Fight over euthanizing dog that fatally mauled a person

[Virginia_Horse_Mom]

Who knows what the issue is.

But… what does seem clear is that despite someone claiming that they have decades of “fixing” physical and behavioral issues in horses and dogs…

their dog seems to still require extreme measures to manage it whenever they go out of town.

So it doesn’t sound like issues have really been resolved?

If we take that thought back to the context of the original story… and apply it to a dog that viciously attacked and killed a 95 year old woman…

How can anyone be sure their “rehabilitation” program really worked, and the dog will never try to attack and kill somebody again? Is 50% better really ok for a dog like this? What if it gets loose and roams?

And therein lies the problem, and the reason why any dog that kills a person like this in an unprovoked attack must be euthanized. The risk of a second tragedy is too uncertain and too great.

[Mosey_2003]

I think we need to be euthanizing a lot more animals.

Hate me if you want, but

[DownYonder]

As my hubby astutely commented one day - “Just because you know how the dog got rabies does not absolve you of your responsibility to terminate it.”

Life isn’t always fair. Sometimes we have to put on our big girl panties and DO THE RIGHT THING no matter how much it pains us emotionally. I firmly believe there are worse fates than euthanasia. Living a life of pain, fear, dread, high anxiety - it’s bad enough that we expect humans to suffer through those conditions but it isn’t fair to expect it of animals, esp. when we have the ability to give them a quick and relatively pain free end.

[Simkie]

@DownYonder

Life isn’t always fair. Sometimes we have to put on our big girl panties and DO THE RIGHT THING no matter how much it pains us emotionally.

Hear hear!

I also feel like there’s a base level of behavior that is required for life. Dogs have to not kill people. Or even be biters–it’s just too dangerous and risky that those animals will do real, serious harm. That risk of harm means they don’t get to be alive.

This dog even had a bite history, which I don’t think has even been discussed here? How on earth is a dog that’s had a bite history, then progressed to actually killing someone, still alive years later? And why is anyone fighting so hard to keep him alive.

This whole thing seems to just be a massive pissing match, rather than about what really is good for the dog or the people around him. For shame.

[Bearx2]

@OverandOnward

Maybe this is really a fight over a politically-connected couple with the resources to drag out a fight with a gov’t authority.

I think you hit the nail on the head with this statement. I think they are so busy trying to prove a political point they are losing sight of what’s best for the dog.

[Angela_Freda]

Euthanasia is not the worst thing that can happen to an animal, not by a long shot.
Chronic pain, while being worked no less… and a myriad of lesser abuses we see on the regular come to mind.

A dog that kills anyone is a no for me.
There are far too many nice dogs being put down because there are no homes for them for this.
How many nice, friendly dogs could have been housed til they could have found homes using the resources put into this one? Yikes.
.

[Angela_Freda]

@Simkie

“She pointed to her rescued racehorses as an example of her work with aggressive animals, considering them to be truly dangerous.”

The ones I’ve known who were dangerous, beyond the care one must take with any large flight animal, were mostly stallions being rehabbed and in quite a bit of pain, kept on stall rest and did I mention stallions?
This person sounds like a loon.

[enjoytheride]

@Demerara_Stables

Yeah, I agree with what you are saying but to play devil’s advocate, it’s hard to say that the bites were down to the bone and muscle was exposed without knowing what the pre-existing injury was.

Regardless of the bites, even if the dog just knocked her down and she hit her head, the dog is still responsible for her death. Maybe I didn’t read far enough in the article, but I don’t see anywhere where her actual cause of death was determined or shared.

People do not visit wound management care for wounds exposed to the bone. They are in the hospital. Wound management is for minor persistent wounds on people who have trouble healing. The only differing accounts are from the owners, the autopsy and eye witness clearly prove the dog attacked and killed the woman.

[skydy]

At least some people are being held responsible for their incredible negligence.

San Antonio couple sentenced to jail for deadly mauling of Ramon Najera

[Seagram]

That poor dog. He has no quality of life living in a kennel, (was it 5 years now?). Hubris on the part of his owners, and the person offering to take him. And that poor elderly lady, being mauled to death, I don’t understand how anyone could defend the idea that the dog shouldn’t be put down!!
And the idea that a previous wound would have instigated the attack is ludicrous! I have two giant beasts, and when I have any injuries (invariably because I am a klutz and…horses) their go to is to try and lick me clean, to help me heal, not maul me!
I would not hesitate for a moment to put down a dog, if anything like this ever happened.

[risuenaVT]

One social media algortihm has recently been feeding me posts from an animal rescue. And initially, I enjoyed the posts - showing how they caught the animals and rehabilitated them and how in best case scenarios, they were able to find new homes for the animals. They’re also not out there putting ‘please donate so we can save this animal!’

At first glance, it seemed like a rescue that was somehow threading the needle of helping difficult cases without being manipulative and pulling on all the heart strings with “please donate or else!”

Then there was a post about their own person animal standing guard over a couple of other animals as they died, which made me wonder whether this rescue believes in euthanasia or not. The rescue is not in the US and also not in an English speaking country, so there could certainly be different mores and laws at play.

But I will never ever be able to support a rescue that is not willing to euthanize. Because sometimes euthanasia is the right choice for the animal and everyone else, including other animals around it. Rarely an easy choice. But sometimes the right choice, and it needs to be available as a choice.

And for this particular story? The way the owners of the dog said that they would normally be there to make sure the woman got into the house safely, and how they’d shut the dog away from her, makes it seem like they knew this dog was potentially dangerous. And also makes me skeptical of everything they have claimed since the attack.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Yes, to all of this. Spot on.