It took more than 1,000 stitches and facial reconstruction surgery to set a 7-year-old on the path to recovery in Tennessee. He has four more surgeries to look forward to before his treatment ends.
A 10-year-old's face was sewn together with more than 75 stitches in Philadelphia in 2012, and she will face scar minimization surgery in a few years.
An 82-year-old Palmyra man suffered a broken femur and pelvis, a head injury, and multiple injuries to his arm last month.
The one thing these horrific injuries have in common: They all were inflicted by pit bulls, which were responsible for 25 of the 32 dog bite-related deaths in the United States in 2013, according to www.dogsbite.org, a nonprofit public education website that focuses on "dangerous dog breeds, chiefly pit bulls."
Central Pennsylvania has seen a few shocking pit bull attacks during the past month.
A pit bull attacked and killed a miniature dachshund and went after another dog in Carlisle's Thornwald Park, where the elderly and children often walk and play. The dog, adopted from a New York rescue organization, was euthanized following the incident, Mayor Tim Scott said.
A little more than a week later, a pit bull attacked a police officer who shot and killed it in North Middleton Township. And on June 16, a Cornwall man was charged following the pit bull attack that left the unidentified 82-year-old Palmyra man seriously injured.
These recent attacks re-ignited the local debate over whether pit bulls, with the right attention and care, are family-friendly pets, or just natural killing machines genetically apt to attack without warning.
Murray Katz, whose 80-year-old mother, Esther, suffered a broken hip, leg and arm injuries when she was mauled by a pit bull in uptown Harrisburg in 2011, said owners have to do more to ensure no one else suffers like his mother did when she was attacked as she was walking home from a beauty salon in uptown Harrisburg in June 2011.
The dog was in the back yard with its owner when suddenly it jumped the fence and pounced on Esther Katz, her son said. The owner was able to command the dog to stop, but not before Esther Katz suffered the multiple injuries, Murray Katz said.
On the other side of the issue are advocates such as Jessica Blouch, vice president of Pitties. Peace. Love., a pit bull rescue group based in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County.
Blouch contends that pit bulls, once the U.S. mascot, make the best family pets if raised appropriately. Owners are generally the ones at fault when the dogs attack, she said.
"The pit bull used to be referred to as the "nanny dog," due to how good they are with children, respectful children," she said. "They are loving, social dogs who crave love and being included as a cherished member of the family more than any other breed I've known, and I've worked with a lot of them."
[Hmm, these nanny dogs from famous paintings look like Collies, St. Bernards, Jack Russells, and that black one may be some sort of Spaniel.]
Jeff Borchardt, of Wisconsin, whose 14-month-old son was mauled to death by two pit bulls on March 6, 2013, doesn't buy it. Pit bulls are bred to be strong killing machines, and no matter how tame they might seem, they can't be trusted, Borchardt said.
He said blaming the owners, and not the breed, every time a pit bull attacks is what left him and his wife, Kimberly, without a son.
"Pit bull advocates will tell you over and over, it's the owner's fault," Borchardt said. "They didn't have to see their son torn to shreds."
Unfortunate consequences
A pit bull owner, or the owner of any other breed of dog, doesn't have to intentionally mistreat their pet, or train them to attack, to end up with a dangerous canine, Blouch said.
A factor not normally disclosed in bite cases involving all breeds is the circumstances under which the dog lived, she said.
Some dogs are treated well, and are an integral part of a family, which makes them well-adjusted, Blouch said. These dogs learn appropriate behaviors through socialization, she added.
Then there are "resident dogs," which she said are the dogs living on a chain or outdoors 24 hours a day.
Blouch: "These dogs have owners who maintain them in a way that isolates them from regular, positive human interactions. Imagine never having socialization with anyone, watching the world go by, frustrated by living in the same six feet of space, day in and day out. Those are resident dogs."
Pit bulls, once a popular family pet, began getting a bad reputation when the drug culture started to change, said Lori Zimmer, president and co-founder of BAD PRESS Breed Anti-Defamation, Protection, and Rescue Society, Inc.
Marijuana and hallucinogens were the rage, but toward the end of the 1970s cocaine, heroin, and other more addictive drugs became popular, Zimmer said. Since selling highly addictive drugs tend to produce repeat customers for dealers, competition grew and turf wars and gang activities were on the rise, she said.
Along with this came a need to look tough, and pit bulls helped intimidate people, Zimmer said.
"Dogfighting became popular among these types of people not only to further their images, but also to make additional money to fuel the drug trade," Zimmer said. "Street fights, "bumps" and "rolls," a couple of guys meeting in an alley or empty building to test their dogs, became popular. And those new to the game didn't always abide by the traditions. Yes, even though bloody and horrifying, dogfighting has traditions and rules that more organized participants still follow today."
"Now we had some pit bulls out there who were not representative of the majority of the breed," she continued. "It's the same situation that happened with doberman pinschers about 50 years ago. A few incidents happened, and the degree of injury resulted in news stories that received a great amount of publicity."
[I often hear this. Oh they blamed the Doberman in the 60s, the German Shepherd in the 70s and the Rottweilers in the 80s. I have yet to see the massive deaths caused by Dobermans. The faces ripped off. The limbs ripped off bodies...]
Breed-specific legislation
Sometimes, local governments across the U.S. adopt breed-specific laws banning certain types of dogs, often pit bulls, as pets.
