Apr 26, 2016 Mattoon Pit Bull Deemed Dangerous After Biting 2nd Girl in Two Years

Mattoon - A pit bull that has bitten 2 girls in two years has been declared dangerous.  The owner, KATHY DAUBS, initially had said she would surrender the pit to be euthanized, but then changed her mind.

The pit bull bit the child when she was riding her bike down the street with her mother.  DAUBS claims that when the victim’s mother spoke some words it excited DAUBS’  pit bull so much that DAUBS lost control and allowed the pit bull to bite the child.

In 2014, the pit bull bit a 3-year old girl who was visiting with her mother.  When DAUBS opened the front door, the pit bull immediately bit her.

Commenters are outraged that a biting dog can stay with the owner and actually gets a third free bite before it can be removed and put down.  Another commenter said that the same pit bull had pinned her dog.

Read more:
Owner of dog that bit child to try to comply with county restrictions
County trying to have dog deemed dangerous

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Nov 12, 2010 Mattoon Woman Shaken After Pit Bull Kills Daughter's Chihuahua

Apr 25, 2016 Quad Cities Plastic Surgeon Urges Ban on Breeding of Pit Bulls

Davenport IA - Barb Ickes interviewed Dr. Benjamin Van Raalte, a plastic surgeon serving the Quad Cities after news of the large dog fight bust came out.  It is excellent.  Dr. Benjamin Van Raalte joins many other plastic surgeons, emergency doctors, trauma doctors and nurses in ringing an alarm about pit bulls.  It is time to listen to them!  Thank you Barb Ickes and Dr. Van Raalte!

'Every time a Quad-Citian was taken to the emergency room with a dog-bite wound, a plastic surgeon who was called to fix it asked about the breed.

During his 27-year career, Dr. Benjamin Van Raalte detected a trend.

"It wasn't until the pit bulls (became popular) that I started seeing the really vicious attacks," the Bettendorf plastic surgeon said Monday. "The worst pit bull mauling I ever saw was an incident in which a dog bit off the entire cheek of a 5-year-old boy."

Of the severe bites he has treated, Van Raalte estimates, more than half have been the result of a pit bull attack. The high number of serious injuries, along with the appalling and increasingly popular "sport" of dog fighting have convinced him the time has come for an all-out ban on pit bull breeding.

"I'm just saying it's time to stop breeding them," he said. "Yes, there are lots of lovable pit bulls. I'm not advocating putting down pit bulls.

"They're primarily bred for fighting. In 2016, we need to say we're done breeding pit bulls. It's primary purpose is to be a weapon. It's doing what it's supposed to do."

Despite insistence by many pit bull owners that their dogs never would bite, the breed often surprises them. Too often.

Just last week, a newborn baby was killed by a pit bull in California. The dog owners obviously loved and trusted the dog, because they had it in their bed with them and their 3-day-old son. When the dog was startled by a noise, it came into contact with and killed the baby, police said.

Although he wasn't commenting on the most recent death, Van Raalte said pit bulls sometimes simply do not know their own strength.

"When dogs are annoyed, they nip," he said. "Mom dogs nip at puppies. But puppy skin is loose, and they have fur.

"It's a leave-me-alone warning. When kids don't take note of the warning, their face is at dog level."

Other times, pit bulls are simply abiding by the hard-wired tendency of certain demonstrably aggressive terrier breeds. While many breeds of dog can be intolerant of other dogs, those bred to fight can do more damage than others.

Van Raalte has had experience with pit bulls outside the operating room. When his Shetland sheepdog was mauled by an off-leash dog at a Bettendorf park, his dog had to be stapled back together.

"And they (the dog owners) didn't offer to pay," he said. "They just high-tailed it out of there. When a pit bull clamps down on a person, it tears away the tissue."

Dog experts say that pit bulls do not have any special biting powers. The damage they do is attributable to their personalities. When they're onto something, they're committed.

"Even labs, as big as they are, don't do that kind of damage," Van Raalte said of his dog-bite experience. "The only time I had a bad lab bite, the dog turned out to be sick."

