Massachusetts: Pit Bulls ordered to be euthanized; Hillary Seaton and her daughter Kaitlyn Seaton file appeal to keep dogs that neighbors say have terrorized them for years

MASSACHUSETTS -- Although Oak Bluffs selectmen voted unanimously on Dec. 12 to euthanize two pit bulls with a troublesome history after a near-fatal attack on a 10-year-old cockapoo, an appeal by the owners has provided their dogs a temporary reprieve.

Pit Bull owners Hillary Seaton and daughter Kaitlyn Seaton filed an appeal with the town shortly after the selectmen’s vote. Town bylaw states there is a 10-day appeal period after selectmen vote to euthanize a dog.

The appeal hearing, which was to be held before Superior Court Clerk Joseph Sollitto on Wednesday, Jan. 3, has been rescheduled to Jan. 11, at 10 am.

Speaking to The Times on Wednesday, Matt Jackson, attorney for Hillary Seaton, said the hearing was pushed because he’d just been retained by Ms. Seaton the previous day, and needed time to prepare.

Kaitlyn Seaton, owner of the other pit bull involved in the attack, has retained Falmouth-based attorney Michelle Brennan.

The dogs, Sasha and Rosie, have been kept at the Oak Bluffs Animal Shelter since they were removed from their respective homes by Oak Bluffs animal control officer Patty Grant immediately after the Dec. 12 selectmen’s vote.

NEIGHBORS TERRORIZED FOR YEARS BY PIT BULLS

At that emotional meeting, people from the Worcester Avenue neighborhood showed up en masse to implore selectmen to take action, saying the dogs have “terrorized” the neighborhood for years. 

Chairman of the selectmen Kathy Burton said there was a “tremendous pattern” of problems with Sasha and Rosie, citing numerous complaints to police and animal control.

Complaints on file included Sasha and Rosie growling and charging at passersby, excessive barking during the night, not responding to owners’ commands, running free in the neighborhood, trapping someone in a car, and creating constant fear of attack in the neighborhood.

The final straw was when John Stevenson was walking his dog Toby on Nov. 24, and the two pit bulls escaped Hillary Seaton’s residence at 23 Worcester Avenue, and viciously attacked.

Toby’s injuries were deemed life-threatening at Vineyard Veterinary Clinic, and he was transported to Bourne’s Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists for extensive surgery. 

Toby had numerous puncture holes on his back, his front right leg, and his left hind leg. Much of the skin was torn off his back, and half of his left ear was bitten off.

At the Dec. 12 hearing, Hillary and Kaitlyn were contrite, and promised to better control the dogs in the future. Kaitlyn also offered to cover the veterinary bills for Toby.

“It was a complete shock to me, and really upsetting I couldn’t be there to prevent it,” she said. “I’ve had her seen by a dog trainer. I feel awful, and I want to be sure nothing like this will happen again.”

Hillary said she was watching Rosie for Kaitlyn, a Tisbury resident, at the time of the attack. She said the dogs escaped the house and didn’t respond to her commands.

Ms. Grant told selectmen that on standardized dog-bite scale, where six is fatal wounds, Toby’s wounds had been classified at level four and five.

“A level four biter will probably bite again,” Ms. Grant said. “The dog has insufficient bite inhibition and is dangerous. Prognosis is poor because of the difficulty and danger of trying to teach adult dogs bite inhibition. The dog is highly likely to injure other dogs in future fights.”

Ms. Grant said dogs at level four essentially have to be kept in solitary confinement, and euthanasia is recommended.

Speaking to The Times on Wednesday, Debbie Stevenson said Toby has been slowly on the mend. She said veterinary bills for Toby and medical bills for John, who sustained hand injuries in the attack, have exceeded $8,800. She expects more bills from Falmouth Hospital, where John was treated.

“It is what it is; I’m trying to keep a level head about it,” she said. “It’s upsetting, but I understand the process.”

A GoFundMe campaign was started to cover Toby’s veterinary bills shortly after the attack. To date, $3,975 has been raised.

