Monday, June 6, 2011

Escape artists

In 2011 SRUV published a series of posts highlighting pit bull owners who leave the scene after their dog attacks another dog, a horse, livestock, or a human. This was the first post of the series.
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In a previous post (Petersham Meadows0 SRUV described an attack on a group of pregnant cows in a park in the United Kingdom. Included in that post is a video in which the dog owner is seen escaping in the final frames.

A little more than a week later and only a dozen miles away, a similar scene unfolded when a pit bull attacked a horse and rider on Epsom Downs.

On May 12th Sophie Harwin was riding Zoe Brooks' horse Dancer through the park on Epsom Downs when a bull terrier attacked. The attack began at 3:15 pm and lasted at least ten minutes. Dancer received wounds to the chest, foreleg elbow, and hindquarters.

Passerby Martin Hill, 51, explained how he "couldn't see the dog ever giving up." Hill was also attacked by the dog while assisting the rider.

The dog's owner was present throughout the attack. Ms Harwin felt "the owner clearly didn't care; he didn't even apologize." Mr Hill said the owner spoke only to say "He hasn't done this before." He then proceeded to get into his car and "speed off".

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Details of the attack on Dancer are from Horse and Hound