Pregnant Florida Woman Fatally Stabs Attacking Pit Bull
A pregnant woman in Florida had to stab a pit bull in her family’s care after it suddenly turned on her two other dogs before attacking her mother and her sister. The incident took place on Friday in Safety Harbor, near St. Petersburg, Florida.
Pinellas County Sheriff’s officials released a statement describing the incident. According to spokesman Spencer Gross, the pit bull, named Buster, first started attacking the two other pit bulls in the house, and then turned on 45-year-old Heidi Cooper when she tried to intervene. It then turned on Sierra Willson and her 14-year-old sister, Meghan Tokay. Willson then fatally stabbed the dog, CBS News reports. Willson, her sister, and her mother had to treated for bites and other injuries.
The dog is reported to have been owned by a Marine, who left it under the care of the family when he got deployed. His girlfriend spoken with the local media, saying that she had always thought Buster was sweet and gentle.
“He was the sweetest dog ever. I would come in the house, he would just come sit on my lap like a little puppy. He was so sweet.”
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 become aggressive and vicious, incidents of aggression from pit bulls are more commonly reported than with other breeds, possibly owing to the bad reputation.
A pregnant woman fatally stabbed her pit bull when it attacked two other dogs and then turned on her mother and sister https://t.co/qxVOdOPfCM pic.twitter.com/9iOESGc2xm
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) November 25, 2017
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]
