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Roxbury woman dies after her dog attacks her; police shoot the dog after it bites an officer
By adamg on Mon, 11/18/2024 - 10:39pm
An elderly couple at home on 35 Dennison St. in Roxbury were attacked by one of their four dogs, which mauled the woman so badly she was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries to her arm, around 4:30 p.m.
Arriving officers applied a tourniquet to her arm, barely still attached to her body, to try to contain the bleeding until Boston EMTs and paramedics could arrive. But the woman, 70, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Not long after officers arrived, according to a recording of scanner traffic from the scene, the dog went after officers, biting two, one of whom who shot the dog to stop the attack. The dog did not immediately die, but it did stop biting.
Animal Control was called in to deal with both the shot dog and three other dogs in the house.
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Comments
Why would you not mention the
Why would you not mention the breed of the dog
One of two possible reasons
1. I am a dog conspiracist trying to protect a particular breed that you already know for an absolute fact in your mind attacked its owner.
2. I wasn't there and simply don't know the breed.
I'll leave it to you which is the right answer.
Lol touché
Lol touché
There are no such thing as
There are no such thing as bad dog breeds, just bad owners.
Why are you trying to protect
Why are you trying to protect a breed that does the majority of killing? Apparently you are in favor of people and animals being brutally killed by pitbulls. They should be banned. It’s the rational and decent thing to do.
Post-hoc bias
1. no such breed as pit bull. They started as a boutique multi-breed, just like a labradoodle. There is no pedigree.
2. The statistics you cite rely on post-hoc identification of "breed" which is inherently biased.
3. The real problem in this case was unlicensed breeding of dogs kept in cages and selected for aggressive behavior. These dogs were not pets - this was a puppy mill. This problem is not limited to so-called "pit bulls" but is also a problem for any breed of animal. The actual description of the dogs is irrelevant - cane corsos are the new aggressive dog bred in such circumstances. Any dogs bred this way are equally dangerous.
4. The answer to this problem is strict regulation of dog breeding facilities and conditions. Again, PEOPLE are the problem.
Rounding up dogs with superficial appearance of "omg dangerous!!!" won't solve anything. Remember killer dobermans, rottweilers, and GSDs? The actual morphology of the supposed dogs or "breed" doesn't matter - shitty humans breeding aggressive dogs in shitty conditions is the problem. Murder pets and threats alike and you just get a different looking dog and the same problem all over again.
I’m recalling how after Micheal Vick’s …
… fighting dogs were rescued, all but one were given good care and eventually adopted as pets. I believe the one that was euthanized had advanced cancer.
It’s truly remarkable how successful rehabilitation works with dogs trained intentionally or by circumstances to be to be aggressive.
Unlike many humans unfortunately.
Since you’re so curious…
…. why not ask the race/breed of the victim?
Hope they are both suffering less.
Gross
Anybody who has an interest in dogs will tell you that dog breeds were created through mankind artificially selecting for traits - physical, behavioral, temperamental - designing dogs to do a thing. Collies have herding in their very brain chemistry, for example - how many cute viral videos are there out there of some suburbanite taking their Aussie/Collie puppy to a farm and watching, amazed, as the dog does what generations of artificial selection has programmed into its brain. Herding dogs herd. Retriever dogs - you guessed it - retrieve. Labs and Goldens are fiends for fetch because it's been literally bred into them.
There is no question that there are certain dog breeds in existing who were artificially selected for aggression, gameness, and a lack of signals prior to attacking. This was a perfectly legal thing to breed and sell dogs for until the 1970s. You can't acknowledge breed behavior for one breed and pretend it doesn't affect another.
Meanwhile, humans have NOT had that done. Humans have higher level thinking skills. Humans have complex, artificial societies that impose trauma and poverty and educational deficits along racial lines, but no human has been artificially bred over hundreds of generations for any purpose. It's frankly a disgusting comparison.
Acting like somebody who is curious as to the breed of a dog that killed its owner** is also some human-racist and that making judgements of an animal based on breed is equivalent to bigotry against humans is a WILD stance for people in a progressive, civilized society to take.
**which, you know, is an insane thing to have happened, just for the record, for a dog to kill its owner, it's literally the defining thing the earliest dogs were selected for. I feel bad that the dog was shot but it absolutely should be humanely destroyed for doing this.
