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SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — A Southaven Animal Shelter employee and animal control officer are recovering from dog bite wounds Tuesday. Southaven Animal Shelter Director Perry Mason confirmed the dog attack happened Saturday, and one of the workers has remained in the hospital. Mason said the shelter employee opened up a pitbull’s kennel to clean it and feed him. “He grabbed her leg and just would not let go,” Mason said. An officer who was working ran to help.He pulled the dog off the employee’s leg, but not before the dog bit him too on the left forearm. Mason said the dog’s aggressive behavior came out of nowhere. “He’s been neutered. We have all taken him for walks. He has sat in the office. We have done everything humanly possible to predict his behavior,” Mason said. The employee who the dog bit in the leg has undergone a couple surgeries. She was still in the hospital at the time WREG interviewed Mason Tuesday. To those who wonder if this was an issue of improper training, Mason said … [Read more...]

Ameren Illinois is appealing to customers after a series of dog attacks resulting in serious injuries to workers. Company spokesman Brian Bretsch said Thursday that there have about a half-dozen attacks the last few months, primarily involving dogs that have been allowed to run loose. But he said workers also have been attacked by dogs chained or tied to utility equipment, including power poles. Worker injuries requiring emergency room treatment and antibiotics have included puncture wounds, scratches and a broken wrist. "It's the time of year when people are home more and dogs are out more," Bretsch said. "We're basically asking customers to do their part to keep our workers safe, as well as the neighborhood children." Most of the attacks have occurred at homes and have been spread across Ameren Illinois territory, Bretsch said. Ameren Illinois serves 1.2 million electric and 816,000 natural gas customers in central and southern Illinois. There have been 40 dog attacks in the last … [Read more...]

Should pit bulls be outlawed in the city of Dallas? Some city council members said yes, after hearing from officials with the U.S. Postal Service.Local postal workers have been working with the city to help control vicious dogs. Randall Joines, an area manager for the Postal Service, told the council, “In a press release issued by the Postal Headquarters this week, the City of Dallas ranked 5th worst in the nation in calendar year 2014 – recording 43 letter carrier dog bites or attacks.” Letter Carrier Sierra Pryor is still recovering from a pit bull attack in March. Recalling her attack she said, “The dog burst through the screen door and immediately latched onto my right leg. It took two assistants to pull the animal off of me.” As a part of National Dog Bite Prevention Week the Postal Service is also working to educate the public by providing prevention tips to help avoid dog bites. Three important tips are: If a letter carrier delivers mail or packages to your front door, place … [Read more...]

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” can stop the United States Postal Service’s 617,000 postal workers from delivering over 155 billion pieces of mail per year. But there’s one thing that can stop a mail carrier in their tracks — a snarling, territorial dog. Now, new statistics show that last year, letter carriers were bitten by dogs 5,767 times. The statistics were released as part of an annual dog attack report prepared by the USPS. The number is up slightly from last year, when 5,581 bites were recorded. Though they’re only a fraction of the roughly 4.4 million dog bites that occur in the United States each year, they’re a real problem for postal workers whose jobs involve bringing mail to homes that can host aggressive dogs. Los Angeles had the most dog-on-mail-carrier incidents in 2014 (74 attacks), followed by Houston (62), San Diego (47) and Chicago (45). USPS Service Manager of Safety Linda DeCarlo notes that though owners often refuse to believe their dogs will … [Read more...]

Monday WOWT 6 News obtained security video of a dog attack at Millard Central Middle School. The Nebraska Humane Society said the dog shown in the video has a violent past, and officials were not aware the dog was in Omaha, let alone on school grounds. The dog had been officially labeled as a potentially dangerous animal due to previous violent episodes. In the video, recorded April 2, a school counselor/teacher approaches a door inside a vestibule. He opens the door in an attempt to “shoo” the dog, named Sam, away. At that moment, the dog attacks the school employee. The employee quickly makes his way back inside. School officials said students were outside playing at the time of the attack. The employee told the Nebraska Humane Society the dog’s bite didn't catch his leg, just his clothing. But, what the Humane Society said is most concerning, is the fact that this attack should have never happened.“This owner, for almost a year and a half period, did not follow city ordinances … [Read more...]

