North Carolina: Pit bull attack victim, Christy Palucha, speaks out

NORTH CAROLINA -- In August 2011 Christy Palucha was walking through North View Mobile Home Park in Weaverville when an adult male pit bull pushed out a window air conditioner and jumped through the window and attacked her.

 

 

When Palucha bent down to try to free herself from the dog's grip, it latched onto her face and then dragged her down an embankment.

The attack lasted several minutes.

"I reach down and tried to pry its jaws out of my leg and when I did, my face was down like this and it just jumped up."

She suffered serious injuries to her face and endured several surgeries.

 

The pit bull ripped off part of her ear, ripped her neck open, ripped off an eyelid and left several deep wounds on her leg where it had first grabbed her. 

She had to wear sunglasses for 10 months, even when indoors, to protect her damaged eye.

 

 

"People just don't understand what it does to you [to get attacked in the face]. I hid myself for a year."

Palucha sued the owner of the mobile home park as the dog was at least 30 pounds larger than what the park allowed. She settled this month after the owner agreed to pay about $55,000 in medical bills, and undisclosed amounts for restitution as well as pain and suffering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(MyWorldNews - February 6, 2014)

Maine: Shannon Lee, 20, says she was forced to euthanize her vicious pit bulls, which ran to a neighbor's property and mauled their German Shepherd

MAINE --  Shannon Lee, the owner of two pit bulls who were put to sleep on Monday after escaping her home and attacking a neighbor’s dog over the weekend, says she is upset about how the town’s animal control officer handled the situation.

“I was told I had no choice,” she said.

Lee’s two pit bulls, Madison and Money, were put down at Penobscot Veterinary Hospital on the Davis Road in Bangor.

Kathie Ricker, the town’s animal control officer, said seizing pets is always a touchy issue, but because Lee agreed to allow the dogs to be put down, she gave up her rights. Ricker said the town paid for euthanizing the dogs, which by law is the responsibility of the owner, because Lee didn’t have any money.

Animal welfare laws, under the Maine Department of Agriculture, have rules for when a dangerous dog can and cannot be killed. The law states a dog could legally be euthanized “if it has killed, maimed or inflicted serious bodily injury upon a person [or domestic animal] or has a history of a prior assault.”

SHANNON LEE WANTED TO MAKE MONEY SELLING PIT BULL PUPPIES
Lee, who is a 20-year-old single mother, said she recently was given the dogs and took them because she wanted to give them a good home and because Madison was pregnant and she wanted to make money selling the puppies. She added she attempted to get the rabies vaccination records, but the family that gave her the dogs had moved to Florida.

After her dogs attacked a neighbor’s German shepherd on Saturday night, Lee was issued six tickets, two for dogs at large, two for dangerous dogs, and two for unregistered pit bulls.

The typical fines for dogs at large and unregistered dogs is around $50, but range between $250 and $1,000 for dangerous dogs, Ricker said.

Lee said paying the fines will be difficult and added that she feels like a villain when all she was trying to do was save the dogs and help support her family.

Lee has four puppies remaining out of Madison’s litter of seven that she plans to sell once they are old enough to make money to pay the fines and her neighbor’s vet bill, she said. Three of the puppies already have been placed with friends.

“Had we been able to quarantine them, they still would have had to be euthanized” because they were dangerous, Ricker said. “It’s a shame what happened, but it would have been worse” if someone had been hurt.

(Bangor Daily News - Sept 23, 2008)

Earlier:

• Maine: Two pit bulls ran up onto neighbor's deck and mauled their German Shepherd

Maine: Two pit bulls ran up onto neighbor's deck and mauled their German Shepherd

MAINE -- Two pit bulls were euthanized Monday after they escaped from their owner’s house on Route 2 on Saturday and attacked a neighbor’s dog, according to authorities.

Jack, the 7-year-old German shepherd that was attacked, had 14 bites from the pair of pit bulls, said owner Heather Babcock, who lives with her husband and two young daughters next door to the owner of the pit bulls.

“This has been a problem that has been going on for quite some time,” Babcock said Monday morning before the dogs were removed.

The pit bulls apparently pushed an air conditioner out of a window to escape and attacked Jack at around 9 p.m. Saturday.

“They came up on my deck and just mauled him,” Babcock said.

Her 13-year-old daughter was home alone at the time of the attack.

“She went out with a broom” to break up the dogs, Babcock said. “We’re lucky nothing else happened.”

Babcock added that another time the dogs had escaped from their home, she found her 9-year-old daughter in the backyard fearing for her life.

“She was up on the picnic table,” she said, adding, “Somebody is going to get hurt.”

Jack was bleeding profusely when Babcock took him to the Eastern Maine Emergency Veterinary Clinic in Brewer on Saturday. He was unable to walk Monday, and the vet bill totaled more than $500, Babcock said.

OWNER SHANNON LEE DIDN'T WANT TO PUT THE VICIOUS DOGS DOWN
The pit bulls’ owner, Shannon Lee, was upset about the decision to euthanize the dogs, but voluntarily complied when asked to do so by the town and the town’s animal control officer, Kathie Ricker.

“This afternoon, I escorted the owner and the dogs to Penobscot Veterinary, and they were put down,” Ricker said.

Lee, who is not facing any legal charges stemming from the incident, did not return a message left on her answering machine Monday.

That's the only reason she agreed to euthanize them; they promised not to file criminal charges against her if she agreed. She'll just go out and get two more pit bulls... and start breeding them too.

In addition to numerous complaints about the dogs being at large, Town Manager Tom Richmond said the pit bulls were not licensed and did not have records of rabies vaccinations.

SHANNON LEE WAS BREEDING PIT BULLS
A litter of 5-week-old pit bull puppies was not taken from Lee’s home by authorities but are in the process of being adopted, the animal control officer said.

“She has four of the seven puppies, and I told her I would help place them,” Ricker said. “Had the Bangor Humane Society had any room, they would have gone there today.”

Three of the puppies already have been placed in another home, she said.

“I don’t think there is anyone who is more remorseful than her,” the animal control officer said of Lee.

Babcock said she is sorry that the dogs had to be put down, but is relieved that her family is safe.

(Bangor Daily News - September 22, 2008)

Newer Story:

• Maine: Shannon Lee, 20, says she was forced to euthanize her vicious pit bulls, which ran to a neighbor's property and mauled their German Shepherd