(MV Times - January 3, 2018)

Earlier:

• Massachusetts: Oak Bluffs selectmen vote to euthanize two vicious Pit Bulls

United Kingdom: Gruesome images show gory aftermath of brutal dog attack that left an elderly woman with horrific leg injuries

UNITED KINGDOM -- A vicious dog attack which left a great grandmother with these horrific leg injuries is being investigated by police.

Joanne Thomson’s 75-year-old mother was savaged by what they believe was a Presa Canario as she walked her tiny toy Cockapoo Bobby, on a lead, in Bolton.

Other news sites are saying that Presa Canarios are also called Canary Mastiffs.

The dog involved has been seized by police and an inquiry has been launched.

Joanne, 46, said she believed her mum tried to shield Bobby when the huge dog lurched at them on Springfield Road, Kearsley.

She was knocked to the floor and badly bitten.

Her daughter said: "She is five foot tall and maybe nine stone. It was not letting her go. It was shaking its head while she was on the floor. It has clamped its teeth down."

The man who was walking the dog tried to pull it clear and hit it on the head with the lead, which had absolutely no effect on the giant dog.

 

 This is a random photo of a Presa Canario; to show you

just how big these dogs are. She's lucky to be alive.

A man in a van saw what was happening and pulled over to try to help.

Eventually, the man managed to get the dog off the elderly woman and the man who had been driving the van put the woman's dog into his vehicle.

The police and ambulance service were called.

People in nearby houses heard the commotion and started to come out with blankets for the woman while they waited for emergency services to arrive.

The man with the Mastiff waited at the scene and said it was not his dog but he was walking it for a friend.

Joanne, who said Bobby the Cockapoo was her mum’s ‘baby’, revealed the attack fractured her right leg in two places.

Her daughter said: "She's got bite marks, like puncture wounds on her leg. The bone was sticking out. She was traumatised.

"I can't imagine the fear that she experienced or the agony. I got a phone call from my mum's neighbour saying 'don't panic but your mum has gone to hospital, she has been bitten by a dog'.

"I just thought that a dog had bit her on the arm and I would get there as soon as I could. I got to the hospital and she was just covered in blood.

"I can't stop thinking about it. I'm just devastated."

The horrific photographs - which Joanne has posted on Facebook and allowed the Manchester Evening News to use - show the dog slashed and bit at her mum’s lower legs, leaving her with numerous puncture wounds.

One wound is too big to be stitched and she could need skin grafts.

Speaking to the M.E.N. as her mum was in theatre at the Royal Bolton Hospital, Joanne said a mystery man in a white van she only knows was called ‘Jake’ stopped and ran to help her alongside a man who was walking the presa canario.

Joanne said: “She could have been killed. She is now terrified, very anxious and scared. If it had got hold of an artery or her neck she could easily have been killed.

“If it would have been a child, they would have been dead. The police have been keeping us up to date with what has been going on and they have been fabulous.

“Officers even came back in to the hospital in their own time to give her a bouquet of flowers. They have gone above and beyond.

“I want to thank the man in the van who stopped. He picked up Bobby and threw him in the back of the van then went to help my mum.

“He was brilliant and I do not even know who he is. People were coming out with blankets and putting pressure on my mum’s wounds. I want to thank everyone for their care.”

Joanne said her mother, who is widowed and a retired NHS worker, walks Bobby everyday. The attack took place just yards from her home.

She said the Presa Canario, which was on a lead, lurched at Bobby and her mum put herself in the way.

The Presa Canario's owner wasn't strong enough to control his vicious dog as it attacked Joanne's mom.

“Bobby is the size of a bag of sugar compared to the other dog,” said Joanne. “The dog just savaged her. She fell under the weight of the dog, which wouldn’t let go despite the man’s attempts to get the dog off. My mum ended up lying on the floor covered in blood and the dog eventually let go.

“She has a massive gaping wound to her other leg and will have to undergo surgery and most probably skin grafts. This dog should have been muzzled at the very least.”

The man left his details at the scene.

Police confirmed officers and paramedics were called at 3.55pm on Tuesday to a report that a 75-year-old woman had been bitten by a dog.