Seven people are recovering after being attacked by two dogs in Plano. Police say the incident began at the Park Springs Townhomes off Alma Drive Sunday at about 7:15 p.m. when the dogs escaped from a nearby townhome. After they attacked six people, including a 5-year-old girl, Plano police officers chased them to a nearby park where one officer was attacked. Another officer then shot and killed one of the dogs. The other dog returned home and was quarantined by Animal Control officers.The police officer who was attacked was taken to a local hospital with a minor leg injury. The other six victims have minor injuries. Police say the dogs, described as shepherd mixes, have been known to be aggressive in the past. It is unknown whether charges are pending for the dogs' owner at this time. Read the full article … [Read more...]

De'Trick Johnson, 36-years old, was killed by a pack of pit bulls belonging to John Chester Smith, the owner of C.J.'s Garage. Johnson had driven to the business to have his car serviced. When he exited his vehicle, seven pit bulls tore through the bottom of the garage's front gate and savagely attacked him. It is unknown how long Johnson was being mauled before the first 911 call came in, which lasted from 5 to 8 minutes, according to different media reports. He was pronounced dead on scene; the initial cause of death was listed as "massive trauma." Johnson's life partner, John Smith III, is the son of the dogs' owner. Smith said there were multiple victims of these dogs before Johnson's death. Family members had warned his father to "get rid of those dogs," Smith said. Eight months earlier, the pit bulls had escaped the property in the same way and attacked man who fled by climbing up a tree. On April 22, authorities charged John Chester Smith with felony manslaughter in connection … [Read more...]

BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — A volunteer at the animal shelter in Bastrop was mauled by a dog she was trying to help. The woman was walking a pit bull when it started barking at another dog behind a fence. The volunteer reached in to try and get the dog moving again and that’s when it turned on her. Some of her fellow volunteers stepped in to restrain the dog but by then the woman had already suffered serious injuries. The county says they are looking over all of their shelter policies.”Things like rating the animals,” said Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape. “How dangerous might an animal be based on its background, why it’s at the animal shelter to begin with.” The dog underwent a rabies test after being put down. The woman is still recovering in a hospital. Read the Full Article … [Read more...]

It was like a scene from a gripping courtroom drama: The victim, bandaged and animated as he described how he was viciously attacked by the perpetrator; the perpetrator’s family, sitting in disbelief as grisly details came forth. Only this wasn’t a courtroom, not in the traditional sense. This hearing took place October 2014 at the Riverside County Department of Animal Services in San Jacinto, Calif. The victim was a longtime pool maintenance pro whose near-fatal run-in with the alleged perpetrator — a pit bull/Labrador mix — was a graphic reminder that man’s best friend isn’t always the pool man’s. Here, PSN recounts several real-life canine encounters gone horribly wrong. Consider them cautionary tales — then take to heart the advice from an expert who trains field workers to defend themselves against four-legged threats. Read the full article … [Read more...]

Springfield, MO -- Part of the problem surrounds the animal control department. It used to be where the calls for vicious animals come in from Greene County but not anymore. All the county's calls go straight to the sheriff's office when an animal attacks because of budget cuts. "It's been a little overwhelming," said Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott, "We had two calls just yesterday."  But because he's the sheriff and not an animal control officer, he says his deputies have no choice when it comes to a vicious animal. "We really are not capable of capturing an animal, the only thing we can do is kill one if it's being aggressive or cause an issue where it's actively biting someone," said Arnott. It's a job the sheriff's department has been voluntarily doing after the county cut funding for animal control. It's a job the sheriff calls a dis-service to the community. Full Article … [Read more...]