New Zealand Dogs Who Attacked Children and Killed Jack Russell Terrier George May Have Been Fed Methamphetimine to Make Them Fiercer
I posted the original story about George earlier today on this blog but now we have more news. It appears that the two dogs that attacked the children and hurt George so badly he died from his wounds may have been given an illegal drug to make them hyper-aggressive.
Thanks to Stuff.co.nz for this update.
Dogs ‘given P’ to make them fiercer
By RICHARD WOODD and LYN HUMPHREYS - Taranaki Daily News | Thursday, 3 May 2007The pitbulls that terrified a group of children will be destroyed today, amid claims that some owners feed their dogs P to make them more aggressive.
Yesterday, acting on a tipoff, animal control officers and police took the rogue dogs from a Manaia property.
The story made international headlines because a tiny Jack Russell terrier called George was badly mauled as he defended the children from the attack as they walked to a Manaia dairy on Sunday.
George was later put down because of his injuries.But investigations yesterday by the Taranaki Daily News have revealed a horrifying new dimension to the menace of fierce dogs.
Stratford animal control officer Kieran Best says he’s heard of methamphetamine (P) being fed to pitbulls, making them more aggressive and very unpredictable.
“I understand it commonly happens in Rotorua.
“I haven’t seen a dog on P, but I’ve heard about it from drug squad police at conferences.”
While he had not heard of P being given to dogs in Taranaki, “if it’s happening elsewhere it’s quite possible it could be happening here”.
“The pitbulls I’ve had dealings with are naturally aggressive because of the type of people they are with. They keep pitbulls around because they don’t like visitors, and one can only presume they have something to hide, that they are into crime and drugs.
“They are paranoid about officials visiting and the dog emulates the owner,” Mr Best said.
While there is no suggestion the Manaia dogs were on P, an armed policewoman was on hand as they were cornered and loaded into a dog van.
Neither dogs nor owner resisted, South Taranaki District Council animal control manager Graham Young said. “We’re 99% certain these dogs were responsible for Sunday’s attack.”
The owner signed over the dogs to the council, but may still face prosecution for the dogs’ menacing behaviour.
George was so badly ripped apart in Sunday’s attack as he protected his young charges that he had to be put down.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article.
My heart breaks for George. It upsets me he was PTS too. My comment on this is:
Many years ago I had a dog (cocker spaniel, not a pitbull) who accidently ingested some methamphedamine. He did not become aggressive; in fact he was terrified and spent about 5 hours quivering on a piece of plastic where all I could do to help him was stay by his side and calmly pet him.
Secondly, in most cases, “pitbulls” are wonderful, loving, devoted dogs who get a terribly bad rap whenever some terrible incident occurs involving any dog that somebody assumes is one of this breed–such asAmerican Bulldogs, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Boerbals, Dogue de Argentina and a long list of dogs that might be deemed ferocious but are not in any way the dreaded Pitbull. Irresponsible sensationalist journalism is responsible for this, condemning thousands of dogs in the process.
Responsible ownership is obviously the answer, not breed bans, and I whole-heartedly agree that in regards to certain breeds, the owner should be required by law, in order to be allowed to co-exist in a residential community, to undergo a training program with his/her dog such as the Canine Good Citizen program.
Again, I am heart-broken for poor little George as I have seen the damage the teeth of a dog can do when turned upon its adversary/target/victim. But I nursed this dog back to full health rather than opting him to be put down and he is healthy, happy and ALIVE today.
I saw this in the news paper but I heard differently.
And why does this talk about how it’s not the dogs fault then their like 99% sure it was the dogs fault. This article doesn’t make any sense when you look carefully.
*sigh* another bad news story for pits..
Pitbulls have been bread for fighting for years, i dont care what everyone says about them being “loving” dogs, all the stories and news clippings say otherwise. You dont hear so many bad stories about german shephards (used as police dogs), blood hounds (used to hunt down criminals), and 99% of other breeds. And no it is not the dogs fault, its the owner, and the people who continously breed these dogs to kill.
The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend. - Lord Byron
Matt,
Thanks for barking in.
The same things that the fear-feeding media says now about Pit Bull type dogs was said at different times in the last forty years or so about German Shepherds (think about the pictures of the civil rights protests in the 1960’s as white policemen in Birmingham, Alabama and elsewhere held snarling dogs near African-American protestors), Rottweillers (remember the Omen movies and the supposed “Devil dogs”?), Chows, Akitas, and lest we forget Dobermans. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some demonized breed but the point is that every generation of dog-ignorant or hype-hungry media seems to need some animal to use in fear-mongering. The Pit Bull types have gotten the unlucky break this decade.
As for breeding for fighting, they were bred for other thihgs as well. These are dogs and at the base of their breeding ias dogs is the ability to live with humans peacefully.
