Elderly woman killed in possible dog attack

^{Posted: Sep 22, 2015 9:32 PM CDT – Updated: Nov 17, 2015 10:40 PM CST}

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) — Police are investigating after an elderly woman, who they said was mauled by dogs, was found dead inside her home.

According to Miami-Dade Police, 91-year-old Carmen Reigada was attacked in her home in the 9400 block of Southwest 18th Terrace, at around 4 p.m., Tuesday. Authorities found her unresponsive and transported her to Kendall Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. “The information that we were provided with by fire rescue was that this female was unresponsive due to a dog bite,” said Miami-Dade Police detective Jennifer Capote. “We are unaware at this time which of the dogs actually bit her, but we are being told there were three dogs in the residence.”

Miami-Dade Animal Services took a total of three dogs into custody. The dogs were identified as an American Bulldog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Labrador Mix. Each were reportedly living in the home, shared by Reigada, her son and other family members. “We’re being told that they were the family dogs, so there’s also the possibility that these were her dogs. Who knows what could’ve been happening in the house with the dogs?” said Capote. “You know, fed, not fed. We don’t know any of that information. That’s all gonna come up as a result of the investigation.”

Neighbors said the dogs did belong to Reigada’s grandson. “Have been living here for more than 20 years and these people have been great neighbors and great persons. An excellent and great heart,” said Horacio Bulido, a neighbor.

91-year-old woman found dead after possible dog attack in Miami-Dade County

Police say woman may have been attacked by 3 dogs

^{Author: Peter Burke, Managing Editor, [email protected]}
^{Ben Kennedy, Reporter, [email protected]}

^{Published On: Sep 22 2015 11:13:21 PM EDT Updated On: Sep 23 2015 12:46:00 PM EDT}

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 91-year-old woman is dead after a possible dog attack in a southwest Miami-Dade County home.Miami-Dade police said officers were called to the home in the 9400 block of Southwest 18th Terrace after Carmen Reigada was found unresponsive just before 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Police said the woman may have been attacked by three dogs at the home.

Detectives said Reigada had multiple dog bites on her face and head.

“They always had dogs. They always did,” neighbor Berena Barnet said.

Reigada was taken to Kendall Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

An American bulldog, a Rhodesian ridgeback and a Labrador-mix were removed from the home by Animal Services.

Police: 91-Year-Old Woman Mauled By Dog, Dies In Hospital

^{September 22, 2015 11:09 PM}

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Authorities said they are investigating the death of an elderly woman found mauled by a dog on Tuesday.

According to Miami-Dade Police, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue requested their assistance at around 4 p.m. after they found a 91-year-old woman unresponsive and suffering from an apparent dog bite.

Police responded to the home located at 9415 SW 18th Terrace and called in Miami-Dade Animal Services in regards to the dog. The dog found at the home also lives there, police said.

The woman was taken to Kendall Regional Hospital where she died. Investigators have not confirmed if the dog bite was the cause of her death or it was from her age.

Police: Dogs May Have Mauled Elderly Woman

^{September 23, 2015 11:14 AM By Peter D’Oench}

Miami-Dade Animal Services were called in to remove three dogs from the home; an American bull-dog, a Rhodesian ridgeback and a Labrador mix. All of them belong to Reigada’s grandson and had never been violent before.

A spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Animal Services said the department had no history of problems with any of the three dogs.

The woman was taken to Kendall Regional Hospital where she died. Investigators have not confirmed if the dog bite was the cause of her death or if it was from her age. Detectives are waiting for Medical Examiner’s to determine cause of death.

Autopsy Report Shows Dogs Killed Elderly Woman

^{By Laura Rodriguez}

**Disclaimer: The content in this story contains graphic material**

When Miami-Dade Animal Services took three dogs from a southwest Miami-Dade home on Sept. 22, officials could not say with certainty whether the pets killed 91-year-old Carmen Reigada.

Now an autopsy report obtained exclusively by NBC 6 shows Reigada’s cause of death is dog bites of the head, neck and extremities.

