It’s not the dogs, it’s the owners
Re “Can a dog mauling be murder?” April 16
Marjorie Knoller belongs in prison for life given her total, flagrant disregard for the safety of others. A veterinarian alerted her that her dogs were a menace; a dog bit a fellow tenant in the lobby; a dog lunged, teeth bared, at the abdomen of a pregnant woman; a dog had bitten victim Diane Whipple the month before. How many more red flags did Knoller require? All this and Knoller lived in an apartment building -- in everyday proximity to other people. Did the dogs have to actually kill a human being for Knoller to know that her dogs were a menace? Why didn’t she move to a private house where she could keep these animals locked away? Because she didn’t care about other people.
HOLLACE BROWN
Los Angeles
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I made the horrible mistake of allowing my 11-year-old daughter to spend the night at a friend’s house. The friend’s father owns a huge dog. While my little girl was walking around the backyard, the dog pounced on her from behind. She had more than 55 stitches in the back of her head and was nearly killed. Incredibly, the owner offered no apology and showed no concern whatsoever. There was a trial, for lack of a better word, at the animal control agency, where the owner was slapped with a laughable three-year suspension of ownership of a dog in Los Angeles. The dog was not euthanized, and no fine was imposed on the owner. Dogs are not evil; their owners are. Every time, the owners of dangerous dogs will defend the most horrific attacks at any cost. These owners should be put in jail for any attack by their dogs. As it is, our laws care more for dogs than innocent human beings, and that needs to change.
GLENN S. WAGGNER
Tarzana
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The statistics on deaths because of dog mauling are interesting but irrelevant. They cover 1979 to 1998, ending just before the ownership of killer dogs became popular. Also, a more telling statistic would be the number of maulings by these breeds that did not result in death; these would include attacks that would be classified as an attempt to kill the victim, as opposed to just being nipped. It must be in the tens of thousands. Why have no statistics been released in nine years? Should not the groups interested in dogs have a duty to society to release this information? If a particular model of gun went off for no reason and horribly maimed citizens, even the National Rifle Assn. would demand that it be removed from society.
STEVEN R. ODELL
Huntington Beach
