Charges dropped in pit-bull mauling

[rollingrock]

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A judge has dropped a felony charge against a San Jose man whose pit bull badly injured a neighbor last year as he tried to protect his dog, authorities said today.

Ivan Batinich, 22, of San Jose had been charged with allowing a vicious animal to be at large. Judge Jerome Brock of Santa Clara County Superior Court dismissed the case last month, saying there was not enough evidence to prove Batinich knew his dog was dangerous, said Amy Cornell, spokeswoman for District Attorney Dolores Carr.

The incident happened about 7:30 p.m. April 11 as Steve Belsley, 57, was walking his Shiba Inu dog, Bella, on Edenbury Lane, around the corner from his home in south San Jose.

Batinich's pit bull, a 10-month-old unneutered male named Brutus, was running loose nearby and attacked Belsley and Bella, authorities said.

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/17/BA0N16HJQ1.DTL

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Why do people still insist on owning pit bulls?

[flvegan]

1. Yes, another pit bull thread!!!

Let the ignorance flow like Niagra Falls!

[varkam]

2. I think pit bulls are Satan's pets!

They should all be killed immediatelee!!!one!

[flvegan]

3. Have you SEEN Cerberus?

Tell me those aren't pitbull heads. Go on, tell me!

[rollingrock]

4. They do have a demonic look about them

like a rabid dog.

[petronius]

5. It sounds like the felony law requires the dog owner to have some reason

to believe that the dog is particularly prone to attacking - breed alone wouldn't provide that reason.

However, he'll still be liable for the injuries/damages, and it sounds like they'll be substantial...

[provis99]

6. oh of course he didn't know it was vicious (sarcasm)

that's why he gave his pit bull a cutesy-poo name like Brutus. What an asshole. Should be sentence to spend a week in a kennel with 100 underfed un-neutered male pit bulls.

[Critters2]

9. Yeah. An uneutered male pit bull named "Brutus" ended up

being vicious. Who could've seen that coming? :eyes:

[LisaL]

37. Yea I notice the owner didn't call his putbull "Bunny."

[Politicalboi]

7. If the Pit Bull hasn't been

Put down he should be taken away and given to someone who knows how to handle dogs. The dog isn't dangerous if it's handled the right way. This time the owner was the dangerous one. And this judge is out of his mind. The owner of the Pit Bull should be found guilty.

[LisaL]

8. The dog isn't dangerous if he is handled the right way?

I don't believe that for a minute.
That's completely ignoring genetics. Dog aggression is considered normal for pit bulls, from what I can gather.

[Politicalboi]

10. Hey they scare the shit out of me

But I watch The Dog Whisperer. Laugh if you may but he does work miracles on the owners. He has packs of Pit Bulls and many other breeds with no fights. He's made millions of dollars proving that Pit Bulls and Rotties can be good dogs if handled by the right person. There was a post earlier about Pit Bulls with children and then there was a story about a Lab puppy mauling to death an infant. Nobody knew when the dog was last fed. Now from what I have heard and read about Labs is they are great with children. It's the owner not the animal. Just like the Chimp story. Some people don't know what they have until it's too late.

[LisaL]

12. Yea well that guy has been bitten a number of times.

[Politicalboi]

13. Yes he has

But he does seem to help people with their dogs. You have to know that if you own a Pit Bull or a Rottie that anyone who see's these dogs roaming the street is going to cause fear. He should have made sure his dog couldn't get out.

[LisaL]

14. Yea he helps people with their dogs. That doesn't mean

every dog is a sweetie pie and only bad owners make these dogs aggressive.
Dog aggression is not abnormal in a pit bull. If you notice in the OP story, it appears the pit bull attacked the dog, and the owner was attacked because he tried to protect his dog.

[flvegan]

15. So the case you're making is that the owner was a good, responsible

dog owner who happened to have a pit bull. Said pit bull then attacked this other dog, then the person?

Or, are you projecting a certain prejudice to make a point, albeit a very weak, uneducated one?