A GMP spokesman said: “The dog involved has been seized pending further investigations.”

This is a random photo of a Presa Canario; to show you

just how big these dogs are. She's lucky to be alive.

(Manchester Evening News UK - December 20, 2017)

Massachusetts: Oak Bluffs selectmen unanimously vote to euthanize two vicious Pit Bulls

MASSACHUSETTS -- In an emotional proceeding, Oak Bluffs selectmen voted unanimously, 5-0, to endorse the recommendation of Animal Control Officer Patty Grant to deem two dogs “dangerous” and to have them humanely euthanized.

Worcester Avenue residents showed up in numbers Tuesday night to describe the fear that the two Pit Bulls, Sasha and Rosie, owned by Hillary Seaton and daughter Kaitlyn Seaton, have instilled in their neighborhood.

The final straw was a near fatal attack on a 10-year-old cockapoo, Toby, owned by John Stevenson, who was walking his dog by the Seaton house on Nov. 24 when the two pit bulls escaped the house at 23 Worcester Ave. and viciously attacked.

Toby’s injuries were deemed life-threatening at Vineyard Veterinary Clinic, and he was transported to Bourne’s Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists for extensive surgery. Toby had numerous puncture holes on his back, his front right leg, and his left hind leg. Much of the skin was torn off his back, and half of his left ear was bitten off.

He is now home and is expected to survive.

“This is a very difficult thing for us to get through,” chairman of the selectmen Kathy Burton said before the public hearing began. “We feel for everyone here, who is either a victim or an owner. This is going to be tough.”

Ms. Burton said there was a “tremendous pattern” of problems with Sasha and Rosie, citing numerous complaints to police and animal control dating back to 2015.

Hillary Seaton, owner of Sasha, said CLAIMS she wasn’t aware that so many complaints had been filed with the town, to the audible disbelief of her neighbors. Some of the complaints were about Bruin, a pit bull she had given up for adoption.

Complaints on file included Sasha and Rosie growling and charging at passersby, excessive barking during the night, not responding to owners’ commands, running free in the neighborhood, trapping someone in a car, and creating constant fear of attack in the neighborhood.

Both Hillary and her daughter Kaitlyn, owner of Rosie, were CLAIM TO BE extremely contrite, and promised to better control the dogs in the future. Kaitlyn also offered to cover the veterinary bills for Toby.

“It was a complete shock to me, and really upsetting I couldn’t be there to prevent it,” Kaitlyn said. “I’ve had her seen by a dog trainer. I feel awful and I want to be sure nothing like this will happen again.”

Hillary was watching Rosie for Kaitlyn, a Tisbury resident, at the time of the attack. The dogs escaped the house, and didn’t respond to her commands.

“It’s such a shock, I would never expect her to do this, she has such a loving personality,” Kaitlyn said in a quavering voice. “A dog is the best thing that can happen to you. I feel so terrible. Knowing my dog did that makes me sick, but I love her to death. She’s like my therapy dog.”

Kaitlyn promised Rosie would never go to Worcester Avenue again, and she would actively train the dog with Karen Ogden, who had evaluated the dog.

In her report, Ms. Odgen said Rosie showed “conflicting behavior.”

Enough is enough

Many Worcester Avenue residents spoke. “Enough is enough,” was a frequently used phrase.

Deb Stevenson, owner of Toby along with her husband John and daughter Casey, said the gruesome attack has left her family traumatized.

“I saw some horrific things that I wish I hadn’t seen,” she said. “I wasn’t there that night to hear the excruciating cries that my daughter and my husband heard. My husband had to see some horrific things that he will never get out of his mind. He has night terrors now.”

Ms. Stevenson said she had spoken to Hillary on numerous occasions about her lack of control of the dogs.

“I said, Try to control this dog, because soon she’ll be controlling you and she will be out of control. That was four or five years ago. If you let these dogs go home, I guarantee we’ll see each other again. Enough is enough. I want my Worcester Avenue back.”

