Pit Bull Attacks and Dogfighting in Illinois: 04/01/2013

Galesburg Meet Liz Ellis: drowning your city in pit bulls

Liz Ellis is the adoption coordinator at the Kane County Humane Society (PAWC) which has a contract with Galesburg to take in local strays. Ellis loves pit bulls. I mean she just adores pit bulls. She even mentioned on her facebook page that she felt guilty that she counted a non-pit bull as one of her favorite dogs at the shelter one time.

Liz Ellis and Chris King of the Knox County Humane Society (PAWC)

She also seems to be good at adopting out dogs. Just recently she bragged that PAWC had not only adopted out all the local strays and drop offs that came to the Knox County Humane Society, by October 2012 they had "pulled" 73 dogs from other shelters in other areas, importing them into Knox county to be adopted out locally. And at the end of October, she was told to go pull some more.

How freaking cool is that? It depends on what kind of dogs Ellis imported into Knox county to be permanent canine residents. She chose Houston area strays! Many of 'em pit bulls!

Yep, Ellis loves pit bulls so much that she drove down to Houston to pick up some homeless pit bulls to bring back to Galesburg to adopt out. Houston, by the way, is known for its dogfighters, dogfighting, pit fighting dogs, strays, and sky high bite and attack statistics. Five people have been killed by pit bulls in the Houston area, two of those in 2011. Before this year, there are no recorded fatal pit bull attacks in Knox county, Illinois.

And man, such fast turn around for these Houston strays. December 17th this "male dominant" (meaning they know it will attack male dogs) stray named Big Boy is picked up.

And BOOM, December 19th this aggressive stray is in some lucky Galesburg neighborhood! Were the neighbors warned that Big Boy will attack their dogs?

And how about this one. This is a pit bull that fought another pit bull and lost part of its face.

For pit bull rescuers, the thing to do is call all dogs with fighting injuries "bait dogs" which makes everyone think those dogs were just scared and didn't want to fight, and the dogfighters threw them in with the nasty pit bulls and let them get beat up for practice.

But some pit bulls are just the losers. They're fighters, just not good enough fighters to win against the best pit bulls in the fighting pit. But even a second or third rate fighting dog is capable of killing anything living in Galesburg - including people. Who knows if he'll decide to chomp down on some easy target some day? We don't know. This pit bull was born and raised and fought by a dogfighter. It sustained gross injury and had been in the shelter system in Houston for a little while while recuperating, and then was picked up from Houston by Liz on December 17th with the other pit bulls and dogs and brought to Galesburg, IL.

About TWENTY FIVE DAYS later, we can see this fighting dog IN A GRADE SCHOOL in Galesburg with grade schoolers touching it.

Notice the tail is tucked which is a sign of fear. This pit has not been in a stable living experience long enough to even get its bearings. It has only lived in a house less than a month! In fact, three months after this photo was taken, Chase's owner notes that Chase has still not adjusted to life in a home, which is understandable.

Twenty five days is nowhere nowhere near long enough time for an abused and injured dog's true temperament and quirks to be known. And just forget about it being enough time for ANY dog to be to be trained and conditioned to be safe in a school with unfamiliar children touching it.

After Ryan Maxwell lost his life to a pit bull, Ellis and her co-worker at the Humane Society Chris King, displayed their true concerns.

Chris King, the PAWC medical coordinator/animal control, chose to make his sentiments known by placing an obsolete anti-BSL propaganda poster on his facebook page erroneously suggesting that pit bulls "only" kill three people year (try 23 in 2012). The message is that not very many people get killed by pit bulls, so it is it is just not big enough of a problem to even consider regulating who owns one. That is a downright bizarrely heartless message Chris King sends when just minutes away from him a family and their friends, and members of the same community are grieving, not for a statistic, but for the horrendous loss of their child whose name is Ryan Maxwell. Chris King shows no public concern about Ryan on his page, but shows concern that pit bulls might be regulated in the wake of Ryan Maxwell's death precisely because Ryan's death is insignificant.

Ellis had much to say before Ryan Maxwell was mauled to death. Here she is in January shaming someone for voicing the very thing that everyone in Galesburg now knows - interacting with a pit bull that is not on its best behavior can be fatal:

And then two weeks after Ryan Maxwell was killed, she brought her own pit bull to an elementary school for children to pet. Do you think she asked parents if they wanted their children to interact with a pit bull?

