California: Pit bulls attack, kill pet bunnies in front of 8 year-old-boy

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA -- A mother in North Natomas said the family's pet bunnies were attacked and killed by a pair of pit bulls.

The dogs were off leash and reportedly running around the Bluefeather Court neighborhood on Wednesday.

Michelle Meier said her kids' two bunnies Mopsy and Cottontail were in a cage in the front of her house, when the dogs tore the cage open and attacked the bunnies.

Meier said her 8-year-old son Maxwell Meier saw his pets being attacked when he looked out the kitchen window.

The nanny called Meier, who rushed home, but was forced to stay in her car because the dogs then tried to attack her.

"We were stuck in our car until animal control could come because every time I got out, they tried to bite me," Meier said.

Animal Control officers got to the scene and were able to catch both dogs.

Meier has six children, but said Maxwell is taking the deaths the hardest.

"To watch your pet rabbits, at 8 years old, get destroyed by two very vicious dogs in your front yard is very traumatic," Meier said. "He had nightmares last night and woke up screaming, 'What do you want? What do you want?! Go away! No! No!'"

Animal control workers said they have not yet found the owners of the dogs.

(Natomas News - Nov 18, 2011)

Yorkie attacked and killed by neighbor's Husky

CANADA -- Thunder Bay animal services is investigating an attack on a small dog by a Husky mix in the city’s north end.

Hodder Avenue resident Sylvain Bernard told The Chronicle-Journal that his sister’s Yorkie, a five-month-old puppy named Roxy, was killed by a neighbour’s dog about 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Sylvain Bernard is left with only a
photograph of Roxy, his sister’s
Yorkie, that he says was
killed by a neighbour’s dog.

“My mother had just let out our dog, a Bichon Frisé, and the Yorkie puppy in the yard,” he said on Friday.

“It happened really quick. Our two dogs were caught up in their leashes and she leaned over to try and untangle them.

“She heard the little dog yelping and turned to see the Yorkie (which weighs about two pounds) in the husky’s mouth; and it was throwing it around like a rag doll.

“My sister ran out and saw this dog devouring her pet. She yelled at the dog and it dropped Roxy. She was holding her dog and telling the husky ‘to get out of here,’ but it kept circling her like a wolf.”

The neighbour eventually came and took the dog back home.

The little dog passed away on the bathroom counter about five minutes later, Bernard said. “My sister was covered in blood, crying and horribly shaken from this traumatic experience.”

He said it appears that the husky crawled under a board which was covering an opening in the fence.

“It was very vicious behavior” from this dog, he said, which normally would just run up and down along the chain-link fence separating the two yards.

Bernard said that nothing like this has happened in the 22 years the family has lived on Hodder Avenue.

City police were called and they contacted the city’s animal services department.

“We were advised by city police last night, and are awaiting the paperwork,” Ron Bourret, the city's bylaw and enforcement manager, confirmed Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the city is reminding people to keep their dogs on a leash when walking, and confined to their property otherwise, after two Thunder Bay dog owners were fined $4,000 for letting their dogs run-at-large in the Mountain Road area.

The fines were handed down in provincial offences court on Wednesday, and come due to the owners after one of their dogs, while running at large, attacked and injured a smaller dog.

The smaller dog owned by a neighbour survived, but vet bills have totalled more than $4,000 so far, Bourret said.

The city says that any instance of a dog running at large should be reported to animal services; if the dog is posing a threat to public safety, police should be called.

(Chronicle Journal - November 26, 2011)

Two Injured By Williamson Co. K-9

ILLINOIS -- A dog with the Williamson County K-9 unit is under investigation after attacking two people on Friday.

One of Williamson County's K9s in action

The animal somehow got out of its kennel and bit two people in the Cambira neighborhood where its handler lives. Neighbors identified the victims as 80-year-old J.C. Leeper and his son-in-law, Art Moore.

"It's never done anything out of line before. Never been out of the pen before," said Lt. Jim Webb, "Definitely not normal behavior for this dog."

The sheriff's department added canine units to its staff eight years ago; the dogs are trained to find drugs and track down suspects. But on Friday, police had a run-in with one of their own animals while responding to a report of a pit bull attack in Cambria.

"Our canine officer responded along with other deputies and we found that one of our canines had got loose, got out of the kennel," Webb told News Three.

Webb explains that the Williamson County K-9 was actually a Belgian Malinois. The dog is an eight-year veteran of the force.

"This is a dog that last week that was at a local school, or multiple schools last week with students," he said, "It gets along fine in those type of settings."

The dog lives with it's handler in Cambria. The deputy and his family weren't home when the attack happened. State police are now trying to figure out how the dog got out of its kennel, and came to bite Leeper and Moore one block over, on Relative St.

"Both were transported to Herrin Hospital with what I believe were non-life threatening injuries," Webb said.

Officials say most of the men's injuries were on their arms.

"The first gentleman who was bitten, we don't exactly know what or how other than he said the dog was just there. The second gentleman was actually walking the dog back to its kennel," said Webb.

The dog is now in a 10-day quarantine, per county policy after a bite incident. The sheriff's department has three K-9s units and says this is the first time they've ever had a problem with any of the animals.

(WSILTV - Nov 25, 2011)

Pit Bull Gives Milwaukee Girl 30 stitches

WISCONSIN -- A six year old girl was bitten in the face by the family's pit bull Friday.

A cousin tells CBS 58 that the girl had to have 30 stitches and at last report was still at Children's Hospital.

Deanthony Bradley told reporter John Cuoco that, " I couldn't see her face, she had her hands on her face, all I could see was blood. I can't stand blood, so I ran outside and called 911."

