Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Alleged Pit Bull Attacks at Magnuson

A flier was being handed out by a woman at Magnuson the last few days after alleged recent pit bull attacks.

COLA (Citizen for Off-Leash Areas) in Seattle issued an urgent message to its members and wider community regarding the recent alleged pit bull attacks at Magnuson Park.

The first attack was reportedly on September 25th around 11:30am at the beach. Apparently the owner of the pit bulls just stood and watched the dogs being attacked. And after some time, the man called the dogs off. But the boxer died at the vet two hours later and a terrier also involved survived but is reportedly severely injured.

And there was a 2nd attack allegedly this past Friday. A man was out with his two huskies and the pit bulls attacked the older adult husky. The owner was able to pull the pit bulls off his dog, but the dog has a broken leg. It was reported that again the owner of the pit bulls just watched.

The description given of the owner of the dog involved is a white male early in his early 20's with heavily tatooed arms and shaved head. Apparently he was with a white female also in her early 20's with a medium to heavy build and long brown hair.

The dogs involved were three pit bulls, one white or gray, one brindle and one brown one.

Their car is described as a very old silver pick up truck with damage to the right rear.

Call 911 or animal control at 286-7387 to report any suspicious behaviour.

And COLA gives some suggestions for staying safe at the park - "1) put COLA numbers in your cell phone 2) keep moving rather than standing around chatting 3) stay close enough to one other dog walker to yell for help if you need it and 4) don't stay at the beach alone or just with one other person. (This man might)BE TRAINING HIS PITTS FOR FIGHTING BY COMING TO THE PARK."

Here are the rules for off-leash areas.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

These attacks may be true but why are there no complaints filed with animal control on these incidents? Don't vets have to report such incidents?

Anonymous said...

vets do not have to report such incidents bc there was no human injured. animals are seen as property and if the owner does not want medical records released then that's how it goes.

Anonymous said...

I spoke with Donald Baxter, Animal Enforcement at Seattle Animal Control. He said they don't take anonymous reports - that reports have to come from victims and witnesses and have to be accompanied by their names and contact information so that they can be subpoenaed to testify in criminal trial. Perhaps victims and witnesses are unwilling to be seen by the pitbull owner for the reason of their personal safety and unwilling to testify. This gets in the way of effective enforcement. But put yourself in the shoe of someone who had terrifiying encounter with the pitbull owner/s. You can appreciate the dread.