On July 22, 2008, Tony Evans Jr., a 3-year-old boy from Jackson, Mississippi, was playing with friends across the street from his home. The house had a carport where a pit bull was chained. The dog grabbed the boy, dragged him inside its doghouse, and killed him. Mississippi follows the ancient and outdated "one bite rule."

The article about this killing (Investigation continues into boy’s mauling) is particularly interesting because of its final sentence: "Animal control will spend the next 10 days observing Blue Eyes, who has been quarantined and is in animal control’s custody, before determining whether the dog should be euthanized."

What else does the dog have to do to prove that it is a bad dog?

On July 1, 2008, two pit bulls mauled Henry Piotrowski, 90, on Staten Island, New York, in the victim's own yard. Three of his limbs had to be amputated. "They ate him," said a witness. "They consumed this man." The owner of the dogs, James McNair, 28, is now facing second-degree assault charges. (Click here to read the story.)

On July 3, 2008, Frantz Cesar, a 24-year-old New York man, purposefully unleashed his pit bull dog in a room where five children were sleeping. The dog mauled a 3-year-old boy -- his ear was torn off and his jaw was ripped open. Cesar laughed when he saw the boy's injuries. As of this writing, charges have not been filed. (To read the story, click here.)

The courts of New York have consistently ruled in favor of dog owners over the rights of dog bite victims. The state's highest court has even said that there is no such thing as dog owner negligence. Lawmakers need to be pressured to adopt a well-balanced strict liability law, such as the Model Dog Bite Statute.

Loraine May, 74, of Brevard County, Florida, was killed by her own two dogs on June 26, 2008. The dogs were a golden retriever and labrador mix, and an Australian shepherd. Florida is a strict liability state. (Click here to read the article.)

The USA has sustained a total of 7 fatal dog attacks in 2008. For more information, see the home page of Dog Bite Law by clicking the button above.

Wichita Animal Services, in the city of Wichita, Kansas, is releasing official statistics involving pit bulls, and the numbers are disturbing. (Click here for the article.)

From January through March of this year:

41 (32%) of dog attacks and bites involved pit bulls
10 (67%) of the dogs deemed dangerous were pit bulls
23 (24%) of the dog bites were caused by pit bulls
615 (22%) of complaints involved one or more pit bulls
354 (24%) of all dogs impounded were pit bulls

From the Wichita Police Department, 2004 through 2007:

In 2004 66% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bulls.
In 2005 80% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bulls.
In 2006 74% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bulls.
In 2007 87% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bulls.

A male, year-and-a-half old border collie/Labrador mix bit Kayla Singleton, 6, of Alameda County, California, on June 15, 2008. The Singleton family was at the Alameda County animal shelter to select a pet. They picked out this dog and were spending time with it, when it attacked. Kayla was bitten on the eye and was taken by ambulance to Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland, where she had surgery that night.

The dog had been through the shelter's temperament evaluation, and had passed its tests. We do not know what the tests were, or the dog's history -- why it was in a shelter to begin with. (To read the news article, click here.)

Great care must be exercised when picking a "used dog." Not all shelter dogs are from kindly masters who gave them up because of the rising cost of kibbles. Some of the most serious injury and death cases in recent memory involved dogs that were from shelters.

Temperament tests are non standardized. Many shelters have a "no kill" policy. Some shelters are dominated by people whom I refer to as "humaniancs" who consciously release known dangerous dogs to unsuspecting families in the hideously wrong belief that enough love can turn a Charlie Manson dog into a Charlie Brown dog.

To protect themselves and the public, all shelters, rescues and adoption groups should institute the policies and procedures that I put together for Avoiding Liability When You Train, Shelter or Adopt-Out.

The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office won't pursue charges against the owner of a pit bull that mauled to death his 5-year-old nephew, Pablo Lopez aka Pablo Hernandez. Investigators said they found no signs of negligence. They say this was a "tragic accident." (Click here to read the article.)

Last year the Texas legislature, reacting to the fact that their state leads the nation in fatal dog attacks, passed "Lilian's Law." Named after Lilian Stiles, who was brutally killed by pit bulls, the law was touted as eliminating the loopholes that enabled the owners of dangerous dogs to escape punishment. I lobbied against the law, saying among other things that it preserved the criminal negligence requirement and therefore was a sham. I pointed out that the owner of the dogs that killed Lilian herself used the lack-of-negligence defense, which led the jury to find him "not guilty." (See Texas-the New Dog Laws.)

This week, a little boy has died, the police cannot establish negligence, and the message to the owners of dangerous dogs in Texas is the same: the law protects you, not us. There is a right to bite in Texas. (To read the text of the criminal negligence requirement, click Read More below.)