The autopsy findings are graphic. The medical examiner found the elderly woman had a defleshed face and scalp, as well as multiple puncture wounds of the neck.

According to Miami-Dade Animal Services, the dogs are Labrador mixed breed and American bulldog mixed breed.

It’s unclear whether more than one dog attacked Reigada. Police believe the woman lived with other relatives at the home, but it’s unknown who owns the dogs.

2015 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Dogs Savagely Kill Elderly Woman in Miami-Dade

DogsBite.org reports

Autopsy: Killed by Dogs
UPDATE 10/08/15: Autopsy results show that a 91-year old woman was savagely attacked in the face and scalp by up to two family dogs in her home on September 22. The medical examiner found that Carmen Reigada had a defleshed face and scalp, as well as multiple puncture wounds of the neck.1 For unknown reasons, Miami-Dade Animal Services now excludes the Rhodesian ridgeback and only implicates the other two family dogs: an American bulldog-mix and “lab-mix.”

Recall the first breed was formerly only called an “American bulldog.”

NBC Miami has apparently only gained the autopsy report thus far. Other news organizations will eventually follow, along with hopefully a richer examination of events that occurred on September 22. No images or video footage of the two suspected dogs have surfaced so far. It is a guessing game at this point how many different breed names Miami-Dade Animal Services will use to describe the two dogs that in all likelihood fall within a very convincing pit bull-mix category.

Read the full autopsy report by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department

Elderly woman killed in possible dog attack

^{Posted: Sep 22, 2015 9:32 PM CDT – Updated: Nov 17, 2015 10:40 PM CST}

One local said everyone in the neighborhood is saddened by what happened. “Very sweet lady. What can I tell you, this is something very bad. We’re very sorry. All the neighbors are very sorry about it. The dogs, you know, know the lady, so I really don’t know why that happened.”

It is unclear which of the dogs is suspected of attacking Reigada, but Animal Services did confirm that all three were currently in their custody.

A relative was seen leaving the residence, Wednesday morning, but chose not speak to the media. However, neighbors did speak to the media, saying Reigada was a wonderful woman. “Very good person, and I have a great relationship with them,” said one resident.

The investigation remains ongoing. Family members have avoided reporters seeking comments.

POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS DOG BREEDS

This is a list of dog breeds that have a history of being potentially dangerous to people, especially children. Daxton’s Friends for Canine Education and Awareness understands that any dog has the ability to bite or inflict serious harm to humans. This list consists of several dog breeds that have a higher than average number of recorded human fatalities. Please use extreme caution if you choose to bring one of these breeds into your home. Rental communities and homeowners insurance may restrict many of the dog breeds on this list due to the likelihood of a serious incident.

Pit Bulls, Mastiff, and Rottweiler lead in fatalities and are listed first. The rest of the breeds are listed in alphabetical order:

Pit Bull Terrier Family

American Bulldog

The term Bulldog is most commonly referring to the English Bulldog, although there are variations in the breed, such as the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge, and the French Bulldog. The original Bulldog was used in the blood sport of bull and bear baiting, until those were outlawed in 1835. In New York in the mid 17th century, the Governor brought in Bulldogs to round up wild bulls. The English and French Bulldogs (but not the other variants) were eventually crossed with a pug, and no longer have the attributes of bull baiters. The Olde English Bulldogge is a recreation of the original bull-baiting, pit-fighting bulldog of Elizabethan days and is considered one of the Pit Bull breeds. The American Bulldog is a mix of these original fighting bulldogs and a mastiff type, and is also considered a Pit Bull breed. See Section Two for information about these two Bulldog types.

Section Two – The Olde English Bulldogge, The American Bulldog, The Boston Bulldog

The Olde English Bulldogge:

The American Bulldog:

Unlike the English and the French Bulldogs, the Olde English Bulldogge and the American Bulldog were not mixed with Pug or other purely companion breeds. The Olde English Bulldogge is a recreation of the original bear-baiting, horse-baiting, pit-fighting bulldog of Elizabethan England. The American Bulldog is a mix of these original bulldogs with a mastiff type^1,2.

