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| Poor Jackson never had a chance |
Jackson died Sunday after being attacked by a pit bull in the hallway of the condominium on Rivertree Lane in western Winston-Salem where he lived with his owner, Jonathon Epstein.
The pit bull, which belonged to a neighbor, bit Jackson on the head, authorities said Monday.
Jackson died on the way to the veterinarian.
"I don't want what happened to Jackson to happen to any other dog or kid," Epstein said.
The attack happened Sunday about 1:30 p.m., according to the Forsyth County Department of Animal Control.
A Morkie is a mix of a Yorkshire terrier and a Maltese. The dogs are small. Jackson weighed about 5 pounds.
Epstein and Jackson were returning from a walk when the pit bull and two poodles ran out of the condominium across the hall, officials said.
The pit bull bit Jackson on the head, seriously injuring him. Epstein said he tried to lift his dog out of the way but the pit bull bit anyway.
An Animal Control investigator spoke to Erica Reaves, the pit bull's owner, who said she wasn't home when Jackson was attacked.
Reaves' mother told the investigator that she and Reaves' stepfather were taking the dogs out for a walk.
When they opened their door, all of the dogs started barking. The pit bull ran out and bit Jackson, she said.
Reaves said Monday evening that the [pit bull], a 7-year-old female, "is a good-hearted dog." Reaves declined to give the dog's name (NOTE: Other news stories, plus the owner's own Myspace pages, lists the pit bull's name as "LEXIE" -see below) but said she gets along with people and nothing like this incident had happened before with the dog.
"It is unfortunate that some dogs don't like each other," Reaves said.
Reaves said her 19-month-old son was near the door when the attack occurred. The dog was protecting the boy when it attacked Jackson, she said.
Animal Control plans to declare the pit bull a dangerous dog because of the attack, said Tim Jennings, the director of the animal-control department.
After the declaration, Reaves will have to have her dog spayed, confine her to a six-sided enclosure and post warnings.
Reaves told the investigator that she plans to take her dog to her father's home in a rural area. For now, the pit bull still lives in their home.
Epstein said in an email that he was lucky that he wasn't attacked as well.
"The bottom line is that along that owning a dog comes responsibility," he said. "Anybody who (has) owned a dog before and was serious about it knows that training a dog is the simplest thing in the world."
(Winston-Salem Journal - April 26, 2011)
Read More:
- Tiny dog's death points to need for tighter policies on dogs that kill
- Dog Dies After Neighbor's Pit Bull Attack
Pit bull owner's Myspace photos (captions as imagined, artistic liberty):
Quoted on her Myspace page:
" MY PITT BULL LEXIE HAS MY HEART! I LOVE PUPPIES,
MAKE THAT ALL CUTE FURRY ANIMALS!"
