Postman Mauled To Death By Crazed Pit Bulls

A postman in Cape Town, South Africa was mauled to death by two pit bulls while he was on his regular route, delivering newspapers. Ironically, the front page of of the newspaper that he was delivering had a story of another horrific dog attack. The tragic incident happened on Thursday.

The 57-year old man, known locally as Willie, was found dead near the attack scene by the police. The owner of the dogs, a man by the name of Andy Warely, told local media that he has since had the two dogs, Patches and Buster, put down, according to the Sun. He claims that his pit bulls are usually kept at the back, and the only reason they were in the front that day was because there was some cleaning going on.

“My dogs are normally at the back but when there is cleaning being done, they are placed in front.”

Warely says that his daughter had warned Willie about the dogs, but he had insisted on coming in, claiming that he knew Patches and wanted to play with him.

“The man was at the gate and my daughter told him not to come inside but he said he knew the dogs and came in to play with Patches. I think the dogs heard my daughter telling him to leave and must have become protective or the other dog might have become jealous.

“When my wife came outside, she saw the dogs were already on top of the man. He ran out and fell outside of the property.”

Willie managed to stagger out into the street, but passed away before anything could be done.

Pit bulls were created by breeding bulldogs and terriers together. They were meant to be fighting dogs for blood sport, and as such were selectively bred to be aggressive and vicious. Today, a few hundred years later, such games are illegal, but the breed lives on and with a bad reputation. Many people argue that pit bulls are not vicious breeds by birth and it is the owners of these dogs that lead them into becoming vicious. While it is true with any large/working breed of dogs that an inexperienced owner can lead it to becoming aggressive and vicious, incidents of aggression from pit bulls are more commonly reported than with other breeds, possibly owing to the bad reputation.

The United Kennel Club, the second oldest Kennel Club in the United States and possibly the world’s largest performance dog registry, describes the characteristics of the American pit bull terrier as strong, confident and having a zest for life. They are also said to make good family dogs and are good with children.

While many pit bulls are gentle and happy family dogs, incidents such as these have led several countries around the world and some states in the U.S. to impose restrictions and in some cases outright bans on the ownership of the breed.

[Featured Image by Audrey Lohkamp/Shutterstock]