When our news crews went to the house we found the dog was still there.

The dog seemed well behaved and was on a leash.

Animal control tells say police never contacted them so the dog was never removed from the home.

(CBS58 - Nov 25, 2011)

Cops shoot pit bull attacking teen

NEW YORK -- For the second time in a week, a police officer on Staten Island has drawn his gun and shot a dog.

The latest incident occurred yesterday when the officer wounded a pit bull in Stapleton after the dog charged at them after attacking a teenager, police said.

The pit bull was captured by authorities

The drama unfolded when police responded to a 911 call for a 16-year-old boy being bitten at 11:52 a.m., according to an NYPD spokesman.

The cops were rushed by the animal as it stormed toward them on Hudson Street in Stapleton, according to the New York Post, citing sources.

One officer squeezed off several shots, striking the dog in the body and neck, the sources added.

The teen, whose names was not immediately released, was transported to Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton and treated for bite wounds of his legs, the paper reported.

The wounded dog was under the care of New York City Animal Care and Control, sources said.

The owner of the pit bull, a 12-year-old boy, told cops that the dog bounded out of his building on nearby Gordon Street after he opened the door to greet his pal, the 16-year-old victim, the report said.

On Sunday night, a Doberman was shot dead by an off-duty Port Authority cop in Westerleigh.

Port Authority officials have opened an investigation into that shooting. Though P.A. officials refused to identify the officer, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed his identity as 31-year-old Joseph Brenneck.

The Mazzola family was coming home from a trip to the Catskill Mountains at about 9 p.m. Sunday night when their Doberman, Boo Boo, burst out of their car without his leash, which was parked across from their home at the intersection of Leonard and Muller avenues.

Brenneck, who lives about three blocks away, was walking his pug, and Boo Boo bounded toward the smaller animal.

The Doberman’s owner, Jospeh Mazzola, 23, said the two dogs started “scrapping,” and before he and his brother, Vincent, 19, could dive in to separate them, the officer fired a single shot, killing Boo Boo.

An NYPD spokesman said the officer told police he was defending his own dog, while the Mazzolas maintain the Doberman was 'harmless' and 'looking to play'.

(SILive - Nov 25, 2011)

Three young boys attacked by a pit bull tell their story

MISSISSIPPI -- Brandy Beaver was taking the Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven when her youngest son ran inside screaming that a dog attacked him, his friend and his brother.

Friday, all three boys were out of the hospital and Beaver credits the quick thinking of two of them that they are all safe.

 

"Michael was punching the dog. His instinct kicked in to try and get the dog off of Austin," Beaver said. "Then after that, they both did the right thing: they both ran to get help."

Her 10-year-old son, Austin, and 8-year-old son, Mason, were playing with their 9-year-old friend, Michael Horst, when the boys say a pit bull jetted out of its house in the Quail Creek Subdivision and ran their way. As Mason explains, they were only trying to help.

Mason said, "We were trying to get the dog to its owner."

That's when, he said, the dog got vicious.

"First, it attacked Michael. Then it came straight to me and jumped and got me on my nose and then got me on my arm," Mason said.

He suffered some cuts on his face and several stitches on his shoulder. His brother, Austin, was not so lucky. He received more than 100 stitches on his face. But Austin says he is thankful for the other boys.

"My friend was hitting the dog to get it off of me and the dog just bit his face," Austin explained. "The dog came running to me and I punched its neck. And it ran to Mason and he and the dog stopped and came running back. Then he just jumped on me and kept biting my face every chance it had."
 

Michael stopped in to check on Austin Friday and wanted to assure his friend of one thing:

"Hey Austin, I didn't leave you. I just went to get help," Michael said.

The young boy also attempted to get the dog to stop biting his friend.

"I started punching the dog," Michael said.

And when asked if he thought he was a hero, he shook his head no and simply said that is what anyone would do. But Austin's mom would beg to differ.

"They both deserve a lot of recognition for what they did, because they really saved Austin's life," Beaver said. "I would give those two boys the moon, if I could."

Hugging her two sons she said, "You saved your brother's life and you are going to be a okay, so I have a lot to be thankful for."

 

Austin received more than 100 stitches on his face
after a pit bull attack Thanksgiving Day.

The pit bull was taken into custody by the Sheriff's Department and has been transported to the Humane Society. Deputies say the dog will be in quarantine for ten to 15 days until tests results come back to show if the dog is up to date with all his shots.

[It does not take 15 days to "show if the dog is up to date with all his shots". This is something the owner should produce immediately. Clearly the dog was not vaccinated; otherwise they would already know and the observation period is just a precaution.]

From there, they will look at the dog's history and make a decision on whether or not to put the dog to sleep. Authorities say the ultimate decision may have to be made by a judge. WLOX will keep you updated.

(WLOX - Nov 26, 2011)

Earlier:

• Second pit bull picked up after attack
• Three children injured in attack by pit bull

Father stabs attacking pit bull to save 4 year-old son

TENNESSEE -- The attack happened around 5:20 p.m. as the boy and his father were in front of their residence at 7354 Old Cleveland Pike.

The dog reportedly broke loose from its owner’s backyard, ran up the street and attacked the child, police spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary said.

The boy’s father, Chris Binshaw pulled a knife and stabbed the dog to get it off his son. The dog’s owner, Eric Robinson, then grabbed the dog and put it back in its cage. He says the dog has never shown aggression and believes it was looking for a second pit, kept with it.

The child suffered non-life threatening injuries but his current condition is unknown. Charges are pending further investigation, Weary said.

(Times Free Press - November 25th, 2011)