[LisaL]

23. No. Your pitbull isn't supposed to run loose.

[flvegan]

24. So we're back to a piss-poor owner, yes?

[EmilyAnne]

25. I don't think it should matter that much as far as breed restrictions. People mess up when it comes

to dogs, but it doesn't make them bad owners. Just imperfect people not capable of interpreting a dog's language or intent at every moment.
Beating a dog, ignoring aggression, training it to be vicious. These things are the actions of bad owners.
Not realizing that the dog you have had for months or years, living with your family and other pets, will suddenly become a killer or maimer does not make someone a bad owner.

Should dogs who have viciously attacked other dogs or people be given to other people rather than be destroyed?
If the blame is only with the owner, then the dogs should be removed and placed with proper owners, right?

[flvegan]

27. I fail to see your point in regard to the OP or my response here.

Maybe you can elaborate.

[EmilyAnne]

41. Sorry I wasn't clear. I simply mean that no amount of owner error, save extreme circumstances, can

account for the vicious behavior of certain dogs. Yes, the dog was running loose which is irresponsible.
Still, dogs do get loose all the time and they don't maul people and other dogs. If the only way to keep this from happening is to be an absolutely perfect dog owner, then there is something wrong with the dog.

The pit that disfigured the face of a six year old around the corner from me had obviously not been doing such things before that moment. He overpowered his owner, pulling the leash out of his hands and attacked the child who was sitting up on his porch. The dog was not neutered, by the way. Maybe that accounts for the behavior somewhat.

[rollingrock]

16. I'm a huge dog lover

but pits scare the crap out of me too. Not so much because of their reputation, but mostly because of the way they look. They have a certain wild, mean look about them, anything but cute. If an animal looks wild and vicious, chances are it probably is.

[Hanse]

20. Sorry, can't take you seriously as a dog lover.

Or anybody who knows anything about animals, what with comments like that.

You remind me of the people who lose an arm trying to pet the cute polar bear.

[EmilyAnne]

21. Are you connecting a pit bull to a polar bear as far its ability to maim people?

[Hanse]

26. No.

I'm connecting the intelligence of people who think cute animals = good, scary animals = bad with a cold bowl of tapioca.

[rollingrock]

29. Well, many people these days

seem to end up having a body part missing when they go up to a pit bull and try to pet it or get too close to one. I have a neighbor few years ago who had his lower lip bitten off by a black pit bull when he tried to pet it. And he knew that dog for years. Now people call him Lipless Leo.

[Hanse]

30. Vanishingly few people ever get mauled by pitbulls.

More people slip and break their necks in the bathtub.

[LisaL]

31. I have no clue whether what you say is correct or not.

However, even if so, almost everybody has a bathtub. Thankfully not everybody has pit bulls.

[rollingrock]

46. Tell that to Lipless Leo

he would tell you you're blowing smoke up his ass, lol.

[shireen]

34. so true ....

Beagles scare the crap out of me the same way. And dachshunds. And cocker spaniels. Scariest of all are the pugs.
:eyes:

[HubertHeaver]

40. Gotta watch those pugs....

They'll sneeze all over you.

[RebelOne]

42. Oh, come on. I have a Rottweiler that looks vicious.

And she is anything but. She is the sweetest dog you would ever meet.

[Mariana]

55. I don't think they include his failures on the show.

And he must have some failures. Some animals ARE incorrigible.

[roody]

18. Human aggression is not.

[shireen]

33. most of Michael Vick's "dangerous" pits have been rehabbed. nt

[uppityperson]

38. "Dog aggression is considered normal for pit bulls, from what I can gather" Wrong.

You gather wrong.

[LisaL]

47. Just run your mouth, will ya?

"Is this breed good with other dogs in general?
The short answer is no. Developed for the purpose of fighting other dogs, most pit bulls are dog aggressive, at least to some degree. Some pit bulls will simply not tolerate any other dogs, regardless of sex. A few pit bulls will remain dog friendly their entire lives, but they are a minority.The majority of pit bulls are at least same sex aggressive and as adults will not do well with other dogs of the same sex or those that are "pushy" with them, although as pups they may get along fine (this can be very misleading to a novice pit bull owner)."
http://www.rescueeverydog.org/pitbull_breed.html

[Naturyl]

11. Because people are selfish and selectively conscious.

Pit bull owners all insist that THEIR animal is the gentlest, kindest being since Gandhi.

