAN LABRODOODLES!!!!!!11111 😀
I have been bitten by a labradoodle.
I think I deserved it, if I remember right.
Still, a stupid dog that should not be allowed to live. BAN THE LABRADOODLE!!!
LOL!
Some good friends of mine have Labradoodles, and they’re actually really good Dogs. I will note that two of those friends are gay…the other guy, I don’t know what his excuse is! LOL!
focusing on specific breeds does have some parallels to focusing on the weapon instead of the killer. mainly, it’s looking at the wrong factor in an attempt to get an easy quick “fix” to a problem that’s fundamentally not easily fixed at all. banning guns is easy, but guns don’t cause violence; banning breeds of dogs is easy, but it’s not the breed that causes the mauling, as chiefjaybob notes.
can’t take the analogy too far, though, since dogs indeed are independent actors that can decide to up and attack on their own, unlike tools. leaving any child alone with any dog is criminally negligent, so the charge in this case is appropriate. properly socialized pit bulls can be downright protective of toddler children — if they consider the child to be “one of the pack’s pups” and have been raised and trained right, like dogs should be. but even then they should never be trusted with a child unsupervised, no more than any other breed.
(there’s a cutesy video on youtube somewhere, of a pitbull repeatedly pulling a crawling toddler away from a wall outlet. the dog’s very gentle about it, and the kid’s very focused on playing with the outlet. presumably the dog had seen the kid get scolded away from it at some point, and picked up that “puppy shouldn’t go there”.)