-Pit Bulls Attacking V.I. People and Pets

By: Tru Farray

You are walking down the street on a sunny day in the beautiful Virgin Islands and all of the sudden, BARK! BARK! BARK! The next thing you know, you are being attacked by a pit bull and you start screaming for your life. On April 23, 2010 the Virgin Islands Daily News published a letter by Susan Michi about a woman and her dog being attacked by two pit bulls between Gallows Bay and Christiansted. Debbie was walking in the morning with her dog Zellie on their way home when out of nowhere two pit bulls attacked her, leaving a severe injury in one of her legs. She was in shock. Imagine that.

As far as I’m concerned, the pit bull attack occurred in St. Croix, but it could happen on St. Thomas and where I live on St. John, too. Dogs can be fun to have around, but when you are being attacked by man’s best friend, it changes your whole perspective about dogs. Period.

Any dog can bite or attack another animal or human, but “pit bulls top the list when it comes to the number of attacks, the severity of injuries inflicted on people and animals, and the number of human fatalities in the United States from dog mauling.” The majority of pit bull attacks occur after a pit bull has escaped the owner’s property and is running loose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_Bull . This makes pit bulls significantly more dangerous to the general public because anyone in the dog’s way can become a target.

I try to keep cautious when I’m around pit bulls because I already know what they are capable of. My cousin was attacked by a pit bull when she was going up the stairs in her apartment. The dog leaped on her and bit her on her chest. Thank God, only a scar remains. These pit bulls cause a lot of problems and injuries and if something isn’t done. I fear for what might happen to me or anybody else in the future.

Susan Michi filed a police report and contacted the Animal Shelter for the victim, her friend Debbie. Susan was also a victim to a pit bull attack. The attack left her dog Coconut dead. After Susan and her dog were attacked, Debbie took care of her. Susan was heart-broken after her loss. The V.I. Police Department on St. Croix said there are laws about vicious animals, but the laws are unenforceable. The V.I. Police Department said no agency or individual has been deemed the animal warden for the island. To me, that still is no reason for letting people suffer the unfair injuries.

It’s bad enough that there are crazed murderers out there, and now there are crazed pit bulls. I believe that if people want to own a pit bull, they should have to obtain a license for one. The license would have certain conditions, and owners would have to abide by these rules with their pit bulls. Victims who have been attacked should join with the V.I. Police Department along with the Animal Shelter and push the Senate to put a new law into effect. This should resolve the issue.

Chris Howell, St. Croix deputy police chief, and Gretchen Sherill, director of the Animal shelter, have been trying to establish a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) to enforce the current law. It will be a negotiation between the police, St. Croix Animal Shelter and the Agriculture Department. The owners of the pit bulls are really the culprits because they do not have them under proper control.

Susan Michi stated, “I am not going to accuse any law enforcement person or government agency of receiving kickbacks for protecting pit bulls and the pit bull fighting that we all know goes on…. But with pit bull fighting, we have drugs, gangs, and murders. What’s the deal here?”

If it isn’t bad enough that pit bulls are attacking people, there are criminal acts being done that involve pit bulls also. The case with Jerome Blyden is a perfect example. Blyden was convicted of having dogfights in which pit bulls were included. That is promoting even more violence to occur from the pit bulls. It just shows how pit bulls are a danger to the community. Who wants to be living life in fear of being attacked by a pit bull? There is a way to solve to this situation and it needs to be solved now before it gets out of hand. The owners of these pit bulls should make an effort to work with the community and keep these pt bulls under control. If this can happen, then we should be on our way making our home less dangerous.

Michi, Susan. Letter.The Virgin Islands Daily News. 10 May 2010, 21