"Unprovoked" Pit Bull Attack in the Bronx

The Times today reports another pit bull attack:

A police officer shot and killed a stray pit bull on Monday morning at a busy intersection in the Bronx after the dog attacked the officer and a pregnant woman, the police said.

Just before 8:30 a.m., the dog bit the woman, 44, who was selling newspapers near the East Tremont Avenue subway station by Boston Road, the police and witnesses said. Someone hailed the officer, who works for the Police Department’s Transit Bureau.

The dog bit the officer’s left hand before the officer squeezed off a shot, killing the dog, the police said.

Neither the officer nor the woman were identified. Both were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital. The officer was released before noon.

The woman, who received stitches, reportedly was released later on Monday.

So far, unremarkable. But see how WINS reported the incident:

A pit bull attacked a pregnant woman in the Bronx early Monday morning, forcing an officer to shoot and kill the animal.

According to police, the unprovoked attack occurred near the intersection of East Tremont and Boston Road.

So the attack was “unprovoked”. Had it been “provoked”, it would have been OK, or at least understandable. That's not acceptable. This was a “stray” dog that obviously should never have been loose. And all too often, those of us who are menaced by dogs, leashed or unleashed, hear from the owners that it’s our fault, “you just don’t like dogs”, that we’ve somehow “provoked” the animals. Dogs are their owners’ responsibility. If the dogs cannot endure whatever “provocation” they receive outside their owners’ homes, that should not be the problem of the rest of us.

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Prospect Park. This morning at 7:40, one loose dog on the west side of the lullwater, and another on the east side; the obliging owner encouraged the dog to take a swim (picture above). Around 8, one large white dog, a repeat offender, loose on Wellhouse Drive. This afternoon around 3, 2 middle-aged women with an off-leash golden lab in the north Lullwater; also elderly woman and young male with a mutt in the Ravine. All owners were white. d this evening at 4:57 P.M., 10 (ten) loose dogs on the Nethermead. So much for the DOPR or the NYPD enforcing the 9 P.M. rule.

And on Monday, Marcia was spotted with her two-off leash dogs near the Garfield playground.