San Antonio girl trying to help pit bull killed

[cheekymunkee]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4469753.html

Jan. 14, 2007, 11:18AM
San Antonio girl trying to help pit bull killed

Associated Press
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SAN ANTONIO — A 10-year-old girl has died after being attacked by her neighbor's dog while trying to help the animal after it had gotten its collar caught on a chain link fence.

Amber Jones was in her backyard Friday afternoon practicing cheerleadering moves when she noticed that in an attempt to jump over the fence, the pit bull was caught. As she had done several times before, she asked her mom if she could help the dog.

He mother said yes. When the girl went to the dog's rescue, the dog attacked her.

Hearing her daughter's screams, Lori Jones ran into the backyard. The dog had bitten Amber in the stomach and was attached to her neck.

Amber's mother tried to push the dog off. A man rushed to help and got the dog away from both mother and daughter. The family does not know the man but said if he had not been there the dog could have attacked Lori Jones as well.

Amber was airlifted to University Hospital, where she died a couple of hours later.

"You just try to keep it together," her father, Robert Jones, said the day after her death. "We're hanging together and trying to reason it out."

The dog was put into the custody of Animal Services and will likely be euthanized because it killed someone, said Animal Cruelty Investigator Eddie Wright. There will be a hearing during which the owners of the dog will have a chance to defend the animal. That hearing has to be held within 10 days of the incident, he said.

Robert Jones said the family that owns the dog did come to their house to apologize for what happened.

Police spokesman Joe Rios said criminal charges against the owners appear unlikely. He said the report indicates it was "just an unfortunate accident."

[SisMorphine]

It's just such a strange story . . .

[pitbullmamaliz]

I saw this video on CNN and they neglected to mention the girl was trying to help the caught dog - they said it jumped over the fence and attacked her. I think that's a big difference...

[ilovemybacon]

I saw this video on CNN and they neglected to mention the girl was trying to help the caught dog - they said it jumped over the fence and attacked her. I think that's a big difference...

I agree with that being a big difference in the story. Although it doesn't make the story less tragic. My heart breaks for the girl and her family. But the story should have been reported correctly. Cnn reported that the dog just jumped over the fence and savagely attacked her for no reason. However...if the dog was being choked...and was in severe distress....it could have been disoriented and maybe percieved the girl as the source of it's distress. In any event...it is a horrible story. But the facts are the facts and should be presented as such.

[Malli]

animals in pain and in fear should be approached cautiously, period. Any animal. I don't know why they would leave a 10 year old (what? 80-90 lbs?) girl to try and unhook a 40-50 lb dog (at least) from a fence. No doubt the dog will at least be extremely panicked, if not in a lot of pain as well. Thats not really a safe situation to begin with...

too bad for the girl, and another strike against us.