Less than a month after Ryan died, Ellis threw this poster up on her facebook page criticizing the parenting skills of anyone who dares to be concerned about her beloved but dangerous pit bulls. Why is she pointing fingers at parents right after parents lost their child minutes away from where she sits?

I know some people in Galesburg decided they didn't want their pit bull anymore. The following picture shows two things. One, this boy's parents did not want their pit bull back after it ran away after Ryan's death. Two, Ellis reveals yet another pit bull imported by her into the Galesburg area from elsewhere.

(Flame was indeed another pit bull offered by PAWC)

And if you look at oodle, you can clearly see that the major purveyor of pit bulls is Liz at the Knox County Humane Society (PAWC).

On April 23, Oodle market place had listings for a 24 individual dogs, 3 litters of puppies, and a listing from a puppy miller that offered several breeds in a 25 mile radius of Galesburg, IL. Of the 24 individual dogs listed, 13 were not pit bulls and 11 were pit bulls or pit bull mixes. Of the 11 pit bulls listed, all but one were being offered by Liz Ellis of the Knox County Humane society.

Collie - 1
yorkshire terrier - 1
english bulldog - 2
Boston Terrier - 1 litter
Pit bull terrier - 3 (contact Liz)
labrador retriever 2, 1 litter
staffordshire bull terrier (pit bull) 3 (contact Liz)
American Staffordshire Terrier (pit bull) 5 (contact Liz)
Siberian Husky - 1 litter
Jack Russell Terrier - 1
pit bull mix 2 (contact Liz)
Pug/beagle mix 1
Shepherd mix 1
Great Dane 1
mixed breed 1
Plott Hound 1
Jack Russell Terrier/Corgi mix 1
pit bull mix 1 - not liz
American Eskimos - puppy mill
Pomeranians - puppy mill
Mini Dachshunds - puppy mill
Norwegian Elkhounds - puppy mill

Galesburg does not seem to have a problem with pit bull backyard breeders in their area. How many of those pit bulls offered by the Humane Society have been imported into the area by Liz Ellis? It seems that Galesburg and Knox County are borrowing trouble when they don't have a problem with local back yard pit bull breeders. The priorities and goals of the Humane Society must be reevaluated. Put people first.

The time for action is now because if pit bull ownership and breeding becomes prevalent in Galesburg, the days of being able to adopt out all the local strays and owner surrenders are over. Along with rising bite and mauling statistics, Galesburg will experience a dog population explosion. Soon Galesburg's shelter will look like other shelters and city leaders will get regular reports from animal control begging for more money citing an "urgent need."

And for heaven's sake, the city of Galesburg should not take the word of pit bull advocates at face value that a ban cannot be put in place. Galesburg is a home rule city and they must seriously research their local power to ban or regulate pit bulls before taking that option off the table.

Read more:
Houston dogfighting
Houston area serious and fatal pit bull maulings
WHBF-TV

Towns all over Illinois are struggling with a dangerous dog problem that always amounts to a pit bull problem:
Apr 11, 2013 Bloomington pit bull attack prompts change in dangerous, vicious dog ordinance
Jan 30, 2013 Lake County defines "animal aggressive" as new category of dangerous dogs
It is Time, Elgin
Jul 13, 2012 Talk of the County Waukegan outlaw pit bulls
Jul 10, 2012 Waukegan woman’s canine companion killed by pit bull
Jun 23, 2012 Cary will look into dog bites
May 25, 2012 Carmi citizens want pit bull ban
May 21, 2012 Skokie considers stricter law after 3 pit bull-on-dog attacks
May 16, 2012 Bloomington may review pet registration law after pit bull attack
May 09, 2012 Waukegan approves pet ordinance
Feb 07, 2012 Family’s pet mauled by pit-bull type dog
Dec 20, 2011 Arlington Hgts. toughens penalties for dangerous animals following pit bull attack
Aug 08, 2011 Police want more teeth to proposed dangerous dog ordinance
Nov 16, 2010 Pit bull that inspired Machesney Park law faces euthanasia

Apr 18, 2013 Granite City pit bull kills sheltie mix

Granite City - A Granite City pit bull killed a sheltie mix owned and being walked by a man with mental disabilities The pit bull owner has only been issued a ticket for a loose dog.

