Boy 10 mauled to death at holiday park

[Witchofzog]

I can't link on this phone but it is on most news sites. The owner was found off site after a police hunt so possibly fled when she knew her dog had killed a child. It's just awful - a young boy probably just going to the loo in the middle of the night on a campsite having his life ended because of a dangerous dog and an owner who can't control and/ or keep it securely away

Naturatint no, really, it’s you who sounds unhinged.

Nobody is minimising the death of this poor boy. Nobody. It’s tragic and horrific and yes the dog did it and should be pts. But ultimately the responsibility lies with the adults because they’re the ones with the supposedly thinking brains. Not sure what you’re not grasping 🤷‍♀️

That poor poor boy. What was the mother thinking?

Hope the idiot parent and murdering dogs owner get max sentence and the dog is PTS pretty smartish.

These type of dogs need to be banned....

Not worth the risk as they seem to attract THICK as shit neglectful owners.

I can also see parallels with gun owners.

That dog should have never been kept as a pet in the first place. But people don't want to admit it because it could mean their "fur baby" is taken off them.

Yes it was stupid of the adults to leave the dog alone with the child. But people are stupid and it's up to the state to protect people from themselves. That's why we have helmet and seat belt laws.

This is not the first attack like this and it won't be the last. It's time we banned owning bigbpowerful breeds. If you want a dog get a small one. No one needs a great big animal in their house.

Are people really arguing that the dog shouldn't be killed?

Owner in prison, dog destroyed, parents investigated for neglect.

No other argument.

To be honest, I don't understand why people have dogs as pets. They're dangerous animals and should be in a pen.

@serii Please identify one person on this thread who has said that the dog should not be put down.

Dogs are not dangerous relative to the many other dangers in society; just look at how many people are killed in vehicle crashes, for instance - many times more. If you were truly interested in safety above all else you'd be advocating to ban private car ownership - along with banning ladders and other household items that people manage to kill and injure themselves with.

Owner in prison, dog destroyed, parents investigated for neglect 👏🏻.

If I say it's for the sake of the police's budget will that make you feel better? The dog won't connect the year or more in kennels with the dead child. There's no reason to drag things out; it will be better for absolutely everybody if the dog is PTS sooner rather than later.

Not least for the poor kennel staff who are going to have to deal with it, knowing a) what it's done and b) what it's capable of! It is a source of wonder and disgust to me that it wasn't PTS immediately.

I am a dog fool with the best of them - have had them all my adult life and always will. I see little place for some of these enormous dogs that are just so strong in modern life, much less in small flats/houses with little/no training and exercise - and often with an unknown life before they are passed in to families.

I really don't know what the answer is to the irresponsible dog culture in this country any more. I get the 'deed not breed' thing to an extent, any dog can bite - but I still can't see any place in modern society for dogs that no normal adult could stop if they turn (and the height of some of these dogs is absolutely no measure of their strength - they are a very different composition to a more 'standard' dog).

Unfortunately, rescue kennels are also full of these accidents waiting to happen, and no knowing which of the thousands there will be the issue.

Oh - and indeed Labradors were the statistically most likely dogs for recorded dog bites at one point, although I don't know how recently - but this was largely due to their sheer numbers compared to any other recognisable dog breed. I suppose there is some benefit that they have now been over-taken numerically by some of the smaller designer breeds who could do less damage.

Yes we need to teach responsible dog ownership. We also need to teach responsible parenting.

Why exactly was this young boy left? Whether alone or with a dog it is wrong, totally wrong. The mother apparently didn't even hear the boy or the dog, it was other people who tried to help.

Disgusting mother should definitely go to prison but probably won't.

Seri, why should all dogs be banned? Do you have any idea how many homes in this country have a dog or dogs? Almost all living happily with grown ups, toddlers, babies,, teenagers, cats etc.

