Pit bull attack deaths only slightly slowed by COVID-19 stay-home orders

(Beth Clifton collage)

Two-thirds of first dozen pit bull fatalities of 2020 were killed in their own homes

            FORT WORTH, Texas––Roger James Kirk,  69,  of Horatio,  Arkansas,  and Sharon Rene Baldwin,  60,  of Fort Worth,  Texas,  on April 12,  2020 became the first known U.S. victims of fatal dog attacks since state governors began issuing stay-at-home orders on March 19,  2020 in response to COVID-19.

Their deaths,  however,  kept U.S. dog attack and pit bull attack fatalities occurring at a record pace through the first third of the year.

Both Kirk and Baldwin died several days after pit bulls mauled them.

Kirk,  a stonemason and harmonica player,  was attacked on March 19,  2020 by a pit bull on a back road near his home.  Hospitalized at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock,  Kirk died a week later.  Authorities and family have disclosed no information about who owned the pit bull who killed him.

Texas,  where Baldwin was killed,  is among the three states whose governors have not issued a stay-at-home order,  but such an order would not have helped Baldwin,  who was attacked in her home,  as were seven of the other 12 U.S. pit bull fatalities thus far into 2020.

Sharon Rene Baldwin at her home.
(Beth Clifton collage)

Died two weeks after mauling

Baldwin,  who used a wheelchair,  died late on Easter evening,  two weeks after she was mauled by a pit bull on March 28,  2020 at 809 Hammond Street,  a 1952-vintage ranch-style house on a wooded lot in a quiet residential neighborhood just south of downtown Fort Worth.

“A man who stayed at Baldwin’s home told animal control officials that he had found the stray [pit bull] several days before the attack,”  reported Domingo Ramirez Jr. for the Fort Worth Star-Telegraph.  “Baldwin either rolled over the [pit bull] in her wheelchair or fell on the canine, prompting the dog to attack her,  authorities said.  Baldwin suffered bites to her arm,  shoulder and neck,”  Ramirez finished.

Added CBSDFW.com a day later,  “Officials said the man [who found the pit bull] was caring for the [pit bull] until the owner came forward.  The relationship between the man and the woman is not known at this time.  According to officials,  the dog’s owner eventually came forward and surrendered the dog to animal control officers,”  who euthanized the pit bull on April 13,  2020.

            Baldwin,  who worked in financial services,  was a 2000 graduate of South Mississippi Community College.  Little other information was immediately available about her,  her male housemate,  or the dog who killed her.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Four pit bull-related deaths in same area in barely more than a year

Baldwin was the fourth person dead in 372 days as result of a pit bull attack occurring within a few miles of the 26-mile stretch of U.S. 30 linking Fort Worth and Irving,  Texas,  via Arlington.

Johana Villafane,  33,  of Irving,   was fatally mauled at a veterinary clinic by her own two pit bulls on March 23,  2019,  who were quarantined at the clinic after biting another person.

Margarita “Maggie” Victoria Brooks,  30,  of Arlington,  who was homeless,  was on August 1,  2019 shot accidentally when a police officer fired at her charging pit bull.

Nine days after the Brooks shooting,  three pit bulls killed Nelson Cabrera, 16,  also homeless,  also in Irving,   after Cabrera scaled a fence and jumped into the pit bull owner’s yard for unknown reasons.

Caitlin Keen after she was attacked by a pit bull in March 2019.

Other pit bull attacks of consequence

Many other pit bull attacks of consequence have occurred in the same area during the same time frame.  A 73-year-old woman was seriously injured by two pit bulls on February 2,  2020,  for instance,  while walking near her Arlington home.

Earlier,  on March 3,  2019,  nationally ranked marathon runner Caitlin Keen was injured by a loose pit bull named Taco while training on Trinity Trail in Fort Worth.

Keen received 21 stitches,  resumed training,  and on February 29,  2020 placed 202nd among 390 female contenders at the Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta.  Her time of 2:48 was easily good enough to win the women’s division at most marathons,  but was 21 minutes behind the three qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games,  which were later postponed due to COVID-19 until 2021.

Demi Herod Killebrew

First death in 33 days maintains record pace

The 14th and 15th known U.S. dog attack fatalities of 2020,  Kirk was attacked 10 days after the death of Demi Marie Witherspoon,  age 2,  of Portsmouth, Virginia,  also known as Demi Herod Killebrew,  mauled on March 9,  2020 by her family’s pit bull.

Baldwin was attacked two days after Kirk’s death.

When Witherspoon was killed,  through the first 62 days of 2020,  fatal dog attacks––11 by pit bulls and two by unidentified dogs––were proceeding at a rate projecting 77 for the year,  20 more than the 2017 record of 57,  40 by pit bulls.

The stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 have apparently slowed the pace,  currently projecting to 60 for the year,  48 by pit bulls.  Both totals would still be new highs.

To put those numbers into perspective,  the U.S. before 2008 never had as many dog attack fatalities in a year as the 15 logged so far.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Disfiguring attacks also continue at close to record pace

The first U.S. deaths from COVID-19,  reported on March 5,  2020,  all involved residents of nursing homes and assisted care facilities.

Those deaths rapidly upstaged the pit bull mauling death two days earlier of Beverly Jean Dove,  60,  a resident of the Home Sweet Home Assisted Living Facility in Chipley,  Florida.

Dove was killed,  according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office,  by a pack of five free-roaming pit bulls who frequented an adjacent open field.

The COVID-19 stay-at-home orders have apparently also slowed either the pace of disfiguring dog attacks or the rate at which they are reported.  ANIMALS 24-7 logged 121 disfiguring dog attacks in 2020 through February,  74 of them by pit bulls,  but received information about only 54 disfiguring dog attacks,  36 of them by pit bulls,  in March and the first 14 days of April.

Even with the slowdown,  disfiguring dog attacks and pit bull attacks are still occurring in 2020 at close to a record pace.

Jonny Halstead & his pit bull.
(Beth Clifton collage)

Fatalities in U.K. & Ireland

At least two dog attack deaths have occurred in Europe since the arrival of COVID-19 was confirmed in Bordeaux,  France,  on January 21,  2020.

Jonny Halstead,  35,  of  Shaw,  Oldham,  England,  was “bitten multiple times” by his own pit bull on January 29,  2020,  police said,  “while suffering a medical episode” of an undescribed nature.  Police shot the pit bull at the scene.  Relatives denied that the pit bull was responsible for the death.

Glen Murphy,  age 8,  of Tallaght,  Ireland,  near Dublin,  was fatally mauled by two Rottweilers on Mother’s Day,  celebrated in Ireland on March 22,  2020.  Both Rottweilers were impounded and killed.

A similar attack involving two Rottweilers sent a 6-year-old girl in Zuidhollandsedijk, Kaatsheuvel,  Brabant,  Netherlands to hospital by helicopter on April 9,  2020.

Beth, Teddy, & Merritt Clifton.

One of the Rottweilers was killed at the scene.  The second Rottweiler,  who reportedly did not bite the girl,  was impounded and will not be returned to the home,  police said.

The victim was said to be recovering well,  a day later.  Her parents elected not to press charges against the Rottweiler owners.

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