File photo of Sheltie

Police responded to reports that an aggressive dog was attacking people. The loose pit bull had killed a mentally disabled man's sheltie mix and then attacked the sheltie owner when he picked up his mortally wounded sheltie. People threw bricks at the pit bull and it momentarily retreated.

When police arrived, the shaken sheltie owner who was injured and covered in blood, was screaming, "He killed my dog."

A patrolman shot the pit bull to protect the sheltie owner when the pit bull circled back aggressively. The pit bull was suffering after the first shot, so the officer fired again to put the pit bull out of its misery.

Police Chief Rich Miller defended the officers' actions, but expressed remorse that the pit bull was killed.

Chief Miller then attempted to normalize pit bull aggression and dangerousness by saying "Sometimes these things are accidents, the dog gets away" as if when other kinds of dogs get loose they kill small dogs in the presence of the victim's owner and then attack the owner.

Miller also said that the city has one or two dog attacks on people a year.

The pit bull owner was ticketed for a loose dog. The sheltie owner was taken to the hospital, treated and released.

Five years ago Granite City enacted a tougher dangerous dog ordinance after a horrible serial pit bull attack on two dogs. The ordinance mandates a special license for owners of dangerous and vicious dogs which requires the owner to provide proof of insurance, immunizations, veterinary care among other things. The dangerous dog owner must also provide photographs of the dangerous dog and pay a dangerous dog licence fee.

The city sanitation dept is to inspect the premises to verify adequate containment before the license is granted. And there are requirements the owner of the dangerous dog must follow.

Read more:
Municode - click on link and read chapter 6.20 VICIOUS AND DANGEROUS DOGS
dogsbite.org
BND Accessed: 2013-04-18. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6FzE1vdhu)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Accessed: 2013-04-19. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/6FzNyLc07)

Related posts:
Apr 13, 2013 Bloody Pit bull Tries to Maul a County Circuit Judge
Mar 18, 2013 Galesburg pit bull attacks golden retriever
Mar 23, 2013 Luciano: Peoria Pit bull kills yorkshire terrier
Sep 25, 2012 Dekalb pit bull kills dog - woman seeks stronger laws for dogs that attack pets
Sep 28, 2012 Pit bull Kills elderly miniature poodle; euthanized
Sep 13, 2012 Berwyn pit bulls attack woman, police officer and kill small dog

Sep 06, 2012 Dog Owner: 'Neighbor's Pit Bull Killed My Dog'

Aug 13, 2012 Family tries to recover after fatal attack on pet

Jul 10, 2012 Waukegan woman’s canine companion killed by pit bull

May 31, 2012 Godfrey pit bull only quarantined after 3 confirmed attacks

Apr 14, 2013 Victims of pit bull ask for tougher rules on vicious dogs

Macomb - An incredible story of animal control incompetence began when a pit bull bit another dog and was surrendered to a shelter. The dog was adopted out and then got loose and killed a leashed little dog in February 2012, but was allowed to stay with the owner who let it escape again in September 2012 when it attacked two people in their own yard. The pit bit a man on both his knees and bit the hand of a woman.

The pit bull was surrendered, deemed unadoptable, and banned from the county. It was taken to a shelter in neighboring Fort Madison, IA where it is reportedly was up for adoption again.

Victims of this pit bull want stronger measures for vicious dogs in McDonough county, increased fines for people who let their dogs run at large, and "greater scrutiny of certain breeds."

In response, animal control wants to do 15 minute temperament tests in the ridiculous belief that a 15 minute test can reliably ascertain if a dog will later show aggression.

Even if the dog fails the aggression test, they want to be able to "relocate" it - so people and pets in other communities can be maimed or killed.

Read more:
McDonough Voice Accessed: 2013-07-09. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/6Hzt9NWj1)

Apr 13, 2013 Bloody Pit bull Tries to Maul a County Circuit Judge

Alton - Two loose dogs one a pit bull, one a mix, which one attacks?