It's the same phenomena that occurs in schools where teachers can't manage misbehaving children because the parents insist that their perfect little angel can do no wrong.

[Hanse]

19. So you're saying we should ban children?

[EmilyAnne]

22. Children can communicate with adults. Its very difficult to interpret a dog's language or intent.

[greenkal]

17. All f those morons that own dogs...

should be put in prison! They're putting the public in danger just like those idiot Xtian gun owners.

[flvegan]

28. Good for you!

So new here, yet suggesting prison for every dog owner. I applaud your...well...nevermind.

[shireen]

32. why are irresponsible owners allowed to have dogs? nt

[madmusic]

35. Stories like this should be unanimously condemned

Notice the story doesn't say where the dog owner was. It doesn't say if the dog ever bit or threatened anyone before. It doesn't say if the dog got out of its yard and the owner could not anticipate it doing so and didn't know it did. It doesn't say why the judge dismissed the felony charge other than for insufficient evidence. If these questions were answered it would be easier to accept or reject the judge's reasoning based on that somewhat important thing called FACTS.

In other words, the story intentionally invites speculation, which intentionally incites flame wars, which drives up the clicks at the sfgate.com site, which increase ad revenue.

Condemn stories like this.

[LisaL]

36. Rarely you are going to find an article that answers every question

you might have.
By the way I sincerely doubt the dog has bitten anyone before, since judge dismissed the felony charge on the grounds the owner didn't know the dog was dangerous.

[madmusic]

53. But it leaves open the most important question

Where was the dog's owner? At work? The reporter, if he wanted to, could have easily supplied the answer to that and saved a lot of flame war ammo. I think he intentionally left it out.

[uppityperson]

39. Cocker Spaniel attack....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5274409&mesg_id=5274409

[MiniMe]

43. The dog was 10 months old? Unusual for a puppy to behave that way

I wonder if that is a misprint? :shrug:

[Marrah_G]

45. not nuetered is probably part of it.

[Marrah_G]

44. This is why potentially deadly breed owners need to be regulated, educated and licensed

So they can learn that letting an unnuetered 10 month old male pit bull run free is a BAD FUCKING IDEA.

They should have to take a course on the needs and specifics of the breed they intend to buy.

[B3Nut]

48. Letting an unneutered male anything is a bad idea.

In dogs anyway. ;) Actually, I favor mandatory spay/neuter for non-working or non-exhibiting dogs (i.e. regular pets.) Improving access to good obedience training, especially for lower-income dog owners, would be a good idea too. At the very least, tossing in one of, say, Cesar Milan's books with every adopted dog from a shelter might do wonders. Hmm, maybe our rescue should look into doing that...might not be a bad idea! I love it when my coffee kicks in.... :D

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[surrealAmerican]

49. Dogs are already regulated and licensed.

No dog, regardless of breed, should be roaming free where it could cause trouble.

[Marrah_G]

50. Owners are not required to have any education on the animal

Also a roaming chihuaha is not the same as a roaming pit bull/shepard/rottie etc.

[surrealAmerican]

52. While you are right, that the very small breeds ...

... are mostly just a danger to themselves, free roaming labradors and huskies are as much of a hazard as the pit bulls. Putting the emphasis on the breed of dog is a distraction from the real issue here.

[pnutbutr]

51. Was running loose

Pit Bulls can be incredibly sweet dogs with the proper owner. As the owner you have to assert yourself as dominant without overdoing it and when outside they should never be off leash unless in a fenced area. Without a leash you have no control over the dog. You as an owner have just given it power and an implied authority to do what it wants.

[spoony]

54. This story is about a chickenshit DA more than pitbulls

These "public servants" too often run with cases based on winnability, not justice.