The Boston Bulldog is smaller than these two, but it is also considered a fighting breed, created by mixing Pit Bull with the Boston Terrier (the Boston Terrier is a slender terrier type that functions mostly as a companion breed)^1,2. The Boston Bulldog is no longer very popular as a fighting dog because of its small size, but it retains the characteristics it was originally bred for.

All three of these Bulldogs are considered Pit Bull breeds. For more detailed information, please see our American Pit Bull Terrier page.

In North America, from 1982-2014, Pit Bull breeds and mixes have seriously attacked 3,595 humans that resulted in 2,233 maimings and 307 deaths

1. Fleig, D, Fighting Dog Breeds, THF Publications Inc, Neptune City NJ, 1996.

2. Jenkins, R and Mollett, K, The Story of the Real Bulldog, THF Publications Inc, Neptune City NJ, 1997.

We use the term ‘pit bull type dog’ because that is biologically the most accurate term. In order to understand this, you have to look at the biological history of the present day pit bull type dogs. Their history is twofold.

The bulldog: The bull-baiting, bear-baiting, horse-shredding ‘bulldog’ has existed at least since the reign of Richard III in England (1452 – 1485), when watching ‘bulldogs’ slowly torture bulls, bears, horses and other animals to death was considered normal public entertainment. These dogs were also used to hunt wild boar, not only tracking the boar but engaging directly in killing it, and in dogfighting matches where they were pitted against each other in fights to the death. There were no breed clubs to give these dogs fancy names — they were called simply ‘bulldogs’. The term ‘pit bull’ was an American variation on the same theme, referring to any of the pit fighting bulldog types.

Until the late 19^th century, the only pedigree that mattered for any bulldog was its fighting pedigree – the list of kills it had committed on some other bulldog in the fighting pit. It wasn’t until early in the 20^th century, as dogfighting declined, that the breeders of these dogs sought other ways to sell them. They turned to the new kennel clubs, which had been established to cater to the upper class hobby of breeding dogs for shows. After much lobbying, the 1930s saw the registration and re-branding of the pit fighting bulldogs by various kennel clubs, always with a name intended to hide the type’s bloody history (eg, changing this molosser’s name from bulldog to ‘Staffordshire terrier’). Since that first deception, many new breed clubs have arisen, dedicated to producing slight physical variation in the fighting bulldog so as to claim a new pit bull type ‘breed’ all their own (eg, American Bully, Pit Bull XXL, Olde English Bulldogge, American Bulldog).

All of these dogs in fact come from the same limited gene pool, all of them retaining both the physical and the behavioral traits that have always typified the fighting bulldog. Pasting a new ‘breed’ label on yet another slight variation of the pit fighting bulldog does not change this fact.

Click here to read more

2015 Dog Bite Related Fatalities in the U.S.

Updated after each fatality following fact finding research on Protect Children From Pit Bulls & Other Dangerous Dogs on Facebook

35 Dog Bite Related Fatality
by Breed.
27 by Pit Bull/Pit Bull Mix
2 by Rottweiler
1 by Golden/mixed breed
1 by American bulldog, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Labrador mix
4 Unknown/Pending

By Age :
14 Children
22 Adult

By State :

NM – 1 death
MD – 1 death
FL – 3 death
IA – 1 death
AR – 1 death
PA – 1 death
W. VA – 1 death
TX – 5 death
SD – 1 death
AR – 1 death
GA – 1 death
NV – 1 death
IL – 1 death
OK – 3 death
NC – 2 death
OH – 1 death
SC – 1 death
AL – 1 death
CA – 3 death
WV – 1 death
NY – 2 death
TN – 1 death
MI – 2 death

Names and ages of the deceased:

Unidentified Native American – about 40 y,o. – Gallup, NM – Pack of Feral Dogs [1.2.15]

Eugene W. Smith – 87- Frederick, MD – 1 Pit Bull [1.7.15]

Declin Moss – 18 months – Brooksville, FL – 2 Pit Bulls [1.19.15]