He is not the only one keeping statistics, of course. Regardless where you look, dogs identified as a type of pit bull are far and away the worst offenders when it comes to serious bites. They often are responsible for more serious injuries than all other breeds combined.

It is for the dogs' sake and ours that Van Raalte wants to see an all-out ban on future breeding.

"If you have 100 drugs that treat high blood pressure, and one of those drugs caused half the deaths, it would be taken off the market," he said.

Given the disproportionate number of deaths and injuries caused by pit bulls and the fact so many are bred to be fight-to-the-death gladiators, Van Raalte says it's time to move on.

"It's so disheartening," he said. "Victims and their families think, since a plastic surgeon is called, there will be no scar. I have to tell them there will be a scar.

"The dog fighting is cruel and unusual to the animals. There are a lot of other dogs out there — a lot of good choices.

"If we as dog owners don't figure out how to get rid of the bad actors ... it could get to the point you can't afford to have a dog because the insurance will be too high. Who wants that?"'

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Apr 25, 2016 Englewood Pit Bulls Shot, Killed After Attacking a Woman and Her Poodle

Chicago - While a growing number of news outlets around the country are starting to take the issue of pit bull attacks seriously, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Suntimes reporting is stuck in the “pit bulls before people” style.  The headlines in the two major local news outlets mentioned that pit bulls were shot by police without giving one hint about the people the pit bulls were menacing or attacking as if it were more important to know that pit bulls were shot than to know that pit bulls attacked and hurt people.

Fox 32 actually reported some facts, went to the scene and interviewed neighbors most of whom were glad the police got rid of the pit bulls.  The police were called because a woman walking her poodle were attacked, and she ran into a store for safety.  

We know that one pit bull was shot at the scene, the other ran away and then was found and shot dead.  We know no one was hurt.  We know that the pit bulls’ owner has not been found.   We don’t know if the surviving pit bull will be put down.  Most importantly, we don’t know how many pit bulls are shot by police in Chicago in a year.  We don’t know that other pit bulls weren’t shot by police on the very same day.  And we don’t know why this shooting ended up in the news and another one didn’t.

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Apr 15, 2016 Rock Island Pit Bull Dogfighting Ring Busted - Quad Cities Overburdened with Pit Bulls

Rock Island - A year long investigation led to a dogfighting bust in the Quad Cities.  The investigation involved U.S. Attorney's Office, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, Illinois State Police, the Rock Island County State's Attorney's and Sheriff's offices, the Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group, Moline Police, East Moline Police, Davenport Police and the Scott County Sheriff's Department.
File photo of a pit bull
The ASPCA has taken and is housing over 60 pit bulls.  Soon after the bust, local pit bull owners began voicing fears that their lost pit bulls had been stolen to become pit fighters.  The ASPCA accidentally let the truth slip out about what they know to be true about fighting dogs when they assured the public that the dogfighters probably did not take their backyard pit bulls.

ASPCA representatives confirmed that dogfighters prefer to BREED THEIR OWN PIT BULLS FROM SPECIFIC BLOODLINES because the qualities that make good fighting dogs the best killers that ever existed are genetically controlled and passed on.

Does that mean the neighborhood pit bulls won’t kill any poodle or kitten that they happen upon?  No.  Because even backyard bred pit bulls have in their pedigree hundreds of dogs that were selected to breed solely because that dog was the best at killing.  Backyard bred dogs are dangerous to normal dogs, cats and children even if they cannot win in the fighting pit.

Another truth about Quad City rescue pit bulls slipped out, as well.  Dogfighters in populous places have no need for a losing fighting dog, but the dogfighters don’t shoot them and try to hide the body like they do in the country.  Officials admitted that dogfighters in populous areas like the Quad Cities abandon the fighting pits on the street.  Many stray pit bulls in the Quad Cities are likely fighting bred and conditioned.

These stray fighting pit bulls are picked up and taken to shelters where they are put up for adoption in the community.  Although some pit bulls are losers in the fighting pit against other pits, they can and will kill any non-fighting breed dog, cat and even people with ease.

Three pit bulls were recently euthanized in Moline after they killed two Chinese Crested dogs in the victims’ own yard.  It was reported that investigators couldn’t figure out why the pit bulls killed dogs off property and unprovoked.  The answer is pit bull DNA.

