PENNSYLVANIA -- A McKeesport couple who lost their newborn son don't want to lose the dog that killed him, according to the animal control officer responsible for the 18-month-old Husky while authorities decide whether to euthanize him.
Ken Ferree, owner of Ferree Kennels and McKeesport's animal control provider, said a number of factors could have caused the dog to fatally attack 2-day-old Howard Nicholson Jr. as he sat in a carrier on the living room floor.
Ken Ferree, owner of Ferree Kennels and McKeesport's animal control provider, said a number of factors could have caused the dog to fatally attack 2-day-old Howard Nicholson Jr. as he sat in a carrier on the living room floor.
"So many things went wrong that led to this," Ferree said. "I can't place blame on the parents squarely, or the dog, but all of it together led to this tragedy."
No one answered the door at the family's Scott Street home yesterday, where a cat meowed inside and curtains shielded the windows. The family could not be reached through other attempts.
Allegheny County Police have not determined whether to charge the baby's mother, Brandy Furlong, 21, the only person home with the child when the dog attacked. Their initial findings indicate "there were no crimes committed leading up to and contributing to the death of the baby," said Mike Manko, spokesman for the District Attorney's Office.
Co-workers of the baby's father, Howard Nicholson Sr., a welder for Bulk Conveyor in McKeesport, started an internal donation fund to help the family, said company President Bill Caputo.
"This is just so tragic," Caputo said. "It's one thing to have a child die of any circumstances, but to lose your child this way is unbearable."
Ferree said Furlong and Nicholson, her boyfriend, told him that they had bought the Husky a month ago from someone in Murrysville through a Craigslist ad and did not gather the animal's medical or behavioral history, which he finds worrisome. Three other dogs live in their home, and Furlong's other children, ages 6 and 3, may be present or live there.
[Wait a minute... "Furlong's other children, ages 6 and 3"? She's only 21! Why isn't there mandatory spaying and neutering of humans?]
Ferree said he knew the family because he had cited Furlong for failing to register, vaccinate and leash her dogs. All four of the family's dogs routinely escaped from the house, neighbors said.
When the male Husky named Nico broke its leg while jumping a fence this month, someone apparently fashioned a homemade cast, Ferree said.
"I think this dog was confused and scared to be in a new home with new people and dogs, and then it gets hurt. I don't think it was properly treated and probably in pain," he said.
The couple called and "demanded" the return of the Husky and a confiscated pit bull, he said. The 60-pound Husky stood shivering in a garage bay, wearing what appeared to be a homemade splint of sticks and white medical tape on its right front leg, before Ferree loaded it into a truck for transport to White Oak Animal Safe Haven, where staffers will treat and evaluate it.
Ferree said the couple told him that they took the dog to a veterinarian for treatment but could not name the vet.
McKeesport police Capt. Timothy Hanna called the couple "animal collectors" who rescue dogs.
Hanna said Furlong told officers that she placed the baby seat on the floor and left the room to use the bathroom about 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Within minutes, she heard the newborn screaming and ran to find the Husky and the pit bull circling the child, bloodied from "severe head wounds," police said.
The infant died about 90 minutes later in Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville. An autopsy found the baby died from blunt force trauma to the head, and the county Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death accidental.
Investigators removed the pit bull from the home, but do not believe it attacked the child. Two dogs that were locked in the basement remain with the couple.
Ron Smith of the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society said that about a year ago, a humane officer investigated, but found no evidence to support a complaint that animals in the home were in poor condition.
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - February 18, 2012)
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