Pennsylvania is one of 19 states that prohibits municipalities from adopting their own breed-specific legislation; however, Maryland, Vermont, Missouri and Washington are considering similar legislation. South Dakota's law banning breed-specific legislation went into effect on July 1, and Utah's will take hold on January 1, 2015.
The Smiths, who owned "Schatzie," the dachshund mauled to death in Carlisle's Thornwald Park on June 20, said they would like to see some sort of breed-specific legislation adopted in the borough, requiring pit bull owners to put muzzle their dogs and kept on leashes at all times while they are outside.
The Smiths said there was nothing they could do to get the pit bull off their dog after it started biting Schatzie.
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| William and Sieglinde Smith stand by the grave of their miniature dachshund, Schatzie, in the backyard of their home in Carlisle, on Monday, June 23, 2014. Schatzie was attacked and killed Friday morning in Thornwald Park by a pit bull. Elizabeth Frantz, PennLive |
William Smith said he slammed a walking stick on the pit bull over and over as it attacked, eventually breaking the wood into two pieces. It didn't make a difference. It only let go when it thought Schatzie had died, he said. The dachshund did die a short time after the couple rushed it to the veterinarian for help.
Jennifer Kim, whose 7-year-old son received 1,000 stitches and will undergo five facial surgeries before his treatment is through, said the dog that attacked her son, Sport Kim, in Maryville, Tenn., on May 18, 2013, wouldn't let go until it was choked unconscious.
"Once a pit bull grabs on, you can hit it, whatever, you just add adrenaline to it. So we are lucky [our son] is alive," said Kim, who has joined a network of activists across the U.S. whose lives were altered by pit bull attacks and want to spread awareness about the dangers of the breed. "My goal is to convince people to choose a dog that will let go if it grabs your children."
Pit bulls are strong, but unlike popular myth would have you believe, they don't have lockable jaws, Blough said.
Anatomically, a pit bull's jaw is no different than any other dog's, she said, adding that jaw strength tests have shown that the strength of a pit bull's bite is normal for its body size. Between German shepherds and rottweilers, pit bulls have the weakest bite strength, she said.
Blouch opposes breed-specific legislation, and said it's "the equivalent of racism."
It's also a waste of money, she said, because "evidence-based analysis has shown there's no scientific study or data that proves breed-specific legislation reduces dog bites. Denver adopted a pit bull ban in 1989, yet residents have suffered a higher rate of hospitalization from dog-bite related injuries yearly than surrounding communities without the ban."
Alarming statistics
Dogs of all breeds can attack, and statistics show that they do. But the same statistics show that the devastation pit bulls leave in the wake of their attacks is far worse.
From 2005 to 2013, dogbites.org shows that pit bulls killed 176 Americans, and accounted for 62 percent, or 283, of the total recorded dog-bite deaths in the U.S.
So far this year, pit bulls have killed 14 people, according to dogbites.org.
Many victims and families of those who have been attacked by pit bulls believe they were bred to kill, and coupled with their strength, strong jaws and endurance, they are killing machines unsuitable as family pets.
However, a crucial factor to be considered in reported dog bite cases is the misidentification of breeds, Blouch said. Any medium-to-large stocky dog not identified as one breed, such as a boxer or Labrador retriever, is automatically labeled a pit bull, which often leads to the breed becoming a scapegoat for attacks they are not responsible for, she said.
An extensive study by the National Canine Research Council reveals that less than 20 percent of more than 900 people in dog-related professions or services could accurately judge a dog's breed or breed mixes based on appearance alone, without DNA analysis, Blouch said.
Blouch takes issue with the statistics promoted by dogsbite.org. She said she believes they are skewed because the founder of the website was a victim of a dog attack. She also said she doesn't trust the figures, because the same person isn't an expert in the field.
Colleen Lynn, founder and president of dogbites.org, said Blouch's statement minimizes human life.
The nonprofit started tracking vital human fatality statistics, along with 18 other factors, because the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention stopped tracking the data in depth in 1998, Lynn said.
A number of new trends in fatalities has emerged since the CDC stopped tracking the information, including the doubling of dog-bite related deaths, according to information Lynn provided to PennLive. For the last 10 years, the total number of annual deaths has doubled since, she said.
"Like many powerful victims' advocacy groups who have come before us in this country, DogsBite.org seeks to prevent a similar atrocity from happening to another person," Lynn said. "Once the violence and damaging injuries have been inflicted, they can never be taken back."
Enforcement
The Carlisle Police Department doesn't track which breeds are the common dog-attack culprits, but Chief Stephen Margeson said "the perception is out there, and it's out there among the police that when we get a call, it mostly likely is going to be a call reported as a pit bull."
Margeson said that sometimes residents reporting a vicious pit bull on the loose misidentify the canine. Police in Carlisle respond to vicious dog calls several times a year, and they normally turn out to be bigger dogs such as pit bulls, rotweillers and german shepards, he added.
"That doesn't surprise us at all" when a resident calls the police reporting a vicious pit bull on the loose, Margeson said. "They have a bad reputation. The perception, even for us, is that the pits are more likely to be involved in those incidents."
Amy Kaunas, executive director of the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area, did not respond to interview requests over two days for this story.
(The Patriot-News - July 7, 2014)
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