FLORIDA -- A second attack on a child this month by a pit bull-type dog has rekindled the debate about keeping the animals as pets and whether the dogs' owners are more to blame for the violence.
"If the animal tasted human blood, I believe it should be put to sleep, because then it's just going to be an ongoing thing," Teresa Rose said about the animal that attacked her 8-year-old son, Nicholas Garvey.
Rose wants Broward County to enact a ban like Miami-Dade County has against the dogs. Pit bulls can be purebred American Staffordshire terriers or a mix of other breeds.
Animal control experts say bans against specific breeds are ineffective and that the public can be better protected by reporting all dog bites and pet owners acting responsibly. They say while such mauling incidents are upsetting and preventable, pit bull-type dogs are being unfairly maligned.
Tell that to Nicholas Garvey, who investigators say was riding his bike near his Deerfield Beach home when he was bitten on Sunday by what Broward Sheriff's Office deputies reported was a pit bull. Nicholas fled to a playmate's home, where an adult beat the animal until it released the boy and ran away.
Broward Sheriff's deputies caught the dog and took it to a county shelter. Nicholas is hospitalized with a broken arm, and with wounds he received on his face and limbs that required at least 30 stitches to close.
On Oct. 3, Tayla Johnson, 13, also of Deerfield Beach, was bitten during an attack and a neighbor fatally shot the pit bull-type dog. Johnson was expected to fully recover physically.
On Monday, Broward County Animal Care and Adoption said the dog that attacked the Garvey boy did not have a bite history in county records. If it had a bite history before Sunday's incident, it could be euthanized under county law, pending appeal by its owner, Jeanette Peterson, of Pompano Beach.
Miami-Dade County's ordinance against pit bulls took effect in 1989, before the state prohibited bans based on breed.
Miami-Dade's law bans ownership of American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, or any other dog that has characteristics of these breeds, its website says.
"I don't believe it's effective in prohibiting dog bites," said Kathy Labrada, enforcement manager for Miami-Dade Animal Services. "Any dog can and will bite. There has been a human fatality from a Pomeranian that I know of."
(Sun Sentinel - October 24, 2011)
