Paylynn Devaugh: 2-Year-Old Girl Mauled To Death By Pit Bull In Pittsburgh Suburb

A two-year-old girl has died of her injuries after being mauled by a pit bull in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, The Associated Press is reporting.

Paylynn Devaugh was attacked by the pit bull around 8:45 P.M. Sunday night. It’s unclear why Paylynn was at the home, since she lived in the nearby suburb of Forest Hills.

She later died from her injuries at Jefferson Memorial Hospital, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately, pit bull attacks on small children are far from uncommon. According to this Inquisitr report, a pit bull in a Minnesota suburb mauled a 3-year-old boy; the boy’s parents claimed they were being “bullied” to get rid of the dog.

Pit bulls are considered so dangerous, in fact, that they are heavily regulated in military housing, and several other cities have banned them completely, or are considering such bans.

Dogsbite.org reports that there were 42 dog-related fatalities in the United States in 2014, and that pit bulls were involved in 27 (64 percent) of those deaths, despite being only 6 percent of the dog population in the U.S. 48 percent of pit bull attack victims were children 13-years-old and younger.

“From 2005 to 2014, pit bulls killed 203 Americans, about one citizen every 18 days, versus rottweilers, which killed 38, about one citizen every 96 days.”

Pit bull owners, however, claim that the animals are only dangerous because they lack proper training. As The American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals (ASPCA) says in their official statement on pit bulls.

“The reality is that dogs of many breeds can be selectively bred or trained to develop aggressive traits. Therefore the responsible ownership of any dog requires a commitment to proper socialization, humane training and conscientious supervision. Despite our best efforts, there will always be dogs of various breeds that are simply too dangerous to live safely in society. We can effectively address the danger posed by these dogs by supporting the passage and vigorous enforcement of laws that focus, not on breed, but on people’s responsibility for their dogs’ behavior, including measures that hold owners of all breeds accountable for properly housing, supervising and controlling their dogs.”

In fact, says the ASPCA, the stigma associated with owning a pit bull, and the fact that so many adopted pit bulls come from backgrounds of cruelty and abuse, that too many animals wind up in shelters.

As of this post, it is not clear if the owners of the pit bull that attacked and killed two-year-old Paylynn Devaugh will face any criminal charges.

[Image courtesy of: Imgkid]