Phoenix judge spares life of dog that mauled child

[XemaSab]

A Phoenix judge on Tuesday spared the life of a pit bull that mauled a 4-year-old boy last month and touched off a polarizing Internet debate on mercy, blame and animal violence.

Municipal Court Judge Deborah Griffin ruled that the dog named Mickey must be neutered, defanged and microchipped. She declared the dog vicious earlier in the day and could have ordered euthanasia.

"There would be absolutely no possibility of the animal ever doing this to someone again," Griffin said, saying the dog must remain in a facility for the rest of its life and can't be adopted.

An animal rights group is the trustee for the dog and has 30 days to find a rehabilitation center or shelter to take Mickey. An animal advocate in court started to cry when hearing the dog would live.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Phoenix-judge-spares-life-of-dog-that-mauled-child-5346020.php

[AngryAmish]

1. we are unfit to rule ourselves

[YarnAddict]

2. "Defanged?"

How many teeth do they plan to remove?

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. So that's a solution?

[XemaSab]

4. .

:kick:

[chrisa]

5. A dog doesn't commit murder - it attacks for reasons irrational to humans.

It doesn't attack for monetary reasons, for revenge, etc. It only attacks because it was taught to be aggressive - it's acting out the doggy position in the pack that it's human owners gave it.

There is no such thing as an "evil" dog. Dogs do not need to be punished. The dog's owners are at fault for not correcting this behavior, which I suspect is purposeful.

There's no bigger douchebag in the world than the owner of "pitbulls as a masculine accessory." They don't make you tough. They make you a potential murderer by proxy.

[Mariana]

6. ...the dog must remain in a facility for the rest of its life

and can't be adopted. Well, that's nice. We all know how much dogs love living in shelters, and now this dog can never, ever leave one.

Please just euthanize the poor thing.

[Mosby]

8. The dog spent it's life chained to a post and was beaten

the owners belong in jail.

[Mariana]

9. I agree with that. If any dog is abused

the owners should be prosecuted.

But that isn't really relevant to the question of what should be done with the dog.

[Mosby]

10. I think the dog should be put down also

All this time, effort and money should have been used trying to find homes for the thousands of pets in shelters around AZ.

[Mariana]

11. Yes. It's had a miserable life so far

apparently, and now it's doomed to misery for the rest of its life, too. A shelter may be somewhat better than living with the owners it's had, but it still sucks for a dog to have to spend its life in one. And I agree with the judge that this dog is should never be adopted. That leaves euthanasia as the only humane choice.

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. Follow the money.

If the dog lives, all those donations will go to someone - probably the shelter owned by the city for whom the judge works.

Cognitive dissonance; I'm becoming a misanthrope due to people's prioritization of pets over people - or anything else, for that matter.