A three year old child was killed by a dog in Tenerife yesterday. According to the tv news the child was in his mother’s arms when they dog jumped up and bit him in the neck. He was taken to the University Hopital in Candelaria but later died.
The dog was apparently a ‘pit-bull’ type which had been adopted from the Valle Colina Animal Shelter.
In a report in the El Dia website, the President of the College of Veterinarians, Miguel Jorge, commented that the case, “…reflects the need to have such animals well trained and within the conditions required by law.”.
He goes on to say that dogs of a pit bull type or those on the dangerous dogs list should be tethered – even at home. Miguel Jorge states that you can not demonize a breed as the problem is almost always the owner because the animal is not muzzled, leashed or properly trained.
There are several accounts of ‘pit bull type’ dogs killing or maiming children every year especially in the UK where they have unfortunately become the weapon of choice of thugs and criminals. Kept more for their ability to menace and trained to threaten or attack on command, the character of many pit bulls and bull terriers in the UK has been corrupted far from the dog’s original nature as a family friend.
Yesterday’s tragedy is different because there is no indication that the dog was kept for any reason other than to be a loving family pet but I wonder what is known about the background of the dog before he was adopted by the family.
Was he surrendered to the shelter or found as a stray and in what condition was he in? What sort of adoption process did the couple go through – was there any screening of their suitability to own a powerful and potentially dangerous dog. After all, pit bulls are on Spain’s Dangerous Dog list – so were the couple advised of any particular training, precautions, licensing or insurance?
It is not enough to simply say, “.. a pit bull type dog killed a child”, letting the breed of the dog take the blame for what happened. Down that road, all ‘pit bull type’ dogs become a target for destruction based simply on their outer appearance and nothing is learned about preventing these tragedies in future - because one thing is for sure, after all the pitts, and rotties, dobermans and presas have been destroyed, kids will still be being maimed and killed by the family pet.
And what does pit bull type mean anyway. There are over 20 breeds commonly misidentified as a pit bull and yet in describing a dog in this way, suddenly nothing else seems to matter.
Nothing will bring that child back. No-one can fail to feel for his parents who were kind-hearted enough to adopt a shelter dog. Can lessons be learned that will prevent such a thing happening again? Not if the blame is put on the dog’s breed and no more questions asked.
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What kind of idiot parents adopt a pit bull, or any large dog, with a baby or small child in the home? These parents should be prosecuted for placing their child in danger and lose custody of any other children in the home.
The father is being prosecuted I believe.