Whoosh
Note that most dogs are mutts and I think you might have the clue that you need.
Because it's not relevant.
And unfairly stigmatizes certain breeds (if it happens to be one).
Nonsense
Some breeds are associated with the most severe attacks than others.
From Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/dog-attack-statistics-breed/
My friend...
...correlation is not causation.
It’s not irrelevant…and,
It’s not irrelevant…and,
While the correlation between the breed and probability of attack is weak, dogs bred to do violent work against large large-ish animals like humans will do more damage and the history of any dog is the largest controllable factor for having a safe dog. So, there is a public interest in knowing the breed and history of this specific dog.
All dogs should be given the best life we can give them and owners should be informed and honest with themselves about their dog’s history and their treatment, what kind of life they are giving their dog and to be real about what kind of dog you should have based on what kind of owner you can be.
I realize there is a bias, motivated, or otherwise for biological, social, statistical and media reasons, be that bias informed, or uninformed, but the news doesn't exist to be a apply socialist critical theory by the sin of omission it exists to provide facts and information.
https://www.avma.org/sites/default/files/resources/dog_bite_risk_and_pre...
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/dog-attack-statistics-breed/
https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2017-11-15/dangerous-dog-debate
Breed is a loose term
Often "determined" post-hoc from superficial attributes rather than any specific pedigree. The vast majority of these dogs are mutts.
The real problem is people who do not have the ability, temperament, or training to properly contain larger and/or more aggressive dogs, yet insist on keeping them anyway. This includes the neighborhood's off-leash Jack Russell terrierist that bit the mail carrier, my friend's housemate with the puppy mill byproduct GSD that was aggressive, poorly raised, and couldn't remember his own people, and the neglected Great Dane that attacked my brother's dog.
Thanks for your reply. That
Thanks for your reply. That makes sense and makes you think how much work goes into breeding societies that mongrelism must be the general case.
I was fascinated by a nature special on the Siberian silver fox observation that “tameness” could be selected in ten generation, but just now learned the founding foxes were not wild to begin with.
‘Seed to Civilization’ (Heiser) is a great read in how we leave behind a wake of selection.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/russian-foxes-tameness-domestication
Actually Jack Russell Terrier
Actually Jack Russell Terrier are known to be biters... They were bred to chase foxes.
From other countries without our bias
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/list-of-dogs-most-likely...
https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/NSW-Dog-Attack-Inc...
https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NSW-Dog-Attack-Inc...
Chihuahua are too. But with their size they do less damage. Just ask a groomer or veterinarian how often they bite.
https://www.dvm360.com/view/study-chihuahuas-bite-vets-most-lhaso-apsos-...
Yeah
As a veterinarian, I work with animals of all sizes.
Many breeds bite, and the smaller ones are notorious for snapping, I think because they're small and live life on a different scale. I've been bitten by chihuahuas, doxies, poodles, yorkies... you name it.
Every dog is different! There are lots of small and large dogs who are sane and well-adjusted and do not bite.
But when these larger, powerful breeds of dogs bite, it causes more damage. While I am familiar with the reasons why bully breeds tend to be over reported in dog bite data there is no question that the majority are poorly bred, not sane, and not stable in addition to being large, powerful, driven dogs.
Because of these primary characteristics, they should not be owned by everyone. However, without breed restrictions, we are not able to tell people what kind of dogs they are capable of having. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and all, but I think it's a dog welfare issue as well as a human one.
Over the last 5 years, esp since COVID, veterinary professionals are experiencing an epidemic of anxious, poorly behaved dogs handled poorly. Because people are bad at treating dogs like dogs and not like dolls.
My American Pit Bull Terrier was the love of my life, and as a veterinarian I was the supremely responsible pet owner. He never bit anyone, but not for lack of wanting to. He was street bred in South Central Los Angeles. It required me to be vigilant about him for 13 years, and when he passed that was a relief. I no longer had to keep him safe from himself.
Not everyone is capable of that, but a large, powerful dog is alluring.
The dog did not immediately
I think that says it all.
Says what?
.
A similar incident happened
A similar incident happened about a week ago
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/officer-fatally-shoots-dog-that-att...
This is so sad
I hope she recovers. I wonder what happened with the dog.
but why?
