Port Huron Official Blames the Victim

Revised: December 13, 2015; 20: 44 GMT
Revised: December 14, 2015; 20:15 GMT

"She climbed the fence and jumped in and basically subjected herself to the attacks, which constitutes a purposeful act."

   -- Dr Ljubisa Dragovic
       Chief Medical Examiner, Oakland County

Rebecca Hardy, d. December 3, 2015

On Wednesday, December 2, 4-year old Xavier Strickland was pulled from his mother's arms and mauled before her eyes by four pit bulls on Detroit's West Side. "They just ate him," said his mother later. On the following day 22-year old Rebecca Hardy was mauled to death in a Port Huron back yard.

There are few questions about the attack on Xavier; Geneke Lyons, the dogs' owner, has been charged with 2nd degree murder, manslaughter, and possessing dangerous animals causing death.

But no one saw Rebecca Hardy wander into a neighbor's fenced yard as evening was falling the next day. She may have been distraught. She may have been tipsy, disoriented, or simply thoughtless. She may have wanted companionship from what she took to be companionable dogs. She may have wanted a moment's respite from a difficult life. Whatever she was thinking, she entered the wrong back yard and was killed.

Because Rebecca's life was young and unsettled, her terrible death has been exposed to public scrutiny.

We do not know why Rebecca climbed over the fence (if she did), and neither does Dr Dragovic. But in statements made to the press the doctor referred to her death as a suicide. A British newspaper has labeled Dr Dragovic's statements "bizarre".^{1, 2}

Dr Dragovic claims to understand Rebecca's motives at the moment she entered the dog's back yard, even though she left no note and told no one. Somehow Dr Dragovic knows what the the 22-year old mother was thinking when she climbed over the fence. Dr Dragovic officially determined that Rebecca wanted the dogs to kill her by mauling her to death. There must be countless ways to commit suicide; choosing to have your body ripped apart by dogs must be the most horrifying and painful ways to accomplish it. People who want to end their lives do not choose to be eaten alive.

A neighbor noted that the dogs often ran free and were troublesome. Many believe that Rebecca could have been killed by pit bulls that escaped and pulled her back into their yard, under or through the poorly maintained fence, as happened the previous day to Xavier.³

Moveover, Dr Dragovic revealed elements of Rebecca's personal medical history to journalists. Who then published it. Dr. Dragovic broke a cardinal rule of the medical profession. He exposed private medical records to the scrutiny of the public.

It has been a long process but decades ago we learned to not blame victims of rape for being victims of rape. Victims of domestic abuse are often still blamed for being victimized. Now Dr Dragovic has added a new class of victims to those who are held accountable: victims of fatal pit bull attacks.

Only a thorough investigation will satisfy the public. Dr Dragovic should be censored by the Michigan Board of Medical Examiners and the Michigan Association of Medical Examiners. A public apology is also in order.

Postscript:
2015 marks the fourth consecutive year in which pit bulls have been involved in at least 30 human fatalities. Two of those deaths occurred on successive days this month in Michigan. The Michigan House of Representatives is currently considering a bill which would preempt Breed Specific Legislation in the state. Legislators who are closest to the fire often fail to recognize the cause of the fire, and the bill to preempt BSL may pass. Senate bill 239, a bill written to protect dangerous dogs, has been heavily promoted by pit bull advocacy groups. The results of the vote will not alter the groundswell of public opinion favoring public safety protections from pit bulls.

* * * * *
Opinion:

Pit bull crisis growing; victims need help
   by Joan Kowal
   December 20, 2015; Lansing State Journal

Laws to protect pit bulls would prevent attacks
   By Teresa Chagrin, PETA
   December 15, 2015; Port Huron Times Herald

Time for Detroit to ban pit bulls
   By Jack Lessenberry
   December 15, 2015; Windsor Star

Pit bull attacks are not a racial issue
   by Joan Kowal
   December 13, 2015; Port Huron Times Herald

Pit bull-type dogs have no place in civil society
   by Lori Welbourne
   December 11, 2015; Detroit News

Pit bulls were never meant to be household pets
   by Lori Welbourne
   December 8, 2015; Port Huron Times Herald

Detroit should adopt pit bull ban it didn't 9 years ago
   By Rochelle Riley
   December 5, 2015; Detroit Free Press

Let local laws determine how to reduce dog attacks, restrict breeds
   by Mia Johnson and Joan Kowal
   December 4, 2014; MLive