A pit bull ban is the best choice for cities that have dogfighters and dogfighting problems.  If pit bulls are banned, stray pit bulls become conspicuous and will allow authorities to find the dogfigthers.  This is the exact problem that Pawtucket Rhode Island faced and a pit bull ban worked beautifully to stop the abuse of pit bulls and pit bull attacks until special interests forced Pawtucket to abandon the ban that saved pit bulls from being abused.

Rock Island and Moline are home rule cities and can enact BSL.  Illinois has one of the most liberal home rule laws in the nation. Although the Illinois General Assembly has the power to take a way home rule powers by a 3/5ths vote of both houses or to provide for the exclusive state exercise of a power by a simple majority vote of both houses, courts have reaffirmed that “implied preemption is not sufficient to strike down local, home rule regulations (Bolingbrook v Citizens Utility Co,1994); (Barrington Police Pension Fund v Barrington Ethics Baord, 1997)” and has authorized local ordinances that are contrary to state statues (Rozner v Korshak, 1973).


Read more:
More than 60 dogs, narcotics seized in QC dog fighting bust
ASPCA says it’s ‘unlikely’ the seized pit bulls were stolen family pets
Quad City Times

Related posts:
Mar 15, 2016 Three Moline Pit Bulls Kill Two Dogs and Injure Man
Jul 30, 2013 Knudsen on Pit bulls: It's not the training, it's the breeding
All posts about dogfighting in Illinois (over 48 posts)
Oct 26, 1910 Rock Island Visitor Bitten by Bulldog
Jul 20, 1910 Rock Island Bulldog Attacks and Bites Pedestrian
Jun 14, 1910 Rock Island Alderman McNealy Attacked by a Bulldog




Apr 14, 2016 Boulder Hill Pit Bull Shot to Stop Attack

Boulder Hill - A pit bull mix was shot in Suzan John Park to stop it from menacing a person and their leashed dog.  Deputies were called about the aggressive pit bull, but when they got there the pit bull had already been shot dead by man who witnessed the aggression from his window.

The pit bull had a history of getting loose, being aggressive and biting.

The pit bull owner previously had been cited for dog running at large and for no rabies tag.

Read more:
WSPY News

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Jun 28, 2015 Oswego Boy Bitten by “Boxer mix” on Prairie Path: Police
Mar 26, 2015 Oswego Pit Bull Attacks for the Third Time
Mar 26, 2015 Oswego Pit Bull Attacked Girl and Killed Dog
Jul 06, 2014 Oswego Pit Bull Escapes Home and Bites Someone
Jun 22, 2013 Kendall co Rescued Pit Bull Attacks Pony On Pony's Property

Apr 13, 2016 Aurora Pit Bull Attacked a Person and Her Dog in Park

Aurora - A pit bull mix with a history of aggression and biting was shot and killed Saturday afternoon in Susan John Park.
Aurora Doesn't Need Pit Bulls
According to the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office, at around 2:07 p.m. April 9, deputies were dispatched to the park, located at 29 Hampton Road in unincorporated Montgomery, for a report of a loose dog being aggressive toward a person and their leashed dog.
When deputies arrived, they found the dog has been shot and killed by a man who witnessed the altercation between the pit bull, person and other dog, police said.

“The person who shot the dog witnessed the aggression of the dog from his home near the park and interceded between the dog and the victim,” police said.

The man had a valid Illinois Concealed Carry License and immediately unloaded his firearm and turned it over to deputies, police said. There were no other injuries.
It was later determined that the dog had a history of aggression and biting, according to police. The sheriff’s office had investigated two previous incidents this year involving the dog. The dog’s owner had been cited twice for no rabies tag and received another citation for a dog running at large.

The dog had also been referred to Kendall County Animal Control for a bite during one of the previous incidents.
The incident is still under investigation.