Judge Kyle Napp

Judge Kyle Napp vividly describes a harrowing encounter with a pit bull. She was saved from being mauled by pit bull that already had blood on its face by one of three men who came running to rescue her. The bloody pit bull took off after one of the the men.

The chase continued by car into the neighboring town of Godfrey before the dog were caught.

Napp, who founded the Madison County Child Advocacy Center, and is a dog lover was describes her experience:

"I am a dog lover and have three dogs of my own, but it was terrifying," said Madison County Circuit Judge Kyle Napp. "I am frightened to think what would have happened had those dogs run across a kid waiting at the bus stop."

Apr 11, 2013 Chicago Heights Pit Bull attacked

Chicago Heights - Police Blotter: Vicious dog: Bruce O'Neal, 308 N. Boston St., Chicago Heights, was charged with having an unvaccinated and dangerous dog after his pit bull attacked.

Southtown Star

Apr 11, 2013 Bloomington pit bull attack prompts change in dangerous, vicious dog ordinance

Bloomington - The pit bull attack that sent two people to the hospital last October, one of them for an extended stay and multiple surgeries, has prompted consideration of new dangerous and vicious dog ordinances. The goal is to prevent dog attacks.

To that end several changes are being considered:

The city would automatically recognize a dog as dangerous or vicious if another jurisdiction has already done so.
The city would place new requirements on owners of dangerous and vicious dogs who want to keep them.
A “dangerous” dog would be one that behaves in a threatening manner or, without justification, bites a person or other animal without injury.
A “vicious” dog would be one that bites without provocation or is known to attack or cause injury. A dog could risk euthanasia if it kills or severely injures a person or dog.
A dog could risk euthanasia if it kills or severely injures a person or dog; if it has rabies; or it has been declared vicious and is not kept under the conditions spelled out under the new rules.

Apr 06, 2013 Pit Bull Kills Yorkie Near UIC

Chicago - Winnie, a 6 pound yorkshire terrier, was mauled to death by a pit bull that raced up behind her and the man walking her with no warning. Winnie's owner tearfully spoke about how much she loved gentle Winnie whom she thought of as family.

RIP sweet Winnie and condolences to her heartbroken owner

A heartbroken and devastated Victoria Griffin watched the "the life leave from Winnie's eyes."

Griffin would like to see a community initiative to help ensure no other small, gentle dog is ripped to shreds in a foul and disgusting and completely needless death.

Commenter Tony Solesky sums up the problem:

Tony Solesky · Top Commenter · Perry Hall High School
The first step in taking owner responsibility is by what type of dog you choose. You cannot own a Pit bull no matter how skilled you are and call yourself a responsible owner. It is like not having your child in a carseat or buckled up because you are a well trained driver. Such a foolish concept - it is all in how you raise them. I guess it is all in how you drive then. Good dog breeds are good dog breeds no matter who owns them and safe cars are safe cars no matter who drives them. A good dog breed and a good owner are the only responsible combination. It even appears that this young women had a different view before she had a dose of reality. Now is not the time to kiss up to Pit bull owners. You just lost your beloved pet to a loose Pit bull. I never owned a dog that when it got loose it mauled or killed anything much less a child that found their way into my yard to retrieve a ball or someone elses loose dog. If you have to worry that if your dog gets loose or if a kid comes in your yard someone may die, something is wrong with you and your dog in that order.

Read more:
NBC Chicago 5 Accessed: 2013-04-08. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/6Fjp8hEly)

Related posts:
Mar 23, 2013 Luciano: Peoria Pit bull kills yorkshire terrier
Nov 16, 2012 Dog attacked by pit bull then fatally shot by police
Sep 25, 2012 Dekalb pit bull kills dog - woman seeks stronger laws for dogs that attack pets
Sep 28, 2012 Pit bull Kills elderly miniature poodle; euthanized
Sep 13, 2012 Berwyn pit bulls attack woman, police officer and kill small dog

Sep 06, 2012 Dog Owner: 'Neighbor's Pit Bull Killed My Dog'

Aug 13, 2012 Family tries to recover after fatal attack on pet

Jul 10, 2012 Waukegan woman’s canine companion killed by pit bull

Mar 27, 2012 Family Looking For Owner Of Pit Bull That Killed Their Pet

Oct 12, 2011 Ottawa: Man and dog attacked, pit bull shot