Malaki Mildward – 7yrs old – College Springs, IA – 2 Pit Bull/Bull Dog Mix [1.22.15]

Fredrick Crutchfield – 63 yrs old – Johnson county, AR – Pit Bull [ 2.4.15]

TayLynn DeVaughn – 2 yrs old – Pittsburgh, PA – Pit Bull [2.22.15]

Roy Higgenbotham – 62 yrs old – WHEELING, W.Va. – Pit Bull [3.8.15]

Betty Wood – 78 yrs old – SULPHUR SPRINGS, TX – Rottweiler [3.12.15]

Julia Charging Whirlwind – 49 yrs old – WHITE RIVER, SD – Pending [3.14.15]

Detrick Johnson – 36 yrs old – JEFFERSON COUNTY, AR – 7 Pit Bulls [3.21.15]

Neta Lee Adams – 81 yrs old – WASHINGTON, GA – Pending [3.31.15]

Kenneth Ford – 79 yrs old – NYE COUNTY, NV – Pit Bulls [4.14.15]

Brayden Wilson – 2 months old – Dallas, TX – Pit Bull [4.19.15]

Gaege Anthony Ramirez – 7 yrs old – NEW BRAUNFELS, TX – Pending [5.2.15]

James W. Nevils III – 5 yrs old – Chicago, IL – Pit Bull – [5.25.15]

Jordon Tyson Collins – 3 yrs old – Lawton, OK – Pit Bull – [6.28.15]

Norberto Legarda – 83 yrs old – Pecos, TX – Pit Bulls – [7.2.15]

Joshua Phillip Strother – 6 yrs old – Hendersonville, NC – Pit Bull – [7.7.15]

Annie L. Williams – 71 yrs old – Shaker Heights, OH – Pit Bull – [7.12.15]

Carolyn Lamp – 67 yrs old – COWETA, Ok – 3 Pit Bull/1 Rottweiler – [7.24.15]

Porsche Nicole Cartee – 25 yrs old – SPARTANBURG, SC – Pit Bull – [8.22.15]

Cathy Wheatcraft – 48 yrs old – DAVIE COUNTY, N.C. – Pit Bull – [8.24.15]

Barbara McCormick – 65 yrs old – Autauga County , AL – Golden/Mix – [8.2.15]

Emilio Rios Sr – 65 yrs old – Riverside County, CA. Pit Bulls – [8.8.15]

Carmen Reigada – 91 yrs old – Miami, FL. – American bulldog,Rhodesian Ridgeback, Labrador mix – [9.22.15]

Lamarkus Hakeem Hicks – 2 yrs old – Martinsburg, WV – Pit Bull – [9.28.15]

Edgar Brown – 60 yrs old – OKLAHOMA CITY, OK. – Pit Bulls – [10.16.15]

Tanner Smith – 5 yrs old – Vidor, TX – Pit Bulls – [10.19.15]

Amiyah Dunston – 9 yrs old – Elmont, NY – Pit Bull – [11.8.15]

Anthony Riggs – 57 yrs old – Madison County ,TN – Rottweiler – [11.12.15]

Carter Hartle – 11 months old – MARSHALL, NY – Pit Bull – [11.15.15]

Xavier Strickland – 4 yrs old – Detroit, MI – Pit Bulls – [12.2.15]

Rebecca Lillian-Kay Hardy – 22 yrs old – Port Huron, MI – Pit Bull, Husky-mix – [12.3.15]

Maria Torres – 57 yrs old – Gridley, CA – Pit Bulls – [12.16.15]

Nyjah Espinosa – 2 yrs old – Miami-Dade, Fl – Pit Bull Type (American Bulldog) – [12.20.15]

On average in 2015 someone was killed by a pit bull every 13 days. Some of these pit bull attacks were from the family dog that was well trained and had never shown signs of aggression before. The only common factor in these severe and often fatal attacks is not abuse or lack of training, it is breed. Choose the breed of dog you trust the lives of your loved ones with wisely.