Are these fatal dog attacks an accident…Or should we blame the breed?
Research shows that 1 in 4 individuals have been bitten by a dog at some point in their lifetime. But less than 1% of bites result in a visit to the hospital. Unfortunately, the same can’t be true about the people on our list. Generally, men are more likely to get bitten.
Dog attacks on middle-aged women are apparently rising the fastest, though. We don’t know why that is, but it could have something to do with the profile of people who own and spend time with dogs.
There’s very little scientific evidence showing that some breeds are naturally more aggressive than others. And research indicates that the breeds reported to bite are the most popular in that area. Yet, when we look at breeds involved in fatalities, it’s pretty clear that most are large and powerful.
Scientific studies have determined that the leading causes of fatal dog attacks stem from preventable factors, including neglect or abuse, irresponsible ownership, failure to neuter dogs, and insufficient supervision of strong dogs around young children.
All this being said, though, no matter how much we love our fur babies, we have to remember that inside every dog, there’s still a wild animal that could potentially attack.
And for those who have cynophobia, these 6 stories of fatal dog attacks will probably amplify their hesitation when they come face-to-face with a canine.
Fatal dog attack: Baby killed by a wolf-dog hybrid in Virginia
Over the years, there have been far too many cases to count of fatal dog attacks on newborns. Occasionally, it gets blamed on the jealousy the dog might feel about not being the baby of the family anymore. And sometimes, it seems as though the dog thinks the infant is a new toy.
In all honesty, it should be common sense not to leave a dog alone with a baby, regardless of its breed, especially if it’s part wolf. Suffice it to say, you won’t like this first story. A family in Jonesville, Virginia, had just brought their newborn home from the hospital in 2018.
They owned a huge wolf-dog hybrid who had never been around a baby before. The door to the nursery was left open one day.
The dog got in and began mauling the upper half of the week-old baby’s body. Sadly, the infant didn’t survive the incident. The dog was taken to the pound, and it was euthanized.
Fatal dog attack: Little boy attacked by a pack of strays Missouri
For many years, there weren’t any laws that prevented dogs from roaming the streets by themselves. Without animal control officers, packs of dogs freely roamed neighborhoods throughout the entire country. And as you can guess, these dogs were not only wild but also hungry.
One report from 1959 says that a two-and-a-half-year-old boy was playing in an empty parking lot next to his family house in the suburbs of St. Louis when a pack of 10 wild dogs surrounded him and attacked. Sadly, the dogs chewed on his body, and there was no saving him.
The boy’s parents heard the racket, and the father ran outside and beat the dogs with a bat. One of them jumped on the father, who barely made it out with the limp body of the boy.
Locals formed an angry mob, grabbing their guns and whatever else they could to go after these street dogs to avenge the young boy’s life. For a while after this fatal dog attack, the police station received many calls whenever someone saw a dog walking around unaccompanied.
Fatal dog attack: Pack of pit bulls attack man in Arkansas
A man named De’trick Johnson wanted to get his car worked on. He called ahead to a shop in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, called CJ’s Garage one day in 2015 to make an early morning appointment for a service on his car.
When Johnson showed up at CJ’s Garage, he was greeted by 7 pit bulls. They were all barking at him when he got out of his car. He knew he wasn’t going to win a fight against 7 dogs, so he tried to climb on top of his car.
One of the dogs jumped on the car, pulling him to the ground. He realized his only chance was to run, but the pits caught up with him. It turns out that they were guard dogs at CJ’s Garage and had bitten quite a few people, but the owner hadn’t done anything about it.
The pit bulls were set loose after this fatal dog attack, and local police had to hunt them down before they had the chance to hurt anyone else. They were able to capture 2 of the dogs who were brought to a shelter, but the other 5 were so violent that they had to be put down.
Fatal dog attack: Dog kills a mother and her child in Germany
Breeds like Staffordshire terriers, Pit bulls, and the Tosa Inu were banned in 2000 in Germany because of a string of attacks by these types of breeds. They’re considered to be far too dangerous for people to have as house pets.
Yet that didn’t stop a family in Berlin from getting a Staffordshire terrier as a pet. In 2018, someone was walking by this family’s home, and they sensed that something was off. They glanced through the window and saw a man and woman lying on their kitchen floor.
Police were called to the scene, most likely suspecting that they were victims of a crime. When the police arrived, they realized that the 52-year-old woman and her 27-year-old son were both mauled by their dog.
A forensic expert investigated the bodies to rule out the possibility of a human committing the crime and deduced that the dog was, in fact, the culprit.
Without any witnesses, no one can know exactly what happened to provoke this fatal dog attack or how the dog managed to overpower two adults on its own.
Fatal dog attack: South African Mastiffs kill breeder in North Carolina
South African Mastiffs, a.k.a. Boerboels, are some of the biggest, strongest dogs in the world. They were specially bred from mastiffs to be strong enough to take on a lion. The breed is scarce in the US because few people are looking for a guard dog quite on that level.
But in 2017, a woman from Asheville, North Carolina, imported six with plans to breed and sell puppies online. She didn’t know how to socialize or properly train these humongous dogs. So, as you would expect, they became aggressive.
One day, the woman’s daughter came home from school to see her mom lying on the floor. When she tried to reach the front door to help her mother, one of the dogs started barking at her aggressively, and she couldn’t get into her home. She ultimately called 911 for help.
When police arrived, they tried several times to enter the house without causing harm to the dog, but they were forced to put it down so they could get to the woman’s body.
Authorities called in an expert in aggressive dogs to help clear the remaining canines. The woman said their behavior was the most horrifying she had ever experienced in her 20-year career.
Fatal dog attack: Fox Terrier punctures woman’s throat in New York
It turns out that not all fatal dog attacks come from stereotypically large, dangerous breeds. Back in 1901, people weren’t exactly great at figuring out what to do in specific medical emergencies like epileptic seizures.
A woman from New York began having a seizure and fell to the ground. Her mother, who she was living with, panicked and threw water on her daughter’s face to see if that would help her snap out of it.
Their small fox terrier was close by, barking at the woman as she lay shaking on the floor. According to the newspapers of the time, the dog “went mad” and lunged for her throat, puncturing her jugular.
The woman’s mother tried to get the dog away from her daughter, but it wouldn’t let go. She finally picked up a fire poker and jabbed the dog, chasing it out of the house, never to be seen again. Sadly, the woman lost too much blood from the fatal dog attack, and she passed away.
Despite the stories about the fatal dog attacks we’ve shared with you above, here at The Geeky Gecko, we believe that there’s no such thing as a “bad dog.”
If you’ve recently gotten a pup, and feel as though you might be overwhelmed with training and socializing them, help is out there. The ASPCA recommends speaking to a trainer or veterinarian for the best course of action.
And if you found this article interesting, we highly recommend also reading: 8 Most Common Dog Training Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