Notes:
¹   Death of mother, 22, who was mauled in pit bull attack is bizarrely ruled a SUICIDE as medical examiner says she climbed into their enclosure on purpose to get mauled; December 10, 2015; Daily Mail
²   Correction: Dr Dragovic's finding that Rebecca Hardy's death was suicide may, in a clinical sense, be accurate. In a purely forensic sense, suicide means simply that the death was not of natural cause, occurred through the actions of the victim, and no one else caused it to occur. However, Dr Dragovic also refers to Ms Hardy's motivations, which none of us are privy to. His public announcements are misleading, inflammatory, and caused unnecessary pain for Ms Hardy's family. Moreover, they have exacerbated a highly sensitive issue.
³   Pit Bull attacks are not a racial issue, Times Herald, December 13, 2015

Sources:

Bullet grazes Michigan State Police dog as troopers stop pit bull attack
   December 15, 2015; MLive

Officials say dog attack is suicide
   December 10, 2015; Port Huron Daily Tribune

Michigan woman's mauling death from pit bulls' attack ruled a suicide
   December 10, 2015; Cleveland.com

Family of woman killed in dog attack says it was not suicide
   December 9, 2015; Fox2 News

Mother mauled by dogs had history of suicide attempts
   December 9, 2015; Detroit Free Press

Woman subjected herself to dog attack
   December 9, 2015; Port Huron Times Herald

FATAL PIT BULL ATTACK
Fatal Pit Bull Attack Is 2nd This Week
   December 4, 2015; Deadline Detroit

Woman, 22, dies from pit bull attack after she was found in backyard of home with extensive injuries to her face and neck
   December 4, 2015; Daily Mail

FATAL PIT BULL ATTACK
‘They just ate him,’ mom says about dog attack on son
   December 4, 2015; Detroit News

North Huron grad dies from injuries after pit bull attack in Port Huron
   December 4, 2015; Huron Daily Tribune

Man attacked by his pit bull mix, had severe facial, head injuries
   November 28, 2015; MLive

Yorkie killed in dog attack, animal control officer threatened
  November 19, 2015; Fox 2 Detroit

City asked to reconsider eliminating breed-specific dog ordinance
   November 12, 2015; Hastings Banner

Sheriff: pit bull kills Yorkie
   November 11, 2015; Traverse City Record-Eagle

Dog fight ends with hound mix dead, man injured
   November 9, 2015; Hometown Life

Boy bitten by 2 pit bulls; Dogs reportedly got loose during fight
   November 6, 2015; The News Herald

Pit bull rehab: Former fighting dogs find homes in Detroit
   October 24, 2015; CBC News

Amid criticism, Detroit Animal Control makes effort to save more dogs' lives
   October 20, 2015; MLive

31 'pitbull-type' dogs seized, 276 charges pending in alleged dog-fighting ring
   October 14, 2015; CBC News

2-year-old boy bitten by pit bull in Detroit
   September 27, 2015; ClickonDetroit

Police remove pit bull after it bites owner, kills dog
   September 21, 2015; HomeTownLife

Girl requires plastic surgery, up to 75 stitches following pitbull attack
   September 16, 2015; Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Pit bull to be euthanized after attacking two dogs, killing one
   September 11, 2015; News Herald

Pit bull killed after attacking lawn service employee
   September 10, 2015; Lansing State Journal

(September 2, 2015; unreported attack on Alecia Finch covered on Sept 16)

Oakland County Sheriff’s Office: Pit bull seized after biting deputy in Pontiac
   August 31, 2015; Oakland Press News

Suspect's pit bull attacks Sheriff K-9 during arrest
   August 13, 2015; MLive

Parents speak out day after daughter is mauled by neighbor's dog
   August 8, 2015; Fox 2 Detroit WJBK

Girl, 9, bit by pitbull-type dog, Warren police say
   August 8, 2015; Detroit Free Press

9-year-old attacked by pit bull in Warren
   August 7, 2015; Fox 2 Detroit WJBK

Girl, 9, injured in pit bull attack
   August 7, 2015; Detroit News

* * * * *
Statistics:

Statistics quoted on SRUV are from the nation's authoritative source for current dog attack statistics, the 32+ year, continuously updated Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada.

View or download the current PDF

Dog Bite Studies Index
   Dogsbite.org

Today's pit bull attacks
   Google News

This page may also include information from Dogsbite & Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

Definitions:
SRUV uses the definition of "pit bull" as found in the Omaha Municipal Code Section 6-163. As pit bulls are increasingly crossed with exotic mastiffs, Catahoula Leopard Dogs and other breeds, the vernacular definition of "pit bull" must be made even more inclusive.

Sources cited by news media sometimes refer to "Animal Advocates" or sometimes "Experts." In many cases these words are used to refer to single-purpose pit bull advocates who have never advocated for any other breeds or species of animals. Media would be more accurate to refer to these pit bull advocates as advocates of fighting breeds.

