Name: TN
Victim: Child
Location: A friend’s house, British Columbia
Year of attack: 2017

Tell us about the attack

On July 2017 our then 13-year-old daughter was invited to a friend’s house for a sleepover. We knew they had a pit bull but we were very naive. Throughout the day she had some apprehension regarding the pit bull’s behaviour and asked her friend and the mother to put the pit bull away on multiple occasions. They chose to ignore her requests, insisting instead that she give the pit bull treats, while repeating the what-we-now-know is classic “our pit bull would never hurt anyone” mantra. Later that evening as she and her friend were getting ready for bed, the pit bull suddenly attacked her. As pit bulls often do, he went straight for her neck and face knocking her to the ground. He managed to bite her neck, arm and breast before the owner was LUCKILY able to remove the pit bull from on top of her.

How has your life changed as a result of the attack?
Everything changed that day for our entire family. Just take a minute and try to understand how absolutely terrifying it would be for an 80lb pit bull to knock you to the ground, biting you over and over again. The sheer terror! The physical pain is far less now almost 4 years later but the scars and emotional pain are ever present. She had lacerations that required dozens of stitches and bruising that you cannot even imagine. She spent six nights in the hospital on IV antibiotics as some of her wounds became infected. She suffers from necrosis as well as neuropathic pain damage. She also suffers from severe PTSD and anxiety and she is still under the care of a paediatric plastic surgeon as well as a psychiatrist. She lives in constant fear and as a family we are all hyper vigilant.

Legal Consequences
She made the decision to pursue legal action to hold these people accountable as they never even bothered to offer condolences to her because they were more focussed on defending their pit bull and their stupidity. Unfortunately, and again, as we know now is also typical of pit bull owners, they did not have any type of liability or other insurance which should be mandatory when you choose to own murderous beasts like that. Thankfully, they resided on a farm where the pit bull owner also worked and the incident happened on the farm. Therefore the property owners were held vicariously liable for negligence and my daughter received compensation through a settlement. Although we are very grateful to the legal team for their efforts, the fact is the people still own dangerous pit bulls which is VERY concerning.

What would you like people to know as a result of your attack?
I would like people to know that this family had this pit bull since it was 8-weeks-old and maintain that they loved and nurtured the pit bull properly and of course, as pit bull owners always say, it had never done anything like this before.

“It is the owner not the pit bull” is a myth! The term “nanny dog” is a myth! And it is very easy for any person with a shred of common sense to distinguish a pit bull. Media is not biased against pit bulls: pit bulls make headlines because of the damage and chaos they create, unlike every single other dog breed combined! Pit bulls are absolutely unpredictable and capable of inflicting the severest injuries and deaths. BE AWARE!