A distraught John Stevenson described the attack: “It happened so fast, within three to five seconds they were on Toby and me,” he said. “My dog did not deserve this, and I didn’t either.”

Mr. Stevenson said the dogs have frequently run loose in the neighborhood. “It’s got to stop,” he said.

Amy Smith, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood, said she never felt unsafe until the dogs showed up. She expressed concern for her elderly parents, who also live in the neighborhood. “If the dogs jumped on my mother or my father, there’s no way they could protect themselves. My husband and I do not feel safe walking our Boston terrier,” she said. “My husband stands at the door when I walk the dog in our yard. We’ve seen them loose many times.”

“Nobody feels safe. I don’t walk down Worcester anymore,” Casey Stevenson said. “Toby was ripped apart. The crying I heard is not going to go out of my mind, ever. My dad has flashbacks, my dog has flashbacks. I don’t want those dogs back in my neighborhood. I don’t want those dogs living at all.”

Improvement unlikely

“There’s a pattern here that is really not acceptable, and I’m talking about the owner,” Ms. Burton said.

“This is a multi-year, multi-dog problem; all roads lead back to you,” selectman Brian Packish said to the Seatons. “You’ve systematically proven that you’re incapable of taking care of these dogs … It’s imprinted on these dogs that this behavior is acceptable. It’s unacceptable for these people to live in fear. Whatever the heaviest recommendation is from the dog officer, that’s what I’m going to support.”

Animal Control Officer Patty Grant said that on a standardized dog-bite scale, where six is fatal wounds, Barbara Newman, emergency liaison at Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists, said Toby’s wounds had been classified at level four and five.

“A level four biter will probably bite again,” Ms. Grant said. “The dog has insufficient bite inhibition, and is dangerous. Prognosis is poor because of the difficulty and danger of trying to teach adult dogs bite inhibition. The dog is highly likely to injure other dogs in future fights.”

Ms. Grant said dogs at level four essentially have to be kept in solitary confinement, and euthanasia is recommended.

“We’ve had these hearings in the past. I think what we see in this case is you’ve taken on very difficult dogs, and you’ve become prisoners to those dogs, and so have the people in the neighborhood,” selectman Greg Coogan said. “I think the hardest part for you is that you don’t have the time to give them the attention they need.”

Ms. Grant said if selectmen voted to euthanize, the dogs should be removed from their respective homes immediately.

After the vote, two Oak Bluffs police officers accompanied Ms. Grant as she left the meeting.

A GoFundMe campaign has been started to cover the bills for Toby’s veterinary care. As of Wednesday morning, $2,620 had been donated.

 

(MV Times - December 12, 2017)

Florida: Police arrest breeder Janet Manfredo; accused of hoarding 56 dogs in squalor

FLORIDA -- A woman accused of hoarding dozens of dogs in a filthy northeast Ocala home was arrested on a warrant on Tuesday.

Ocala Police Officer Tevyn Barry arrested Janet H. Manfredo, 59, at 5:45 p.m. and charged her with animal cruelty; she was booked into the Marion County Jail. She was released at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday on a $1,000 bond, according to jail records.

 

 

Reached at her home at 931 NE 12th Ave. — where the 56 poodles and cockapoos were found early this month — Manfredo declined comment on Wednesday.

In a previous interview, Manfredo said she owns the dogs and wants them back.

 

 

County animal control officials removed the dogs from the residence on Oct. 5 after neighbors called police to report a foul stench coming from the brick home.

Inside, Barry found the dogs in a room. The odor, he reported, was overwhelming.

Manfredo’s 3-year-old grandson and 84-year-old father, who has dementia, were also in the home. The boy was removed from the home by the Department of Children and Families and was placed with a family member.

Manfredo and her father remained at the residence.

 

In his report, Barry said some of the dogs had puppies and some were pregnant. They had been in the Ocala home since early September. As Hurricane Irma was closing in on the state’s west coast, the dogs were transferred there from Brooksville, according to police.

An investigator with Marion County Animal Services went to a dog kennel in Hernando County that was reportedly operated by Manfredo. There, the investigator found a makeshift metal shed that housed 14 dogs — also in poor condition, according to Barry’s report.

