The Child is father of the Man . . .
William Wordsworth
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We will enter this story in medias res.
Anyone can find details of the attack on Mi'Kayja Oliver; it's not the details of this everyday pit bull attack that we find compelling.
What transforms this story from the ordinary into the heroic are the words and actions of Mi'Kayja and her friend Desiree Mitchell. Their courage and dignity during the attack on Friday, the 27th of April transform the story into an account worthy of literature.
In Desiree's words::
One grabbed one of the legs and the other grabbed the other leg and dragged her back into the yard. They bit her in the neck, in the back of the neck. Between the legs. On her legs. All up and down her arms. On her face.Desiree grabbed the dogs and tried to pull them off her friend. Failing that, she ran into the home of the pit bull owners and cried:
I told them that the dogs were attacking my friend. And they said, 'What dogs?' I said, the dogs that you're responsible for.
The owners hesitated, then finally came to Mi'Kayja's assistance. Natasha Oliver, Mi'Kayja's mother, commented:
Desiree was brave to try and pull those dogs off of her. She ran and told her parents, 'Dial 911. They're eating my friend. They're eating my friend.' She even came and told me.
What kind of person sees a child that needs help, that's being attacked, gruesome as that was, and you did nothing? It was your dogs and you did nothing? What kind of person are you?
My oldest, he's 15. He saw her on the ground, and he broke down and fell. He went into a seizure. He's never had a seizure before.When the dogs were taken away, her severed artery spilling blood, Mi'Kayja said what might have been her final words to her mother:
Mommy, I'm okay, I just need to go to the hospital.
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In a previous post, SRUV invited "Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society, Carter Luke of the MSPCA, Gregory Castle of Best Friends, or ANY director of an animal welfare agency" to comment on recent pit bull attacks.
We have yet to hear a whisper of sympathy for any of the human or animal victims of pit bull attacks, from ANY major national animal welfare agency. This eerie silence indicates a disconnect on a critical animal welfare issue.
SRUV once again extends the invitation to the animal welfare executives, and to other hyper-advocates such as Ledy VanKavage and Mike Markarian. If these leaders are to deserve the public's respect they must respond to the attacks in a meaningful way, rather than ignore them as they have. The animal welfare community needs to hear something other than This was a tragic accident. After ten thousand attacks, pit bull attacks are not an accident; they are endemic.
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News sources: WWLDT dot com, WDSU dot com and others.
See Also: Today's pit bull attacks in the US