I wonder what prompted the dog to attack her in the first place?
um
she died, sadly
WBUR
WBUR reported this morning that one of the people attacked has died :(
Boston Globe says they are still determining breed
Also, two people in the house were attacked. Little other info yet (yes, I know there's a paywall, but that's where I was able to find info).
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/11/19/metro/woman-killed-dog-attack-rox...
Story updated
The woman died.
Incredibly tragic
'causes me to wonder though...
Since first responders were bitten trying to get the dogs (and they couldn't just be left there. One or two were in the fenced in yard and could have escaped and then eluded capture, becoming threats to everyone). Why not just put sleeping pills in some meat and toss it to the dogs? Tranquilizer darts are used for wild animals. That would be an option too.
Though, in the case of the dog in Dorchester, that dog was not contained like these dogs in Roxbury were. That dog was loose so a faster incapacitation than sleeping pills/tranquilizer would be necessary.
If the dog had a high level
If the dog had a high level of gameness, it was not going to calm its aggressive ass down to eat food. My neighbor has a (much smaller, less aggressive) little white fluffy thing that none the less loses its mind barking at anyone that they pass while on walks. The owner at one point was throwing cheese, boiled chicken, bacon - all the top tier treats - on the ground in the midst of these episodes to try and distract it, and that dog ignored all of it because it was in a fighting mood.
Tranq darts are also not instantaneous and large dogs with a lot of adrenaline need more than you think. If it was actively threatening harm to nearby humans, the gun was the most effective solution, sad as this story is.
Exactly
The dog in Dorchester was "actively threatening harm to nearby humans", and thus "the gun was the most effective solution, sad as this story is."
But in Roxbury, per https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/dog-attack-roxbury-boston-hospital-4-arm/ , "They were concerned about the aggression of the dogs, which were behind a fence. As soon as the gate opened, surveillance video from a neighbor's home showed an officer getting attacked.
"I could hear her just give a little bit of a scream and then walk back. The gate was open and that's when the dog came out and went after the other officer," the anonymous neighbor told WBZ-TV. "He was backing off, backing off, and he was trying to tell the dog to back off. But then the dog was pretty aggressive." "
The CBS report says you can see an officer be attacked as soon as the gate is opened (the reporter says you can see the gate being opened on the video but it doesn't say if it's by a person or a dog. I can't see it. I'll be interested if someone can post the time stamp.) and so another officer had to shoot the dog. Absolutely, an aggressive dog was then out loose in the neighborhood causing the need for it to be shot. But I don't understand not even trying to knock out a contained dog with tranqs or sleeping pills. And once it is shot with tranquilizers or whatever non-lethal drugging is done, wait for the drug to take effect. Give it another dose or two until it's down.
BPD knows how to use tranquilizer guns on animals. That's how they got that gorilla who escaped Franklin Park Zoo back back into his cage.
Authorities tranquilize wild animals routinely. Any that wander into populated areas.
I'm intrigued that that's not done with dogs that are contained.
You only get one shot with
You only get one shot with tranq gun and even a perfect shot won’t act fast enough to protect a human’s life and limb from a charging dog versus a pistol that can deliver as many rounds as necessary STAT.
The gorilla had already dropped the little girl and tranqs were a viable option as rifles were creating the space to take the tranq option. As for John Dennis’s injuries….
Not so fast
Veterinarian here again, trained a little bit in 'tranquilizer guns' or darts. Again, not so simple.
Typically the darts inject an incredibly potent opioid, Carfentanil. Because it is 100x more potent than fentanyl, it is going to be stored very securely. If I had it in my practice, it would be in a separate controlled substance safe with just trained doctors holding the key.
It is often the case that a dart gun is needed, but not everyone is trained and not everyone has access to the drug.
During these situations, sometimes these people are not available to respond rapidly enough.
In the case of a dog mauling a person, there is no time to find a qualified person with the equipment and medication in time.
Because of the nature of the drugs typically used, I am skeptical that BPD has those things. In the case of the Franklin Zoo, it may be that a zoo employee or veterinarian was available.
"Just tranquilize it!" sounds easy, but it is not at all. You don't have a bandolero of darts. You have one chance, one shot or mom's spaghetti. You have to hit muscle for maximum effect rather than skin so you need to aim for specific parts of the body. If you have the equipment at all.
You really need so much medication to overcome what a dog is experiencing when it is attacking. It isn't practical.