 

The 56 dogs taken from the Ocala home are being treated by veterinarians. So far, one of the dogs has died. An autopsy indicated the dog died from possible cardiac failure due to severe anemia and overall poor health.

On Wednesday, county officials said the remaining 55 dogs have all “been groomed and bathed” and continue to show improvement. The dogs, they say, “are beginning to play and allow staff to spend time with them,” and they’re happy “with the day-to-day progress.”

 

 

 

The dogs are not ready to be adopted yet, and county officials have petitioned the court for custody of the dogs and a hearing is scheduled for Nov. 9.

This house was listed for rent not too long ago. If Manfredo rented the property rather than purchasing it, I feel sorry for the property owner as this house has probably been condemned. Interesting to note that it says "No pets" in the listing...

Photos: Bruce Ackerman, Ocala Star-Banner
(Ocala.com - Oct 26, 2017)

New York: Gina Browning, spokeswoman for the Erie County SPCA, swears that Pit Bulls are wonderful as elderly woman laments the repeated attacks by Pit Bulls on her beloved pets

NEW YORK -- A neighbor's pit bull attacked Daisy Moore's cockapoo two years ago near her Grand Island home, and the dog suffered serious injuries. Her dog, little Maggie, recovered after expensive treatment by a veterinarian.

But Maggie died a few months later of cancer.

So Moore, a 76-year-old widow and retiree, got another cockapoo, this one named Brandi. Once again, a neighbor's pit bull – a different one – attacked Brandi. This dog, too, is recovering.

Daisy Moore tends to her injured cockapoo, Brandi, who was mauled 

by a pit bull during a walk in their Grand Island neighborhood in 

early September. Daisy is the second cockapoo Moore has owned 

that was attacked by a pit bull. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News) 

Moore is having a hard time accepting that two of her beloved pets have been attacked and mauled by pit bulls in the same neighborhood, in very similar situations.

"Both of these incidents, were very upsetting to me … I would say traumatic," Moore said. "Younger people may not understand, but when you get older and you live by yourself, and you have a pet, that pet becomes part of your family. What hurts them hurts you, too."

The latest attack was like déjà vu, Moore said.

"My two cockapoos are almost identical to each other," she said. "Both were attacked on the same street, a couple of blocks from each other. You just can't believe all of this is happening to you again."

Brandi was attacked Sept. 1 while a close friend and neighbor, Luigi "Louie" D'Orazio, 88, was taking the cockapoo for a morning walk on Wallace Road, Moore said.

"Louie was walking Brandi on the sidewalk, and a man across the street was walking two pit bulls – an adult pit bull wearing a muzzle, and a pit bull puppy that was eight months old," Moore said.

"The puppy got away from the man and ran across the street and went right for Brandi's throat. … The dog's owner came running over and pulled his pit bull away, but the damage had already been done."

Eight month old Pit Bull 'puppy' tears out the throat of another dog. This dog has shown what its true demeanor is - a killing machine. It will get worse as it gets older. I guarantee you this dog will maul someone someday.

The pit bull's owner was extremely apologetic and immediately agreed to pay for the veterinary care bill – for $539 – that Brandi received for wounds suffered in the attack, Moore said.

She said the pit bull's owner has since told her that the 'puppy' has been sent to live with a family in a rural area of the Southern Tier, and that the animal will not return to Grand Island.

Great, so it can attack and kill pets and people in Southern Tier... this is called NIMBY (not in my backyard) when people ship vicious dogs off to other towns and put them at risk.

"The owner is a very nice man, and he has been very decent about the whole thing," Moore said. "But my very strong feeling is that people should not own pit bulldogs or other powerful dogs if they can't keep them under control."

D'Orazio also was the dog walker on the same road in August 2015 when a pit bull inside a nearby home pushed its way through a window screen, ran outside and attacked the smaller dog.

In that incident, a younger man who lives in the neighborhood came to D'Orazio's aid and was able to fight off the pit bull.

