There has been a rash of dog attack and dog bite cases arising recently in Chicago. Though dog owners face the risk of criminal penalties and lawsuits, such owners nevertheless allow their pets to roam free on the streets.
Hopefully the case of a California mother and daughter will remind such owners that they really do need to take precautions to make sure that their pets are restrained. These family members owned a pit bull that got through a fence and then attacked a 76-year old neighbor lady. As the result of the woman's death because of this dog attack, the mother and daughter now are facing involuntary manslaughter charges that could add up to close to five years imprisonment for each of them.
The results of this mauling are particularly gruesome and remind us of why such dog attacks result in anything but just minor injuries. The woman was attacked on June 18th but did not die until Christmas Eve. In the meantime, she was forced to have her left arm amputated below the elbow and left leg amputated below the knee. Later, doctors were forced to amputate her entire right leg. Sadly, all of the lifesaving efforts were of no avail.
Medical expenses alone for this elderly woman's injuries probably amounted to the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This does not even come close to accounting for the pain and suffering that she and her family must have endured. Simply keeping the dog on a leash and mending the fence would have prevented this incident from happening at all. This is why such dog owners must be held accountable by injured parties and their attorneys.
All the elderly woman was doing was going out to retrieve her morning newspaper. Nobody should be forced to endure the kind of suffering that then came about.
Source: 10News.com, "Mom, Daughter To Stand Trial In Fatal Dog Attack," April 23, 2012