Read more:
Aurora Patch

Related posts:
Dec 30, 2016 Aurora Township Pit Bull Attacked Deputy
Jul 08, 2016 South Elgin Pit Bull Busts Through Fence to Attack a Dog
Jun 14, 2016 Carpentersville Pit Bull Attack on Dog Inspires New Dangerous Dog Laws

Apr 12, 2016 Paris Pit Bull Attacks Child Going to School

Paris - A pit bull that was chained in the front yard of its house snapped its chain and attacked a girl on her way to school.  Zach Adams saw the girl was being attacked and saved the girl from the pit bull.  Adams was bitten as well.  The pit bull was owned by KATY D. CRAIG.

Both Adams and the girl went to the hospital to have their wounds attended.

Police chief Mike Henness said, “Unfortunately, we get this (kind of) call more often than we should. … Dog owners, for the most part, believe their dogs aren’t vicious.”  He also said that people should not chain their dogs in the front yard and that if people see dogs chained in the front yard or any other dangerous dog activity to call the police.

The head of the local animal shelter provided useless advice to deal with a pit bull attack.  The only safe way to deal with a pit bull attack is to make sure they never happen.

Read more:
Paris Beacon-News

Related Posts:
Dec 09, 2015 Alton Police Called to Remove Pit Bull Threatening Children
Mar 01, 2013 Romeoville cop shoots menacing pit bull mix to avoid attack at school

Apr 08, 2016 McHenry Pit Bull Attacks Guide Dog

McHenry - Adria Hanus is legally blind and took a walk with her guide dog named Cassie on March 29 when Cassie was attacked by a pit bull that SLIPPED OUT OF A PRONG COLLAR.
Illinois Pit Bull Attack Victims Adria Hanus and Cassie the Guide Dog
The pit bull latched onto Cassie’s neck and would not let go until the pit bull’s owner, TERRY BROCK, got the pit off Cassie.

The pit bull owner said the pit bull just wanted to play.  (It did: it wanted to play kill the dog)  Also, BROCK believes Cassie is at fault for growling at the pit bull flying at her.  That is to say, the pit bull owner is blaming Cassie for using instinctive, normal canine warning communication that is intended to avoid conflict.

Hanus has stopped taking walks out of fear and anxiety and does not know if Cassie will be able to go back to work as a guide dog again.

Meanwhile, the pit bull owners TERRY and MICHELLE BROCK are mouthing platitudes and making excuses and not acknowledging at all that they have cost a woman with a disability her freedom, sense of safety and security or that Cassie is not just a pet.  If Cassie is unable to work, I hope they’ll fork over the $20,000 it costs to replace her.

Read more:
Northwest Herald

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Sep 10, 2015 McHenry County Pit bulls That Attacked Dog, 2 People Return to Owner
Oct 12, 2014 Lawsuit: McHenry Former Mayor and Prominent Lawyer Attacked by Pit Bulls
Oct 08, 2011 Tom Loewy: Pit bull attacks on service dog must stop
Sep 03, 2011 Neighbor defends stabbing dog

Apr 04, 2016 Elgin Pit Bull Killed a Sweet Dog-Owner Cited

Elgin - In a horrific attack, a man was walking his son’s 7-year old Jack Russell terrier, Buddy, when a pit bull attacked and dragged Buddy off.  The man got into his truck to look for the pit bull and Buddy and found the pit bull standing over Buddy’s lifeless body.

Buddy was Killed by a Pit Bull
Elgin IL
Elgin Animal Control officers followed up on the incident and through canvassing the neighborhood was able to identify the pit bull mix dog and its owner, a resident on the 300 block of Waverly Court, police said.

Animal control issued the 19-year-old owner with citations for dog at large, biting and attacking, and vicious behavior. An adjudication hearing was set for May 4.

Elgin passed the ordinance in 2010 creating the designation of dangerous dog when a hearing officer or court at the request of the police department conducts an evidentiary hearing on the temperament of a dog.

To date, 83 dogs have been designated as dangerous dogs and 13 as vicious, or dogs that have bitten a person or another dog, according to city records.

Read more:
Elgin Courrier News

Related posts:
Mar 28, 2016 Elgin Fatal Pit Bull Attack on Buddy Update
Mar 25, 2016 Elgin Pit Bull Kills Leashed Jack Russell Terrier Unprovoked
2015 Elgin's Pit Bulls Still Attacking; Press Not Covering Them