Similarly, in many cases pit bull advocates refer to themselves as "dog lovers" or "canine advocates" and media often accepts this usage. The majority of these pit bull advocates are single-purpose advocates of fighting breeds.


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Should Pit Bulls Be Trained As Police K9s?

Revised: December 7, 2015; 17:14 GMT
Revised: December 8, 2015; 02:41 GMT

Kiah, a pit bull rescued from an Austin animal shelter, has been accepted as the new K9 officer by the Poughkeepsie NY police department. According to the Associated Press article by David Klepper, Kiah will be used to detect drugs and track missing people.

Brad Croft of San Antonio-based Universal K9 was paid by the Animal Farm Foundation to facilitate the transfer of Kiah from an Austin animal shelter to the Poughkeepsie Police Department. "The breed isn't important" for a police K9, said Mr. Croft.

 Mr Croft is dead wrong.

* * * * *

The feats of scent tracking dogs have become legendary. A bloodhound named Nick Carter is frequently cited as the archetype of the trailing bloodhound. Born in 1900, Nick Carter was owned and handled by Captain G.V. Mullikin of Lexington, Kentucky; he is credited with more than 650 finds, including one that required him to follow a trail 300 hours old (12 days). Sleuth hounds are known to have been used as early as 1307, when the English pursued the Scottish patriot Robert the Bruce.

K9 training is a rigorous, time-consuming and comprehensive process for both the dog and the handler. K9 candidates begin training as early as 10 weeks of age. Obedience training is essential for the dog's safety, for maintaining order at staging areas, for professionalism in law enforcement, and for providing good relations with the public.

Trainees also require socialization and agility training 2 to 5 times a week with each session lasting from 10 to 60 minutes. Scent training for Search and Rescue (SAR) K9 candidates takes place 3 to 7 times per week for 5 to 30 minutes. Scent training frequency decreases over time to 3-5 times/week but the length of each session increases to 20–60 minutes per session.

The pit bull Kiah's early training is unknown, but it is most unlikely that she received obedience training in the months or years before she came to the Austin shelter. Mr Klepper does not tell us how long Kiah trained for her position with Poughkeepsie's K9 unit.

Statue of Hansen, the 7-yo Belgian Shepherd (Malinois) who worked tirelessly at Ground Zero. In 2011 the original statue in Lindenhurst, Long Island, was vandalized beyond repair. The rebuilt memorial was re-dedicated on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

 Hansen died in 2004 at the age of eleven.

* * * * *

In the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center Search and Rescue (SAR) dogs like Apollo (German Shepherd), Bretagne (Golden Retriever), and Jake (Black Labrador), among hundreds of other dogs, worked 12 to 18 hour shifts under hazardous conditions. Dogs selected as police K9s, SAR, or scent tracking dogs must be capable of working without interruption under harsh conditions until their task is completed. As described below, these dogs must be friendly while also being high drive dogs:

Although most SAR dogs belong to working, herding, retrieving, or sporting breeds, dogs of numerous breeds, including mixed breeds, can be successful in SAR work. Important characteristics in a potential SAR dog are termed hunt drive, prey drive, and ball drive. A dog with high hunt drive will search for a hidden toy for prolonged periods without giving up or turning to the handler for assistance. A dog with high prey drive enjoys the chase and will enthusiastically pursue a person who runs away to hide or chase a toy that is dragged behind a handler. A dog with high ball drive is one in which a toy is extremely important, and the dog will play with and pursue the toy to the exclusion of any distractions. These qualities help predict the willingness and ability of a dog to search unendingly for a victim until he or she is found.¹

The distinction between hunt, prey, and ball drive, as described above, requires close scrutiny when considering pit bulls as K9s. Greyhounds have a high prey drive -- for rabbits and other small furry creatures; otherwise they are indolent and extraordinarily gentle dogs, until they race. Rat Terriers have a high prey drive -- for rats. But the prey drive associated with pit bulls, otherwise known to aficionados of the breed as gameness, is erratic. Prey drive in pit bulls is meant to be directed toward killing other dogs in a fighting pit, but is too often misdirected toward our More Vulnerable Animal Companions, or worse, toward a human. There is no evidence that the pit bull's prey drive, i.e. gameness, is a trait that can be put to use in a positive way. It is impossible to understand how a dog with this kind of prey drive would be a suitable candidate for police work.

Sirius d. September 11, 2001
Sirius and Sgt David Lim served as the Explosive Detector Team for the World Trade Center.

* * * * *

In addition to the innate problematic behavioral characteristics of the pit bull, there are physiological characteristics that make pit bulls unlikely candidates for tracking or trailing dogs. Detection, sniffing, and SAR dogs depend on an extraordinary sense of smell.

