Pet pit bulls maul NLV 4-month-old to death - News

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Sep. 13, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Pet pit bulls maul NLV 4-month-old to death

Grandmother baby-sitting child hospitalized

By LAWRENCE MOWER
REVIEW-JOURNAL

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A North Las Vegas Animal Control officer and police officer remove one of two pit bulls that attacked and killed a 4-month-old girl at the girl's North Las Vegas home Friday. Police shot and killed the dogs.
Photo by John Gurzinski

Review-Journal

North Las Vegas Police respond Friday to a home where two pit bulls killed a 4-month-old girl. The family dogs were in the backyard, forced their way into the house and attacked the girl, police said.
Photo by John Gurzinski

A 4-month-old girl was fatally mauled by her family's two pit bulls Friday at their North Las Vegas home.

The baby's grandmother, who was watching the baby while her parents were at work, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries sustained as she tried to protect her granddaughter. North Las Vegas police Chief Joseph Forti said the dogs were in the backyard of the home, near Cheyenne Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, prior to the attack.

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The dogs managed to enter the home, possibly by bursting through a screen door, and began attacking the baby as she lay in a stroller, he said.

"They just went right for the little girl," he said.

The grandmother took the baby and tried to escape into a room of the house.

She tried to close the door behind her, but one of the dogs forced its way into the room, Forti said, followed by the other.

They began attacking the girl again, and the grandmother called police at about 11:25 a.m.

When officers arrived, they found the two dogs with blood on their fur "acting very aggressively" toward the officers, according to a statement issued by the department. Police shot and killed the dogs.

Officers found the baby lying on the floor of a bedroom, dead from her injuries.

"This is about as severe an attack as I've seen in my 18 years in North Las Vegas," North Las Vegas Animal Control officer Dale Smock said.

Forti said he was told by officers the girl had suffered "very severe bite and head wounds."

The attack was so severe that officers and medical personnel who responded to the incident are being offered counseling, Forti and North Las Vegas Fire Department Capt. Cedric Williams said.

"This is something they don't see every day," Williams said.

The names of the baby and the grandmother were not released by police.

According to neighbors, the parents of the baby were new to the typical valley neighborhood of stucco houses and neat yards, having just moved into the home on Eagle View Way in recent months. One neighbor said he had seen the dogs loose in the neighborhood at least once.

Neighbor Jason Howe was furious.

"You don't have pit bulls around children, period," he said.

"The whole situation's sad," said 75-year-old neighbor Stan Heaton.

In June, a 2-year-old boy suffered serious injuries after a neighbor's boxer bit him on his face and neck in the northwest valley.

And in April, two children, ages 4 and 5, were hospitalized after being attacked by a neighbor's boxer and a pit bull near Vegas Valley and McLeod drives.

North Las Vegas has investigated 192 dog attacks since the beginning of last year, including 73 attacks from pit bulls, Smock said.

One of those attacks was on one of the city's animal control officers, who was investigating a complaint on July 3.

After walking into a backyard, she was attacked by two pit bulls and has yet to return to full-time duty at the department, Smock said.

Smock said pit bull attacks cause deep wounds that are "sometimes compared to shark attacks."

Forti said he didn't know whether charges would be pressed against the family, a decision left up to the district attorney's office.

