Jessica Lee Jones said she was walking her dogs, Archie and Totle, on Monday night when she stopped to talk to two neighbors, also out with their dogs. The pit bulls tore across the street and attacked, she said, prompting her to throw herself into the fray.
“Both my hands were covered in blood. My legs were all bloody,” Jones said. “I just did what I could to save my corgis. It might have been stupid, but I immediately thought, ‘I’m not about to watch my corgis get torn apart.’
”Forty-nine pit bull attacks have been recorded across Boston this year — already surpassing the total of 48 in 2012, city officials say.Other recent attacks include:
A pit bull — one of two on the loose Aug. 5 — killed a cocker spaniel in East Boston. The owner euthanized the pit bull.
* A loose pit bull in Hyde Park attacked a woman and her dog Aug. 1. The woman suffered multiple bites from her ankle to her thigh.
* A leashed pit bull bit a person in East Boston on July 27 after the owner invited the victim to pet the dog.
Jones said the pit bulls in the Monday night attack ran off after her neighbor beat them away with a broom. The dogs were seized by Boston Animal Control pending an investigation.
State lawmakers passed an animal-rights bill last year that nullified Boston’s 2004 pit bull ordinance, which required owners to post “beware of dog” signs on their property, register their dogs, keep no more than two of the breed and muzzle them in public.
“It’s really about being a responsible owner. When we had the ordinance, it brought more attention and people were more careful with them,” said Boston Animal Control Director Mark Giannangelo. “The ordinance also helped rescue and save a lot of the breed because we got to take them out of bad situations and adopt out most of the dogs we got.”
The breed makes up about 45 percent of dogs left at the city’s animal shelter, he said, up from about 40 percent in years past.
“We suspect that people are breeding them in the city neighborhoods to sell on the street for $50 or $100, and they’re not professional breeders,” he said.
Stephanie Rinehart, Jones’ neighbor, said she’s noticed more of the dogs around, and met two dog owners in the past month who reported pit bull attacks.
“It’s scary being a dog owner since this attack because it hit so close to home. I’m considering moving because of this. I don’t want to feel unsafe for myself and my dog,” Rinehart said of her shar pei and pug mix, Portia.
Jones said the attack “has really taken a toll on our community.
“I still don’t have a prejudice against the breed. I just think they’re over-breeding them in East Boston,” she said. “The owners who do have them are negligent and not caring for them properly.”
(Boston Herald - Aug 15 2013)
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