Two pit bulls attacked and killed a 66-year-old woman while she was on a walk.
Two pit bulls attacked and killed a 66-year-old woman while she was on a walk, according to North Carolina officials on Aug. 11.
Montgomery County Sheriff Chris Watkins said that the woman went for a routine walk and never returned home.
“This is a very tragic event, which has deeply affected the family, friends, deputies and first responders,” Waktins said, the News-Observer reported . “Our thoughts and prayers are being extended to all.”
After an investigation by medical and animal and wildlife officials, they determined that she was attacked by dogs. Local officials then “searched the neighborhood and located two pit bull dogs with physical evidence reflecting the dog’s involvement,” the statement said.
“The owner agreed for the dogs to be euthanized so they could be forensically examined to see if they suffered from rabies,” Watkins told the paper.
The name of the woman has not been released, and the local district attorney’s office is now investigating, WSOC-TV reported .
Meanwhile, a Florida man was reportedly attacked by his pit bull on Aug. 11, according to officials.
A witness who only called himself Mr. Williams told local outlet WSVN that the dog attacked a relative of the owner in Miami.
“When the dog bit him, [the owner] went to get a towel, but the dog had a taste of his blood,” he told WSVN. “And his granddaddy was outside, and the dog attacked his granddaddy. It tore his face off.”
One of the victims was taken to the hospital by paramedics, and the other victim was treated at the scene.
The injuries suffered by the two are not life-threatening, the WSVN report stated.
The pit bull was taken by animal control officials. It is unclear what will happen to the animal.
Animal rights group PETA has said that pit bulls are “the most abused dogs on Earth.”
“Pit bulls are left at shelters in record numbers—and since they are difficult to adopt out, reputable shelters (that don’t slam the door in the dogs’ faces) are finding that they must euthanize more pit bulls and pit bull mixes than all other dogs combined,” the group says. Karen Delise, research director for the National Canine Research Council and author of The Pitbull Placebo, has investigated hundreds of dog bite incidents.
She wrote: “My study of dog bite-related fatalities occurring over the past five decades has identified the poor ownership/management practices involved in the overwhelming majority of these incidents: owners obtaining dogs, and maintaining them as resident dogs outside of regular, positive human interaction, often for negative functions (i.e. guarding/protection, fighting, intimidation/status); owners failing to humanely contain, control and maintain their dogs (chained dogs, loose roaming dogs, cases of abuse/neglect); owners failing to knowledgably supervise interaction between children and dogs; and owners failing to spay or neuter dogs not used for competition, show, or in a responsible breeding program.”
