Saturday, January 5, 2008

Media skips covering dog attack because....

...the dog wasn't a mythical "pit bull". This is not the only incident where this has happened. I guess the media and politicians believe that victims of other types of dogs don't deserve the same compassion and coverage as victims of "pit bulls"...or do these attacks get ignored because they don't fulfill media and political agendas?

In the Niagara Region, over the Christmas holidays, a child was "viciously attacked" (as the media and politicians would say, if it were by a banned dog) by the Airedale terrier-type dog owned by acquaintances of the child's mother. Reportedly, the child was crawling away from an adult while playing; the dog came in through another doorway and grabbed the child by the face. The child lost half of his upper lip and part of the nostril, torn from inside the eye down to the chin.

The child was rushed to St. Catharines, then had to be transported to Niagara Falls because there was no pediatric surgeon on duty in St. Catharines. He will require at least one surgery on his lip so he might be able to drink properly.

The attacking dog has a history; it apparently attacked another family member's child at Christmas 2006. The bite was bad enough to require stitches. No media coverage then, either.

A reporter, employer unknown, went to the pound where the dog had been taken for euthanasia but no one has seen a word printed about this attack - probably because the dog wasn't a "pit bull".

And mainstream media wonders why average citizens don't trust it anymore.

Let's see what's wrong with this picture:
- dog has previous bite history
- no indication that the owner(s) worked with the dog, got in a trainer, anything responsible to try to prevent a repeat incident
- dog with previous bite history is allowed to roam loose in a house with a child
- owner responds to dog's issues by having dog killed

Child loses. Dog loses. Irresponsible owner gets off free and clear, free to get another dog and screw up again.

And the media ignores it.

2 comments:

No BSL said...

[quote]And the media ignores it.[/quote]

Of course they do!

Airedale type dogs can`t be made to appear scary to the public.
Neither can fluffy Golden Retrievers(#3 or 4 on the CHIRPP list) or Cocker Spaniels-(#2 on the list I think,or are they #1?)
They aren`t used by drug dealers YET,so the media can`t fall back on that to keep the hysteria going!

That`s why we(bloggers) must publish every dog bite incident that we come across.
Of course our headlines won`t scare people because we`re not going to scream "Another vicious Airedale rips a child`s face off".
Of course we don`t have some tired old video of a scared,snarling Airedale type dog being dragged out of a drug house to show over and over again to ramp up the hysteria.

I wonder if Ms London Free Press will be blogging about this monster that ripped a toddlers face off?
I must go check, even though
I think I already know the answer to that question.

Anonymous said...

Yes, do send it to the Freep, so they can provide some unbiased, neutral coverage of a 'horrifying tale of an Airedale attack on a toddler'.

It ain't euthanasia unless the creature is terminal and/or suffering. The misuse of that term really grates on my nerves.

Airedales are large terriers, the largest in fact. Some of my doggie buddies refer to them as 'Airheads' these days. Funny, AmStaffs are terriers too, although not as large and of course Staffords are terriers, but quite small.

Given the media's total lack of understanding around this many-faceted issue, I'm surprised that 'terrier' didn't trigger their Pavlovian response and result in the usual weeping and gnashing of teeth. We can likely deduce with some confidence then that it isn't 'terrier' that sets them to shrieking in unison.

So, is it 'American' or 'Staffordshire'? It can't be 'Bull' because they don't strike up the band over Bulldogs or Bull Terriers or Boston Bulls as they used to be known. It could be 'Staffordshire' but why? That place is known for kitsch and fine china.

It must be 'pit' that sets them off. Yes, that's it, they're obsessed with the pits. Which this situation most certainly is.

Hey, hey, Meedee-ay, how much fear can you sell today?