Pit Bull Attacks and Dogfighting in Illinois

Jun 24, 2014 Wilmette Pit Bull Attacked 13 Year Old Whippet

Wilmette - Police issued local ordinance tickets to Marcin Wysocki, 32, of 3264 Sprucewood Ave., for having an unlicensed dog and for having a dog which bit another dog, following a June 13 incident at that address. Police said a Wilmette resident told them she had been walking her 13-year-old whippet in front of Wysockiʼs address, when a 4-year-old bull terrier ran out of the open garage, racing for her dog. The woman lifted her pet up into her arms, but the bull terrier was still able to bite her dogʼs hind end. She took her dog to a veterinarian, and he eventually received nine stitches to repair the damage of the bite.

Wilmette Life

Jun 24, 2014 Mount Vernon Pit bull attacked a 9-year-old neighbor boy

Mount Vernon - A dog bite incident remains under investigation following an incident Saturday at 15 Cottage St. Susan Wolfe reported that her 9-year-old son, Anthony Wolfe, had been bitten by a neighbor’s Pit Bull.

Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mount Vernon
This town doesn't need pit bulls

Mrs. Wolfe told Mount Vernon Police Officer Jeremiah Armstrong that a neighbor’s dog ran into her yard and bit her son while he was playing in his yard. Anthony was said to have holes in his shirt and shorts plus a puncture wound on his upper right leg.

Read more:
Mount Vernon News

Related posts:
Sep 21, 2009 Two Mt. Vernon Pit Bulls Invade Store
Apr 22, 2008 Mt. Vernon Pit Bull Escapes and Tries to Attack Children

Historical posts:
May 08, 1911 Mount Vernon Bulldog kills 4 year old boy

Jun 23, 2014 Norridge Pit bull Escapes Fenced Yard Attacks Dog and Owner

Norridge - Vincenzo Recchia, 46, of 4900 N. Chester Ave., Norridge, was cited after police said his pit bull attacked another dog on Chester Avenue and Ainslie Avenue June 11 at 10:12 a.m. Police said Recchia left his dog in the gated backyard of his home and it somehow escaped and attacked the dog while it was being walked by its owner. Recchia was cited for having no village-issued license tag for his dog, no proof of rabies vaccinations and for not having the dog on a leash. The owner of the dog that was bitten was also treated to a bite on her hand, police said.

Read more:
Norridge-Harwood Heights News

Jun 19, 2014 Peoria Pit Bull Bites One Man and Menaces Another Before Being Shot by Police

South Peoria - Loose pit bulls caused a disruption on the 2100 block of West Howett st. on Wednesday. One man drove away from his home rather than confront the pit bulls, another man was bitten and chased onto a car and a third man was chased on his bicycle. Police were forced to shoot one of the pit bulls when the pit bull menaced them. Police had to maintain the area, telling children they must go inside to safety until animal "services" could get there to contain the animals.

A South Peoria man was driving in the 2100 block of West Howett Street shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday when he saw two pit bulls in his front yard, according to a report on the incident.

The man decided to drive around the block one more time to wait for the dogs to leave. When the witness came back to his house, the larger of the two pit bulls had bitten a man in the hand, drawing blood. The man who had been attacked climbed on top of a car to escape the dog’s charges, and the two pit bulls began to chase another man on his bike.

Interestingly, Peoria has no animal control. They have Peoria County Animal Protection Services that is a collaboration between the Humane Society and Peoria county Veterinary Medical Assoc. with no mission statement to protect the public. They state they will "enforce state, county and city animal control and welfare laws, consistent with [each] city's level of contractual service." Giving animal control duties to humane societies is the equivalent of turning policing duties over to social services organizations. Both animal cops and humane services are important and should work together, but they are not the same and it is dangerous to forget this. We need animal control with a stated purpose to protect people and animals from dangerous animals and irresponsible owners.