Review-Journal writer Paul Harasim contributed to this report. Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Brandon wrote on April 01, 2009 11:20 AM: This is a terrible thing to have happen to a family. i am a pittbull owner my self i have three.i dont know the status of the dos but i would suggest that no one that haskids ever get a older pitbull you should allways raise your pittbull from a pup. As they will need a firm hand from birth trust me.they can be stuborn at times and tend hto be very dominate.male or female.bottom line isthey tend to bemore agressive the more you have.i would only have on and raise it from a pup WINGS wrote on December 16, 2008 07:41 PM: I AM SO GLAD TO SEE "LAURA" STEPING UP AND SETTING THE RECORD. I AM HER FRIEND AND SUPPORTER SINCE THE MOMENT THIS TRAGEDY HAPPENED. SHE HAS MADE GREAT STRIDES IN THE HEALING PROCESS.SHE HAS .. FACED THE HOUSE , PLAYED WITH DOGS AND HEALED HER PHYSICAL WOUNDS ( TO THE BEST OF THE ABILITY TO DO SO) I SAY KUDOS TO YOU MY FRIEND. I WILL BE HERE TIL THE END OF TIME -- GOD BLESS YOU . NOW I THINK WE AS A COMMUNITY NEED TO GIVE HER OUR SUPPORT TO KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK WITH THIS HEALING PROCESS ... BECAUSE ... IT AINT OVER YET !!!! PSYCHOLOGICAL WOUNDS NEED MUCH LOVE AND SUPPORT TO HEAL. LETS GIVE IT UP TO GRANDMA PEOPLE !!!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Laura wrote on December 10, 2008 09:34 PM: 99% your comments are all wrong I am the grandmother of the 4 month old and what I will say is you were not there I was the parents should be charged with neglect I fought all I could as that child was my life the parents knew the dog was crazy but neither parent cared for the baby because she was a girl not the son they wanted do not condem me I did all I could and when you have the father say if you get rid of my dogs I will kill you what did you expect me to do I fought with my life and I am heartbroken my Cenedi has passed but I believe she is better off with out the parents she had as her life would of been hell. Donny wrote on November 27, 2008 09:58 PM: Do some research...there are other breed attacks out there. The media just loves to use pitbills in the 70s it was Dobermans 80s it was Rotties and Shepherds. Its the owners not the breed. There are as many good stories out there if not more..then there are bad. Try doing some research. You are a fallen VICTIM TO THE MEDIA! It was a Golden retriever that bite the womans face off. Its how you raise them PERIOD! Donny wrote on November 27, 2008 09:57 PM: Do some research...there are other breed attacks out there. The media just loves to use pitbills in the 70s it was Dobermans 80s it was Rotties and Shepherds. Its the owners not the breed. There are as many good stories out there if not more..then there are bad. Try doing some research. You are a fallen VICTIM TO THE MEDIA! It was a Golden retriever that bite the womans face off.! Its is how you raise them!!!! period! Samantha wrote on November 27, 2008 09:54 PM: I am so sick and tired of the media using pitbulls to make there headlines, I have worked, with dogs of all breeds all of my life, pitbull are a wonderful smart breed, usually end up in dumb careless PEOPLES hands. Who know nothing and care nothing about raising a canine good citizen. Lets take a minute and look at Michael Vick ((SICK VICK)). Look what that monster did to dogs , they are not banning him he is getting off with a strong slap on the wrist then back out in the world with the public. There are many many more animal abusers just like him out there and we dont ban them and NO they cant be rehabilitated. Most dogs can be. His poor abused mutilated left for dead dog are being rehabiliated successfully right now. He (michael) is only sorry because he got caught. So dont blame the breed... blame the owners and the lack they took in not properly caring loving and training there precious dogs Stop blaming the breed!!!!!!!!! Sincerely, Samantha ohnoshedidnt wrote on November 10, 2008 01:10 PM: they need to do away with the breed: pit bull.... there are too many attacks! they should also do away with all these bad parents!!!! WINGS wrote on October 16, 2008 10:38 AM: JESS...." CIRCUMCISE YOUR BOYS " >>>??? I THOUGHT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT A BLESSED BABY GIRL... AND A TRAGIC DEATH . I THINK YOU NEED A CHAT ROOM. I HAVE 2 SONS AND THEY ARE HEALTHIER AND CLEANER FOR "IT". JEEEEEZZZZZZZ Jess wrote on October 13, 2008 11:10 PM: So sad for this baby! Please don't circumcise your baby boys. It's not mandated for Christians and it's a huge human rights violation. OhGoddess wrote on September 27, 2008 09:10 PM: I wonder if any of these pet owners are breeding them for dog fighting. Those breeds, sadly, have a bad and undeserved reputation for being deadly. Yes, they can attack and be deadly, but usually are not predisposed to such unless trained to be that way by their owners. I have known so many people with those types of dogs and they were all just big lovebunnies. A tragic story ending in 3 deaths. My sympathy goes out to the family. Read All Comments