Obviously I love dogs, but there are dogs in this world who won't maul their elderly owners. This dog didn't need to be tranquilized. It needed its pain and confusion stopped. Dogs don't act like this dog does; this dog was mentally ill.
Because we don’t typically
Because we don’t typically carry sleeping pills and 6 ounce T-bone steaks on our duty belts. Gotta make room for the other stuff we need.
- Boston Cop
Yeah it stinks that ANY creature was shot
But the police had to do what they had to do in a bad situation. And the officer here was being a bit snarky (which I appreciate by the way) - they do need to carry their service weapon and DO need to protect themselves from what was clearly an out of control animal. It's sad all around.
Honest question.
Would a taser have helped?
A taser would have risked the
A taser would have risked the dog becoming more animated. It was in a heighted, enraged state. A non-lethal stern admonishment by a taser would have done nothing.
Hey, Know It All ….
… are you a police officer now, as well as a vet?
Guessing...
Guessing they are someone who knows a lot about animal physiology, probably a lot more than a police officer, and would have a good idea what the effect of a taser on a big dog would be?
Not like the movies
It is not as easy as depicted in the movies to drug or dart a dog, especially one in a heightened state.
Your drugs have to work so much harder to overcome all of those catecholamines.
From experience, dart guns are rarely used (even in zoo or animal control settings) and are not easy to shoot accurately.
Orally medicating the dog requires that the dog actually want to eat something laced with drugs, that the dog have a sufficiently empty stomach so that the drug acts quickly, and that you give enough medication
I suspect neither would be helpful in this case.
And frankly, I have met many dogs who are essentially mentally ill who behave this way. Some cannot be helped and the kindest thing is to compassionately end their mental and emotional pain and confusion.
Pills would take like 15-30 minutes minimum to take effect
along with the issues the other commenters have mentioned.
And this was urgent.
Dogs like this need to be
Dogs like this need to be killed. If you want to save lives then advocate for the banning of pit bulls.
You are a lunatic.
Pit bulls are also known as nanny dogs.
Pit Bulls are aka…
child killers. A list of fatal attacks on children in the US since 1980:
https://www.fatalpitbullattacks.com/children-killed-by-pit-bulls.php
PSA for anyone contemplating using ANY breed of dog as a nanny:
“Small children should never be left alone and unsupervised with any dog.”-Adoptapet.com
You know who kills children?
Parents, mass murderers, pedophiles, other humans.
Dogs are way way down on the list.
Define "pit bull" as a breed
You can't, because it IS NOT A BREED.
Be far better regulation to temperament test all dogs over a certain weight.
Attempts to regulate and kill pit bulls have been laughable useless, even when not blatantly racist. There is no such breed - just a lot of "looks like it so kill it" crap.
Exactly.
.
Breed ID’d
Pitbull mix (all 4 of the dogs in the home). The husband reportedly* bred dogs and sold the puppies.
*Boston Globe
So basically a mutt as are the ….
… vast majority of dogs in the world.
Breed, like race (which till recently was commonly used to refer to types of domesticated animals within a species) is a social concept with very little science behind it.
Orly?
The selective breeding of dogs for specific characteristics is how we got to dogs varying in shape and size from a chihuahua to Great Dane.
It is genetics; it is science. It is not a social construct.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26991-5
From an earlier post of yours : ….
“ Dogs don't act like this dog does; this dog was mentally ill.”
Make up your mind.
Canine shape and size, like human skin color and hair type, do not indicate psychological tendencies towards fear and aggression. Or even intelligence.
Staffordshire Terrier is the
Staffordshire Terrier is the breed. So a mixed Staffordshire.
Mix?
A pitbull is a mix. Varying sorts of bull dog and terrier, but that actual mix is rarely actually given much thought.
It is not a breed.
They bred dogs for aggression and kept them in cages. That's the story - not the retroactive application of a made up breed.
We need strict licensing of animal breeders, not a slaughter of "looks like this or that".
I wonder...
If it was the unleashed dog that charged me flipping me off my bicycle and then attacked me. Certainly shifted my perspective on some certain dogs.
I was chased by two dogs and bitten ….
…. while riding my bike as a teenager. I jumped onto the roof of a parked car to get away.
They looked like black Labrador retrievers. I still love black labs and have owned or cared for mixes.