Sixteen month old Destiny Marie Knox is dead after being attacked by a dog. The information coming in about the story is spotty, at best, at this point, but here is what we think we know.
Destiny was supposedly staying at a babysitter's mobile home off County Road 87 just outside of New Ablany, MS. The dog was one of at least 5 'pit bulls' on the property that were always left chained up outside. However, the dog somehow slipped out of its collar as the family was bringing groceries into the house, got through the open door, and attacked the young toddler.
While the story itself is tragic, what may be more tragic is the reaction of the officials that were interviewed that are already taling about "legislation" and "dog laws". But none of that will fix the problem we have here.
New Albany, like much of Missisissippi, has a very high percentage of its population living below poverty level (Mississippi as a whole is nearly 20%, New Albany is just below that). And this isn't the first incident of a significant tragedy along this stretch of County road 87 outside of New Ablany. Eighteen months ago, a child was killed due to child abuse along the same county road. Also on the property, which happened to also be a puppy mill, were over 180 dogs -- many of which were also victims of cruelty.
While it is "easy" for officials to blame a particular breed of dog in this incident, it's much more difficult for them to acknowledge a larger social issue at play here -- one that is at play in many parts of the country. In pockets across the US, we have have groups of people who are low-income and poorly educated....and many of these areas suffer a lot from violence. It appears that this stretch of County Road 87 is no different. And while we can talk things like dog breeds, it is really a distraction from the much larger issue -- which is that as a part of the overall lack of education that comes in these poor areas, so follows the lack of education on how we should properly keep our pets. Chaining continues to show itself as a horrible way to keep a dog as its primary form of containment -- and often leads to other issues -- including, often, aggression -- especially among those it has not been socialized with (in this case, a toddler who was not a member of the home).
Until we start realizing tragedies like this for what they are, a small part of a larger social issue, we will never make any progress in solving the problem. Breed of dog does not matter...but how the dogs are cared for does.
My heart goes out to all of the families involved in this tragedy.
I'll post more updates as they become available. At this point, only the Tupelo Newspaper and two of the local Tupelo TV stations are covering the incident, so information is coming in pretty slowly.
A 2 year old Prescott, AR toddler died yesterday morning after being attacked by a dog. The toddler and his three-year-old brother were staying at their babysitter's house -- and the two boys got out of the house and wandered four blocks away. Apparently the younger child followed a little puppy into the back yard and climbed into a dog house to get the puppy. However, also in the dog house happened to be a chained adult dog that attacked and killed the boy.
The dog is being described as a "pit bull" -- and unfortunately that's where a lot of the emphasis has been. But there is so much blame to be had here -- with two toddlers being able to wander 4 blocks from home, chained dogs in the back yard, and a toddler climbing into a dog house.
But a child is tragically dead.
Prescott is in a remote part of Southwestern Arkansas and has a population of about 4,300 people -- 1/3 of whom (32.5%) live below the poverty line -- which is double the state average. The link between income/education level and how people care for dogs continues to be overlooked when it comes to these stories -- and how many of these attacks could be prevented through educating people on better was to contain their dogs (and watch their children).
This is the second attack in less than a week that involved a babysitter who let the child alone and ended up dead by a dog attack.
As more details emerge, I will update any relevant information.
Update: 10/28/09 - It turns out that the dog did not actually belong to the babysitter -- and that it actually belonged to the sitter's inlaws and she was watching the dog for them while they were in the process of moving. As more information comes out about the attack, it becomes even more clear what a tragedy of errors that occurred to create this fatal attack. A large breed dog that was in a strange envirnoment, with a different handler who was not terribly familiar with the dog's behavior. A child, left unattended in the back yard with the dog. And a sitter who was not watching the child closely enough.
These events are tragic and very preventable. But until we focus on the events that led up to the attack and focus on preventing those -- and not the breed of dog involved (which is still being widely mis-reported), we will make no progress in preventing these tragedies.
This story has now been picked up in over 400 media outlets.
UPDATE: According to a report by KMPH news in Californina, the babysitter left the child alone "for a few moments" and then ran outside when she heard the commotion. I can't stress enough that young kids have a way of poking, pushing, tugging, grabbing, etc dogs and usually don't recognize dog's subtle signals to "get away". Because of this, I don't recommend leaving toddlers alone with any dog, regardless of breed, for any amount of time.
The victim of the attack was named Colton Smith.
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A 17 month old toddler was killed yesterday in Merced County, CA -- a victim of a fatal dog attack.
The child was with the babysitter when the 65 lbs 'pit bull'/Akita mix attacked the child in the throat. The babysitter could not get the dog to let go of the child until she stabbed it with a fork.
The circumstances surrounding the attack remain unclear -- whether the dog knew the child well, whether the child and dog were closely supervised, etc. Hopefully some of that information will come out in the coming days.
The child was taken to the Hospital where he died a short time later.
When the media report came out, the dog was originally just called a 'pit bull' (Not a mix like the local media reported)-- which is what the Associated Press called the dog. The article has run in over 260 newspapers around the country (already) with most of the reports not recognizing the dog as a mixed breed. (Update: the number of media outlets that covered this is now over 300).
I'll post more details as they become available -- but my heart goes out to the family and the babysitter as they deal with the tragedy. And it is my hope that the coming days bring conversations about the actual causes of the attack (not focusing on the breed) so people can become more educated about how and why attacks like this happen so future tragedies can be avoided.