I am not for one second saying this attack or any attack is not awful and, of course, extremely sad BUT the number of children killed or injured by a dog each year is not actually that high compared with the number of dogs in this country. Nor is it anywhere near as high as children abused, injured or killed by a human.

We don't ban cars even though they are very dangerous, we don't ban humans even though they too can be very dangerous. We don't even put down a human who kills a child but always put down a dog.

We don't ban cars even though they are very dangerous, we don't ban humans even though they too can be very dangerous. We don't even put down a human who kills a child but always put down a dog.

🤦‍♀️

'I think any dog capable of killing a human should not be kept as a pet especially when children are in the house.'

I agree especially these bull dog types which lock there jaws and kill....

But as I've said before someone, will be along to tell us about all the killer Labrador's and Spaniels in a moment....

Seems it's always a certain 'type' that have these 'status' type killer dogs aswell.

Hope they make an example of this case it's happening way too often.

“We don't ban cars even though they are very dangerous, we don't ban humans even though they too can be very dangerous. We don't even put down a human who kills a child but always put down a dog.”

I can only assume that you typed this without thinking at all. That is the only charitable interpretation.

*We don't ban humans even though they too can be very dangerous
*
I have to say that is, I think, the least intelligent comment I've ever read on MN.

'We don't ban cars even though they are very dangerous, we don't ban humans even though they too can be very dangerous. We don't even put down a human who kills a child but always put down a dog.'

What a load of bollox

This animal had apparently attacked before.

Hope it's sorted pretty smartish.

'MyDogIsTheBest'

It might be

But this one that killed a child isn't.

we don't ban humans even though they too can be very dangerous

We should ban you based on that comment.

@MarthasGinYard no dog can lock it’s jaws. That’s scaremongering and completely untrue.
Banning certain breeds isn’t helpful. What we need to do is more to ensure responsible ownership. No dog is guaranteed completely harmless in any situation ever. No owner should put their dog in a situation where harm could occur. Ever. The dog attacked and we will never know why. But the fault lies with the people here.

I wish I had the answer. Ideally you would need to complete some kind of very basic training/test but I can’t imagine how that would work in practice.
So fed up of idiots walking dogs off lead by busy roads.
Marching on ahead and ignoring the shitting hound.
Putting dog aggressive or scared dogs in a situation where someone could end up getting bitten.
Dogs loose in moving cars.
Shame we can’t legislate the stupid.

@'MarthasGinYard no dog can lock it’s jaws. That’s scaremongering and completely untrue.
Banning certain breeds isn’t helpful. What we need to do is more to ensure responsible ownership.'

I believe 'banning certain breeds' such as the kind that killed this boy is the way forward.

'Ensuring responsible ownership' with the thick type of idiots that seem to own these dogs would just be futile IMO

But the fault lies with the people here.

The fault always lies with people, because dogs (and all other animals) are incapable of reason and responsibility. They’re just dogs.

The point isn’t whether a dog owner is liable for the damage it causes but whether as a society we should allow people to keep dogs with the potential to maim and kill.

Since the dog lovers are so keen to tell us that all sorts of breeds can do damage I’d suggest we introduce a general ban on keeping dogs. It would make our open spaces much nicer too.

They can’t lock their jaws.
We don’t know exactly what breed this dog was. Do you ban all bulldog types? Really? Those living perfectly safely and owned responsibly.
This is an awful tragedy. But jumping up and down and demanding certain breeds be banned really isn’t the solution. Stop scaremongering and frothing.

@handsoff
The DDA is unfit for purpose and has not resulted in eliminating any breed, the police spend in excess of £4 million on kennelling costs per year housing seized dogs; the majority of whom are returned to owners as they are not dangerous. Targetting dogs based on appearance has not worked especially when many are wrongly identified and are assessed as of sound temperament and often reported maliciously with having done no wrong. Banning breeds does not and has not reduced dog bite incidents. Responsible ownership and education is the way forward. Dogs of any breed should only be seized if they have done wrong not because of their look.