A recent study states that "the phenotypic difference among breeds in scenting ability may be a function of differences in available olfactory epithelial surface area."²  In other words, brachycephalic breeds -- dogs which have been bred with shorter muzzles -- have a smaller olfactory epithelial surface area.

[Click images to enlarge.]

Recent studies show that breeding for short muzzles has a cascading negative effect on a breed's sense of smell. Not only is there less olfactory surface area, but the olfactory lobe in the brain itself has diminished capacity:

The dogs with the shortest skulls—such as the pit bull and Akita showed significant brain reorganization. It was found that when selective breeding by humans shortened the snouts of certain dog breeds, it also morphed their brains to compensate. The whole brain was shown to have rotated thus relocating the olfactory lobe towards the bottom of the skull. This has sacrificed the sensitivity of some breeds sense of smell somewhat and it is for this reason that bulldogs are no good at tracking!
   Balance Behaviour, 19 Savile St, Emley, HD8 9RX UK

The Chien de Saint-Hubert, the likely ancestor of the bloodhound, was first bred in 1000 AD by monks at the Saint-Hubert Monastery in Belgium. In the ensuing millennium breeders have been selecting for ever better scent trailing dogs. The pit bull, on the other hand, was bred during recent centuries as a fighting breed, with negative consequences for the breed's sense of smell.

It is difficult to understand why any police department would knowingly choose as a "sniffing" dog a breed known to have diminished capacity,

It is impossible to understand why Poughkeepsie would accept the risk of using a pit bull, the type of dog known to have killed roughly 30 humans a year over the last five years, when there are numerous breeds which excel at K9 work without the enormous risks associated with pit bulls.

Poughkeepsie's decision to accept Kiah as a K9 is a disgraceful public relations gimmick by the Animal Farm Foundation.

* * * * *
Notes:
¹   Search-and-rescue dogs: an overview for veterinarians
     By Katherine E. Jones, et al.
     JAVMA, Vol 225, No. 6, September 15, 2004
²   op. cit.

The vomero nasal illustrations for both the German Shepherd and the Pit Bull are based on the diagram found in The Anatomy and Physiology of Animals.

This is the second post in a series about Poughkeepsie's pit bull K9. See also the first post, Poughkeepsie's New K9.

Sources:
Pit bull police dog defies breed's savage stereotypes
   by David Klepper
   November 13, 2015; Associated Press

Rescued pit bulls fight stigma by guiding people in need
   by Sue Manning
   February 11, 2015; Associated Press

See Also:
K9 & Service Dog Resources

Useful Wikipedia Pages:
[Note: Pit Bull advocates have infiltrated numerous Wikipedia pages, including some of the following.]
Search and Rescue, Detection (Sniffer) Dogs, Nosework, Tracking Dogs, Police Dog, Sleuth Hound, Bloodhound, K9

Resources:
The Problem with Pit Bull Service Dogs
   February 12, 2015; Craven Desires

How the Americans with Disabilities Act has become the “Pit Bull Pushers Act”
   July 3, 2015; Animals 24-7

Service and Therapy Pit Bulls that turned pit bull
   September 16, 2014; Daxton's Father

LawDogsUSA, Pit Bull Detection Dog Program, Shuts Down
   November 5, 2008; Dogsbite

Recent NY Fatal Pit Bull Attacks:
Infant dies following dog mauling in Deansboro
   November 16, 2015; WKTV
Pit bull mauls 9-year-old girl to death on Long Island
   November 9, 2016; New York Daily News

Statistics:

Statistics quoted on SRUV are from the nation's authoritative source for current dog attack statistics, the 32+ year, continuously updated Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada.

View or download the current PDF

Dog Bite Studies Index
   Dogsbite.org

Today's pit bull attacks
   Google News

This page may also include information from Dogsbite & Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

Definitions:
SRUV uses the definition of "pit bull" as found in the Omaha Municipal Code Section 6-163. As pit bulls are increasingly crossed with exotic mastiffs, Catahoula Leopard Dogs and other breeds, the vernacular definition of "pit bull" must be made even more inclusive.

Sources cited by news media sometimes refer to "Animal Advocates" or sometimes "Experts." In many cases these words are used to refer to single-purpose pit bull advocates who have never advocated for any other breeds or species of animals. Media would be more accurate to refer to these pit bull advocates as advocates of fighting breeds.

Similarly, in many cases pit bull advocates refer to themselves as "dog lovers" or "canine advocates" and media often accepts this usage. The majority of these pit bull advocates are single-purpose advocates of fighting breeds.


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