PICO RIVERA, NEAR LOS ANGELES, California, USA: This is the first time that I have heard of a mother stabbing a pit bull to death in order to save their child. The Californian woman, Margaret Morales, acquired two pit bull dogs about four months ago. She described them as good dogs. They were normally out in the backyard but they had come inside and had been bathed the day before.
Her one-year-old daughter was in the kitchen with her grandmother. One of the pit bulls jumped on the toddler and started to attack her. The mother arrived quickly and in her words: “I stabbed him [one of the dogs] to get him off of my daughter. It was either him or my daughter and I chose my daughter. I did what I had to do because he wouldn’t let go.”
She felt bad about it but she said that she had no choice as it was either the dog or her child. She fought off the other dog as well and stabbed that dog too.
She was bitten on the face and arm. Her daughter, sister and mother were all attacked by the dogs. Her child was grabbed by one dog in the leg. The mother tried to pull off the dog and received a bite to the hand.
The dog also bit her daughter’s ankle and shoulder. The dog that survived the stabbing will be euthanised. The other dog, as mentioned, died of stab wounds.
Her daughter is at LAUSC Hospital. Her mother said that her daughter is strong and it appears that she will be okay. The incident occurred around 10:30 PM last Sunday.
The mayor, Monica Sanchez, offered her condolences to the family. She said that she was horrified as are many others at the unprovoked attack on a one-year-old child.
As I said at the beginning, it is the first time that I have read about a mother fighting back immediately and with obvious speed to save her daughter. Pit bulls have a bad name but Nathan Winograd, who is described as “The voice of America’s displaced pets and the conscience of the animal sheltering industry”, said that it is far more sensible to judge dogs by their behaviour not by their breed. If you do the latter you can end up euthanising good dogs.
Clearly, these were not good dogs despite what the mother said. It sometimes baffles me as to why apparently good dogs should suddenly turn bad and attack toddlers. It must be an inherited instinct to attack prey animals and the noises and movements that a toddler make trigger those instincts and as sure as night follows day the dog attacks and there’s no stopping. Well done to Margart Morales for keeping a cool head and doing what was necessary. Shame about the dogs though.
I also wonder if dogs should be allowed in homes where there are young children. We hear to many stories of dog attacks on toddlers. It is always toddlers and kids it seems to me. Alternatively, there seems to be a need to warn or educate mothers to not adopt dogs when they are raising babies and young kids. Can’t moms park the idea of having a dog or dogs for ten years while the raise their family? So much safer I’d have thought.
Some more articles on dog attacks are below:
