"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.
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| Nicholas, after being attacked by a pit bull, described by its owner as 'loving and friendly' |
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.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website that 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites every year, and that half of them are children. Of the injured, 386,000 require treatment, the website says, and about 16 die.
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."
She said Miami-Dade's animal control officers "routinely" encounter pit bulls.
"I don't know if [the ban] gives people a sense of security, that the dogs are not allowed in their neighborhoods," Labrada said. "It all goes back to responsible pet ownership. If your dog is not running at large, these incidents won't happen, and we'd see a tremendous decrease in these incidents."
The CDC's website links to a 2000 veterinary journal that reported from 1979 to 1998, "purebred, pit bull-type" dogs were responsible for the most fatal dog bites to humans for that period, with 66 fatalities.
"I believe it is more the owner than the dog," Labrada said. "With a pit bull and the sheer strength in their jaws, it's reasonable to expect it will be more damaging than a wound from a bite-and-release dog, like a shepherd or Rottweiler."
She said pit bulls have been bred to not have aggression toward humans, even in the illegal dog-fighting ring.
Pompano Beach Animal Control Officer David Aycock says he gives pit bulls "the benefit of the doubt."
But he says such dogs can be "very tough looking and are available at low cost for people who want that self-image."
That intimidation factor can prevent dog bite victims from reporting incidents, Aycock says. Victims may be reluctant to report bites from any breed, because they want to keep peace with their neighbors.
"Not reporting a bite is unfair to the next victim," Aycock said. "A dog doesn't go from no bites to mauling. There are always bites in-between."
And a new owner who adopts a dog from a shelter may be unaware of the pet's bite history if it's never been reported.
In Pompano, a first-bite incident requires quarantining the animal for rabies prevention. If the dog is designated dangerous by the city's animal control division, the owner must pay a $200 annual registration fee, keep it on a 3-foot leash and muzzle, and provide proof of sterilization and a $100,000 liability policy.
The city has four dogs with this status. Aycock says Pompano dog bite incidents are down, from six per week in the 1980s and early 1990s to two per month.
Peterson, owner of the dog in Sunday's attack, was cited by the Broward Sheriff's Office for violating a Deerfield Beach ordinance against dogs running at large. Broward County enforces animal protection there, and cited her for failing to register and vaccinate her pet and for the dog bite, with fines totaling $647.50.
Her two-year-old dog, called Jada, is being watched for 10 days to see if it develops rabies. It was taken to a county shelter to calm the situation and may be returned to Peterson during the rabies quarantine, a county official said.
Peterson alleged that children in the neighborhood have shot Jada with a B.B. gun while she was caged outdoors, according to a deputy's report.
"I'm going to go get my dog," Peterson said Monday. "Someone opened that cage, and kids have shot B.B. guns at the dog. If you do something to a dog, they're gonna remember."
Peterson said Jada is not used for fighting and is kept at the home of a relative of her boyfriend because she can't have dogs where she lives.
"She's a lover, not a fighter," Peterson said. "She's innocent. They let her out, one of them bad kids over there. I walk Jada there on a leash every day."
Deerfield Beach Mayor Peggy Noland said she wants to know why the dog was loose.
"We can't specifically target a certain breed because of state law," Noland said. "Would I like to? Yes. I'm sure there are good pit bulls. But they are temperamental and they can turn on people, especially kids."
She said Deerfield has increased fines for dog bites.
Should city penalties be increased?
"I haven't had an opportunity to talk to the commission about that," she said. "Kids outside playing, you want them to feel safe. To have two incidents so close, it's tragic."
(Sun Sentinel - Oct 25, 2011)
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