Bugging You From San Juan Island

I thought writing out my feelings might help a bit with the deep reactiveness I am feeling in response to the terrible news I received yesterday about a very dear friend. The details? My friend is going to be 94 in October. I’ve known her now for almost 20 years. She was my walking buddy in Texas. She LOVES to walk and be out in nature.

A few days ago, my friend was severely injured when two dogs mauled her while she was out on a walk. The details I have received were the dogs were a pitbull and a great dane. They knocked her to the ground, inflicted many bite injuries. She has multiple lacerations, including her scalp. She has a broken nose, suffered a brain bleed, and has what is known as a “crush” break of her leg. To give you a bit of perspective, aside from her advanced age, she weighs only 90 lbs.

People came to her aid. She is hospitalized. If she doesn’t end up with serious infections, she faces a long road of rehabilitation. I am praying for her and I haven’t prayed in a long time.

Let’s talk about the dogs and what I know about them. One was deemed “friendly” and had never been a problem before until in the company of the other dog. Dog behavior isn’t always predictable. Unfortunately many dog owners are clueless about this. The dog owner was cited, but as of today, those dogs are still alive. I was told by the local law enforcement that there is a “process.”

The very sad fact is this is the 2nd dog attack my friend has had in the past 3 years. In January, 2021, my friend was attacked while out walking when a boxer/pit mix got away from its owners and charged her, biting her on her knee. Again, when you are in your 90’s and only weigh 90 lbs, your legs are tiny, skin is thin, and healing is slow.

Backing up a bit to my days of going out walking with my friend. We would walk regularly at a nature preserve in Texas. For us, this was the only nature preserve in a 20-mile radius and unfortunately, it quickly became overused….by dog owners. I had to carry a big stick because of all the off-leash dogs. One sad memory in particular sticks in my head. That was the morning I passed a group of laughing men who were entertained because their off-leash dogs had “tree’d” baby bobcat kittens. I can’t imagine the horror of the bobcats, but I left with lump in my stomach at how I really have come to detest many humans, and irresponsible dog owners.

I do remember complaining to the parks department that managed the nature preserve. When I asked why they even bothered calling it a “nature” preserve, the response was, “we have to meet the recreational needs of our residents.” Never mind, the sheer presence of all those dogs, leashed or unleashed, directly impacted the wildlife. The bobcats left, the coyotes left, the road runners left. It’s now a wasteland of dog feces and not much else. Even the stream is littered with dog waste bags. Why bother to pick it up if you’re just going to leave it to contaminate the streams that used to have fish, turtles, and other aquatic life. Don’t want to pick it up, but fall into the category of kicking the poo off in the weeds? Well, then you are directly contributing to the contamination of a natural area with bacteria, and all sorts of other pathogenic matter. Not to mention, it is just really gross.

I’ve come to the place where I don’t really believe dogs (or cats) should be outside of their owners’ living space. Certainly, they don’t belong at all in nature preserves, wildlife areas, and most definitely not in restaurants or other public places where they may encounter strange sights, noises, smells, or interact with unfamiliar dogs and become defensive or reactive. Non-dog owners have a right to safely visit a playground with their child, walk in a park, nature area, or visit a public event without risking being mauled by someone’s dog.

You may disagree with me and that’s your choice. I’m not completely anti-dog. I know there are some great ones out there and definitely there are responsible dog owners, but there are others like me who just don’t want to swoon over your pup. If you pass me walking in a nature area and you are walking a dog, please respect my space. I am tolerant of leashed dogs that don’t run up and jump on me. My experiences with dogs haven’t been great. In fact, most of mine have been awful. I am sick with worry about my friend. Don’t try to tell me it isn’t the dogs’ fault. Don’t jump to the defense of the dogs. Ultimately the dog owner is the responsible party, but keeping dangerous dogs alive is not the answer. We can’t SAVE all dogs. I hope the dog owner is charged with assault. Owning a dog is a huge responsibility. If you own a large breed dog you can’t control, it is just as dangerous as owning a gun. Dogs are far more unpredictable than wildlife. They have great potential to cause serious injuries to humans, including killing them.

References

J Gilchrist, MD, Div of Unintentional Injury Prevention; K Gotsch, MPH, JL Annest, PhD, G Ryan, PhD, Office of Statistics and Programming, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5226a1.htm

Tuckel PS, Milczarski W. The changing epidemiology of dog bite injuries in the United States, 2005-2018. Inj Epidemiol. 2020 Nov 1;7(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s40621-020-00281-y. PMID: 33129353; PMCID: PMC7603431.

Insurance Information Institute https://www.iii.org/article/spotlight-on-dog-bite-liability