Maggie lost two ribs, suffered deep bite wounds that required numerous stitches, and had to stay in the vet's clinic for 10 days. Her care cost Moore just under $2,900.

A Grand Island town judge allowed the pit bull's owner – a different owner than the one involved in the attack this month – to keep the dog, but the judge required him to reimburse Moore for the veterinary bill.

"He did finally pay me what he owed me," Moore said.

Is the Pit Bull under ANY restrictions? Or was it just handed back over to the owner so it can attack and kill again?

Luigi D'Orazio walks his friend Daisy Moore's dog, Brandi, on Huth Road

in Grand Island on Sept. 8. He was walking the cockapoo when 

she was mauled by a pit bull in their neighborhood a week earlier. 

(Derek Gee/Buffalo News)

Maggie died of cancer in January 2016, five months after she was attacked, and then Moore got Brandi. Now, the latest attack.

"Physically, it looks like Brandi will be OK," Moore said. "She had six bite marks on her chest and throat. She had to get stitches. The vet tells me she is going to be OK, but she's really not herself. She just sits in the window all day. She's been very lethargic since she was attacked, but when a cat walked by the house today, she barked like crazy. For a few minutes, she was like her old self."

She said the latest incident made her fearful about the safety of children and other small dogs in the neighborhood. She reported the incident to the Erie County Sheriff's Office and the Grand Island Animal Control office. She said she will be talking to an animal control officer again within the next few days.

Moore said she is really not looking for any punishment of the pit bull's owner, and she declined to name him.

"He has been so nice about the whole thing, and he's sent the dog down to the Southern Tier," she said. "I'm not saying all pit bulls are bad. I think it depends on their breeding and the environment they are raised in. I just have very strong feelings that people who own these big, aggressive dogs need to control them. If they can't control them, they shouldn't own them."

A spokesman for the Erie County Sheriff's Office said a deputy interviewed Moore and others about the incident and turned the case over to the town of Grand Island's animal control officer. The town office said the investigation is continuing.

In recent years, there has been a growing controversy – both locally and nationally – regarding aggressive attacks by some pit bulls.

A national organization called DogsBite.org calls the pit bull the most dangerous and lethal of all dog breed and varieties. The organization said pit bulls were responsible for 65 percent of all the fatal dog attacks against humans in the United States in the years 2005 through 2016.

Dogs killed 392 Americans during that period, and 254 of those attacks involved pit bulls (65%), the organization says.

More than 900 communities in the United States have adopted laws declaring pit bulls “dangerous” or “vicious” animals and putting restrictions on ownership of the dogs. Some cities, including Miami, Fla.; Denver, Colo. and Pawtucket, R.I., have banned pit bull ownership altogether.

Support organizations such as the National Pit Bull Foundation say the vast majority of pit bulls are sweet, loyal and harmless pets. The foundation says the pit bull gets unfair bad publicity, and it denies that the animals are aggressive by nature. The group also maintains that some pit bulls have problems caused by abusive or inattentive owners.

GINA BROWNING, PIT BULL APOLOGIST

"We do not view pit bulls as being inherently dangerous or vicious," said Gina Browning, spokeswoman for the Erie County SPCA. 

"Not to minimize in any way what happened to this woman and her dogs, but we hear many more of the wonderful, happy stories about pit bulls and their families. At the same time, we're not going to say that every pit bull terrier is right for every family." 

"Not to minimize in any way what happened to this woman and her dogs, but we hear many more of the wonderful, happy stories about pit bulls and their families..." -- this is called #SorryNotSorry

Any person who owns any powerfully built dog needs to make sure they can control their dog, Browning said.

They need to watch for any kind of "trigger" that causes their dog – whether a pit bull or any other variety – to become aggressive.

"If your dog shows aggressive behavior toward other dogs or people, you need to contact a professional dog handler and find out what it is that stresses or triggers your dog," Browning said. "These situations need to be addressed early, while the dog is a puppy."

OK what if the 'puppy', in this case an 8-month-old PIT BULL puppy is the one attacking and trying to rip its victim apart? What is your advice for that one, Gina Browning???

(IsleGrand.com - September 9, 2017)