Thursday, November 21

California among states with most fatal dog bites

The 28 December, four dogs of the Cane Corsos breed ended the life of a young mother of a family, an immigrant from Honduras; Over the weekend, a father rushed his daughter to the hospital, after a Belgian Shepherd dog unexpectedly attacked the 8-year-old girl, almost biting her eyes out.

The minor underwent emergency plastic surgery. “Well, now the eye doctor has to confirm that the girl did not suffer damage to her vision and that there were no other consequences,” said the father of the family, who preferred not to reveal his name.

The attack on Karen Julisa Rosa Madrid that cost her her life occurred in La Puente on Tuesday 19 from December; the assault on the unidentified minor occurred in Palmdale on Sunday 16 January, both in Los Angeles County.

Karen Julisa Rosa Madrid was destroyed by 4 Cane Corsos dogs. (Courtesy Gloria Madrid)

These tragedies lead us to think about whether or not we should keep certain types of animals as pets in the home.

“This incident has taught me that one cannot be trusted”, said the father of the minor.

“The owner of the Belgian Shepherd dog, asked me if I could let him go because the children were there, including my daughter. I told him that there was no ‘anger’. I had seen that the dog was noble and I saw no problem”.

But suddenly, the dog calmly approached his daughter, and without further ado, he bit her. “I looked into the distance that my daughter was touching her face. When I got closer, I saw that he had destroyed his eyelids.”

The father asked the Angelenos not to trust especially those dogs that have them tied up most of the time.

He said he will not file charges against the owner of the aggressor dog, because it was an accident.

“I cannot force him to pay the expenses of the operation either because he has no money”.

In In the case of the Cane Corsos, it should be said that they have been banned in some countries because for many years they have been used in illegal dog fights.

They were originally bred to hunt wild boars, bears and lions.

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Bulldogs are on the list of dogs that have caused fatal attacks in the US. (Getty Images)

Thedogvisitor.com website describes them as docile, devoted, affectionate, loyal companions and excellent watchdogs; and when they are well educated and conscientiously trained, Cane Corsos can be stable and reliable pets.

However, they emphasize that they are naturally possessive, territorial, dominant and distrustful of strangers.

In the case of Karen Julisa Rosa Madrid, her mother, Gloria Madrid, said that she does not believe that the dogs that fatally attacked her daughter had been properly trained.

Several reports of attacks and bites have led to the establishment of laws against Cane Corsos. They are prohibited or restricted in states such as Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington.

According to TheDogVisitor.com, Cane Corsos can and have killed humans. In 2014, two Cane Corsos dogs attacked and killed a jogger in Michigan. The owners of the animals were charged with second-degree murder, and the dogs were put to sleep.

Last September, the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services (LA Animal Services) opened a investigation after several residents of the Tarzana area denounced that for years they have lived in terror of a group of aggressive Cane Corso dogs that constantly bite them.

Chihuahua dogs are recommended as pets in home. (Pixabay)

The stories of dogs that have attacked humans are many. The 18 November 2018, in Great Britain, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, struck 23 bites a two-month-old baby, when she was on the sofa with her mother , who was unaware of the incident because she fell asleep after taking some sleeping pills. The newborn died three weeks later.

The Mexican veterinarian Eduardo Zamora Valenzuela, with 40 years of experience as a veterinarian, said that there are different types of dogs, companions, guards, hunting; but for pets, it recommends that animals that are docile and not aggressive or fighting should be sought.

“For family pets there is nothing like a chihuahua, a poodle, cocker spaniels and if they like them big they can choose a Labrador or Boxer; but it also has a lot to do with the space where it is going to be kept to define the size of the animal”.

He also points out that a dog needs attention . “They can’t leave them locked up all day and alone, they need to go out, socialize, see people. A dog on a leash is 40% aggressive. When you release it, you feel that it invades its territory and they can attack”.

And when a dog kills a person, it has to be put to sleep, because that is a sign that can return to fatal attack.

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When we take our dogs for a walk, it is important to keep them on a leash. (Shutterstock)

Dog Bite.org, a national non-profit group of dog bite victims, dedicated to reduce serious dog attacks, revealed in its annual report of 2020 that there were 64 fatal attacks against humans in the United States.

The 72% of attacks were perpetrated by dogs pitbulls, which represent 6.2% of the total canine population of the country. Most dog attacks involved 4 or more of these animals.

After pit bulls, the dogs that caused deaths were American Bulldogs, German Shepherds, Mastiff/bullmastiffs, and other mixed breeds.

The 33% of dog attacks were against children 9 years and under, 7% for children 10 to 18 years, 61% against older adults from 19 years.

Of the 15 children killed by dogs, the of 1 year old, represented more than half of the victims.

During the first year of the pandemic, reports of fatal attacks fell 40 % compared to 2019, but after requesting information from police agencies and animal control departments, Dog Bite.org, discovered 5 deaths from dog attacks that were not covered by the press.

In the 2019, Illinois led in fatal dog attacks with 6 deaths, followed by Florida with 5; and California, Georgia and Louisiana with 3 deaths. But they noted in the report that in California and Texas, the complete list of fatal bites was not presented.

Among 2015 Y 2019, the two states, Texas and California combined a combined average of 8.8 fatal bites per year.

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