No, Matt, if anyone is at blame for PBs or any dog of any other breed, it is humans. We are the responsible parties. Wherever you find a violent dog (short of a physical reason such as stroke) you will find an abusive, sick human. Unfortunately, some humans want an easy answer and blaming the dog is just too darn easy.
It’s like racism and some psychologists believe that the same emotional response that causes humans to act in racist ways is the same response that wants to demonize particular breeds. Stick a label on a breed as vicious and voila, problem solved. All we have to do is get rid of that breed and no more problem. But its not that easy.
Look at the UK where Rottweillers were banned a couple of decades ago. Did it solve the dangerous dog problem? No. The thugs just moved on to another breed and now those in the UK who want easy answers are saying, “ban PBs.” Its causing the unnecessary death of many, many good family dogs who have done nothing wrong other than be born a banned breed.
Look at the situation in New Zealand. I haven’t been there so I am open for correction from New Zealand Dogsters who know much more about the situation than do I, but from the reports the dogs who are attacking people happen to be identified as Pit Bull types. But, even if that is true since how many times have we seen other breeds identitifed as PBs when they weren’t even close, why are those dogs running lose? Why are they being fed meth to make them meaner? I sincerely doubt that the dogs are making this stuff themselves to get high! What else is being done to these dogs to make them mean? Where is the spay/neuter program to cut down on feral dogs?
Here in St. Louis we had a tragic situation a few years back where a young boy was killed and partially eaten by feral dogs in an area of the city that seems to resemble the area of New Zealand discussed in this article. When the dogs were tracked down and identified, most were standard street dogs who just were too hungry and had no other options. This does not excuse the killing but it does explain it. Since then, a number of organizations have stepped in and free spay/neuter is going strong. It took an innocent boys death to highlight the problem. One important point is also that the dogs were not PBs. They were just mongrels who were hungry and hurting.
So should we blame the dogs because they were PBs? Absolutely not. Should we blame the humans who are feeding the situation, abusing the dogs and letting them run loose? Absolutely!
Joy you do make a very good point, however, the omen was just a movie, and the police have also had snarling german shepards held on white, hispanic, asian, and all other races at one time or another, not just African Americans in Alabama. I am a white Irish american, and know from experience, as I have had one snarling at me. Don’t turn this shit into a race issue!!
Cynthia,
Thank you for barking in. I apologize if I made this issue sound too simplistic by making it seem racial.
This is absolutely not a race issue; its a fear issue. Unfortunately when people become afraid they want fast, easy answers. The easy answer is to ban one breed or type of dog. But that has not worked in the past and will not work in the future.
If we want to remove the problem of dangerous dogs we have to first keep dangerous people from having them. Until that happens, all dogs are subject to the abuse that causes dangerous dogs.
And yes, the Omen was just a movie. The reason Rotties were used was because at that time they were considered the “bad” dogs. That carried through even later. I was in Ireland in the very early 1990’s and the media and government there were talking about Rotties exactly like they talk about PBs now. They did place laws on owning Rotties and the thugs just found another dog to abuse.
Meow,
Well done Joy, I seen you are a passionate person. You are correct, it is not the dogs that are evil, but their humans that make them that way. I have a friend who has a pitbull that she rescued as a pup, and she is an amazing girl. Not at all the vicious killer some might believe her to be.
And as long as there are humans on this planet, the abuse will never stop.
Anyone who repeats the baloney spread by the media about “pit bulls” hasn’t researched the breed. There are therapy “pit bulls”, search and rescue “pit bulls” some of which were at the 9/11 site and the Columbia space shuttle recovery, service “pit bulls” and K9 “pit bulls”. The top drug-sniffing dog in the United States, Popsicle, is a “pit bull”. Neville, a dog banned in Ontario and sentenced to die because of the way he looks, is now a K9 officer with Washington State Police. Last but not least, there are tens of thousands of happy, friendly, unoffending family “pit bullsâ€?.
While this incident is very sad, it’s an outstanding example of criminal or negligent ownership. The CBC story on the incident contained the following, not carried in other coverage, paraphrased as follows:
The dogs’ owner had surrendered the pair to dog control officers, and demanded they be destroyed, claiming they had launched unprovoked attacks previously.
Yet again, an irresponsible owner is the cause of a dog attack. This owner is obviously a person who does not train or contain his/her dogs, and allows them to continue roaming after the first incident.
This negligent owner then has the gall and displays tremendous irresponsibility by demanding that the taxpayers euthanize the dangerous dogs that the owner has created.
This owner should not be let off free and clear just because the dogs were destroyed. This person should be barred from ever owning a dog again. The irresponsibility displayed by this owner leads me to believe that this person will, through neglect and irresponsibility, continue to create dangerous dogs.
Breed is irrelevant. Owner responsibility is all.