HOW MANY CHILDREN HAVE TO DIE BEFORE THE NATION
CHANGES LAWS REGARDING THE CHAINING OF DOGS?
Second Child Since October Dead from Chained Dog Attack
From the Wednesday, January 14th, 2004 Fayetteville NC Observer:
"Three-year-old Nathan Roy Hill had wandered away from his home at 89 Doris
Drive and into the back yard of the home next door, where the dog was on a
chain, the sheriff said. Rollins said the boyıs mother, Christy Gambill,
called the Sheriffıs Office at 6:22 p.m. and said her son had been missing
about two hours. Deputy Benjamin Wood arrived at 6:45 p.m. and saw Nathanıs
body in the neighborıs yard just minutes into his search."
From the Spartanburg, South Carolina Herald Journal Thursday, October 2,
2003: ³When Crystal Sinclair looked out to check on her 2-year-old daughter
Thursday morning, all she saw was a toy. She went to her next-door neighbor,
Patricia Hancock, to ask for help. Soon, she and Hancock came upon the body
of Makayla Paige Sinclair where EIGHT of Hancock's nine Great Danes were
kept CHAINED TO A TREE. . . . Hancock called 911 at 10:05 a.m., and when EMS
arrived, Makayla was dead.²
Dogs Deserve Better, an organization working to get dogs off chains and into
the family, insists that itıs time American woke up to the dangers of
chaining a dog.
Karen Delise, author of Fatal Dog Attacks, has researched and chronicled the
circumstances surrounding every fatal dog attack in the United States since
1955. ³Chained dogs have killed at least 98 people. Of the 98 people, 92
were children that either wandered into reach or attempted to play, tease,
feed, or untangle a chained, tied or similarly restrained dog.² She also
states in her book: ³Statistically, chained dogs are more dangerous than
free-running packs of dogs.²
America needs nationwide laws prohibiting the chaining of dogs to the
nearest tree, post, or doghouse. Says Tammy Sneath Grimes, founder of Dogs
Deserve Better, ³How many children have to die before people realize this is
a serious and nationwide problem? The chaining of dogs has been ongoing
generation after generation, and this outdated and irresponsible method of
guardianship must stop. Not only is it dangerous for the dog, but itıs
dangerous for anyone unlucky enough to wander into the sphere created by an
angry dogıs chain.²
Chained dogs are often unsocialized, in physical distress, and territorial.
Dogs are pack animals, and humans have become their pack. To ostracize them
from that pack is not only cruel, but creates a danger to society.
Connecticut is the first state in the nation to have any state-wide laws
limiting chaining. Julie Lewin, instrumental in the Connecticut law, is
founder of The National Institute for Animal Advocacy, and is now conducting
training all around the country to mobilize citizens to change chaining laws
as well as other outmoded laws.
Grimes continues, ³Itıs a shame that we need laws to dictate common sense.
If youıre going to bring a dog into your life, youıve got to be willing to
take responsibility for itıs care and well-being. Allowing a dog to run free
around the neighborhood or chaining it to the nearest tree are both
irresponsible behaviors, and can and do end in death for the dog or, as in
all too many cases, a small child. A responsible caretaker's dog lives
inside, and has a fence high and sound enough to protect both the dog and
children passing by or walks the dog on a leash for the safety of all. We
are attempting to educate society, one by one if necessary. But we must also
stand NOW to insist on the laws being changed to protect the innocent, both
humans and dogs. Itıs too crucial to NOT do so. The lost lives of 3 year old
Nathan Roy Hill and 2 year old Makayla Sinclair stand as further proof.²
To contact Dogs Deserve Better go to their website at
www.dogsdeservebetter.com, and to contact Julie Lewin at NIFAA in
Connecticut call 203-453-6590.
Read many more posts on this subject by searching for the word "chained"
"Still no help for chained dogs from the BC SPCA" http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/2517