Under "How To Report Animal Bites" there is this interesting paragraph:

"Even if an attack can be explained (the pet was scared, the child stepped on the pet's tail, the pet is afraid of people in uniform), it can rarely be excused. If your pet shows serious aggression that professional help cannot cure, do not give the pet to someone else - least of all, someone who wants a "mean" pet. Pets obtained for purposes that make aggression a "desirable" trait almost invariably lead miserable lives. They are also likely to attack someone else in the future. Giving your pet away will only perpetuate the problem. And, you could be liable if your pet bit another person after you've given it away. If you feel you must give up your pet, call Peoria County Animal Protection Services."

Jun 08, 2014 Homer Glen Bans Vicious Dogs After Cane Corso and Pit Bull Attacks

Series of attacks prompts residents to petition for proposed ordinance

Homer Glen - The village didn’t have a vicious dog ordinance so when a cane corso killed Kathy Schubert’s miniature schnauzer named Buddy, the county animal control just gave the killer dog right back to the owners JEAN and THOMAS HART.

Schubert proposed an ordinance to ban dangerous and vicious dogs. It turns out that her Buddy had been attacked by another of JEAN and THOMAS HART’S vicious dogs. And other neighbors had their dogs attacked by loose pit bulls. Schubert gathered 60 signatures supporting her proposal.

The village passed that ordinance. It will not keep pit bulls and cane corsos from attacking.

Schubert says she has to go to weekly counseling to get over her loss of buddy.

Read more:
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune

Jun 06, 2014 Southern Illinois woman Sentenced for 2010 pit bull attack

Bush - TANYA HOLLAND was sentenced to spend 30 weekends in jail for a 2010 savage and gruesome pit bull attack on five year old Winston Bankston who was life flighted to a St. Louis children's hospital and put in an induced coma.

After the 30 weekends, HOLLAND will be on probation for 30 months and not be allowed to own dogs until her probation is over.

Read more:
The Republic
WSIL

Related Posts:
Aug 07 2010 Pit Bulls Attack 5 Year Old Winston Bankston

Jun 06, 2014 Same Granite City Pit Bulls climb another fence and kill yet another dog

UPDATE: Madison county animal control confirms that the less aggressive of the two pit bulls that have been on a months long killing rampage was put down. Animal control wants to declare the other pit bull "dangerous" so that it has ample opportunity to kill a few more beloved pets before they euthanize the more aggressive mauler.

Granite City - Two pit bulls that have escaped owners' yard repeatedly attacked and killed up to 11 other pets, have killed again.

RIP Antoine

This time they leaped a fence to kill a 13 year old black toy poodle named Antoine in his own fenced yard.

The dogs are now impounded and it is not known if authorities will seek to have the dogs declared dangerous. Despite all the kills these maulers have racked up already, authorities don't believe they've killed enough yet to go ahead with a vicious dog hearing. Perhaps they're waiting for a child to be killed.

Family of the previous three victim dogs, who are pit bull lovers, have said frequently said that its not the pit bulls' fault, as if laying blame on the dogs is the point at all. They are content to mouth the platitude that owners should be responsible, and are seemingly oblivious to the fact that if the owners of the dead chihuahua mixes or Antoine, the latest fatality, had been irresponsible and let their dogs run loose, those dogs would have killed nothing. They are also oblivious to the fact that even responsible owners have an off moment, and it is unacceptable to keep animals that, when they escape, are determined and only want to kill in residential neighborhoods.

Antoine's mourning owners do feel the situation is ridiculous and needs to stop.

Read more:
Fox 2 Now
Fox 2 Now

Related posts:
May 21, 2014 Granite City Pit Bulls Responsible for 11 Pet Attacks and DeathsApr 18, 2013 Granite City pit bull kills sheltie mix
Jan 20, 2008 Pit bull attack in Granite City could lead to change in ordinance
Madison Co. pit bull attacks and government indifference and inaction