Pit bull severs thumb of animal control officer in Bell Gardens

An animal control officer lost half of her thumb Thursday when she was attacked by a pit bull in Bell Gardens.

Officer Martha Muro, 26, remained hospitalized Thursday evening. Doctors were evaluating whether a recovered portion of the thumb could be reattached, said Capt. Aaron Reyes of the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority.

Muro, an officer for three years, was making a follow-up visit to a house on Live Oak Street to ensure that excessive dog feces had been cleaned up. As she spoke to the owner at the front door, two pit bulls began lunging at a chain-link gate in a side yard, Reyes said.

Muro retreated from the frontyard, but the dogs escaped, broke through a hole in a front gate and a male pit bull attacked. The dog latched onto Muro’s baton and wrestled her to the ground, Reyes said, adding, “He was going for her face and neck.”

When the owner approached, Muro was able to break free and a neighbor summoned help. The male pit bull was turned over by the owner and euthanized, Reyes said.  A female pit bull was quarantined for observation.

An investigation is continuing. Health officials are conducting tests for rabies or other possible causes of the dog’s aggressiveness, Reyes said.

—Rich Connell
 

Comments

[Sheryl]

Why euthanize the dog?

It was the stupid owner's fault!

[Al]

If this were a different bread of dog this would not make the news. Animal control officers are consistently endangered but the media loves demonizing pit bulls.

[Ruby Jackson]

You are right, Sheryl. They should have euthanized the owner.

[Amy]

"Health officials are conducting tests for rabies or other possible causes of the dog’s aggressiveness"

Odds are good they need look no further than the owner to find the cause of the dog's aggressiveness.

And I must agree with Al: would this be "news" if the dog were a different breed? How about a little context to the story? What do the neighbors have to say about the way the owner treats the dogs? What does the Animal Control Authority have to say about the history of complaints and investigations at this address? What do animal experts have to say about violence being a learned, rather than innate, behavior in dogs? Without any of that, this is just another shallow "if it bleeds, it leads" story that serves no purpose.

[Puhlease]

Oh, right. It's that darn media conspiracy again. I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the fact that when pit bulls attack, people typically lose body parts. As far as investigating why the dog was so aggressive, find out who the breeder is and see if other dogs from the litters have displayed similar aggression. It's heritable, after all. http://www.scribd.com/doc/14810086/Heritability-of-Behavior-in-the-Abnormally-Aggressive-Dog-by-A-Semyonova

You're right. It is the owner's fault. She had two aggressive pit bulls and cared nothing for the safety of others. People should do jail time when their dogs attack and injure other people.