(Beth Clifton collage)
“Weger got [the killer pit bull] from another rescue in Tucson,” Pima Animal Care Center tells media
TUCSON, Arizona––Pit bull rescuer Tina M. Weger, 61 was killed on January 19, 2025, the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed on January 24, 2025, to Raya Torres of 13 News in Tucson.
“Weger suffered puncture wounds and the Tucson Police Department and the Pima Animal Care Center are investigating,” Torres reported.
The Pima Animal Care Center “confirmed the pit bull was euthanized and that Weger got him from another rescue in Tucson,” Torres added.
Tina Weger. (Facebook photo)
Had fostered pit bulls at least since 2023
“According to her Facebook page, Weger has been fostering,” specifically fostering pit bulls, “since at least 2023.
“The Pima Animal Care Center also said Weger had been fostering the pit bull [who killed her] for more than a year,” Torres added.
Added 13 News anchor Mary Coleman, “Her cause of death is ‘Puncture and avulsion injuries’ due to ‘Dog attack.’ The manner of death is ‘Accident.’”
The medical definition of avulsion is “an injury in which a body structure is torn off. The term most commonly refers to a surface trauma where all layers of the skin have been torn away, exposing the underlying structures, i.e. subcutaneous tissue, muscle, tendons, or bone.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Had three pit bulls in home as of 2023
Thirty-six of the most recent photos on Weger’s Facebook page showed pit bulls she was apparently fostering, trying to place in adoptive homes. The other three photos were selfies.
But Weger’s Facebook page may not have been kept current.
Among Weger’s most recent postings, she lamented on February 5, 2023 that the Pima Animal Care Center was “overwhelming full,” and that she had two foster pit bulls, a “high energy” female named Volpix, “who runs like the wind and does the fastest zoomies around my pit bull Bentley,” and a male named Diesel.
Diesel, Weger said, “was recently on the euthanasia list, given until the end of February” [2023] to find a home.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“He has a bite on his record”
“I have fostered him several times,” Weger added.
Asked one Katherine Spence Castro, “Any reason he was on the euthanasia list?”
Responded Weger, “He has a bite on his record. Apparently he was kept in the back yard and owner entered the gate in the dark to give him water and he jumped up and bit her on the arm.”
Diesel, according to a Facebook posting from December 6, 2023, was still in Tina Weger’s home, undergoing remedial training.
By way of personal information Weger offered only that she had worked for Delta Global Services, a former subsidiary of Delta Airlines; came originally from Stoughton, Wisconsin; and had lived in Madison, Wisconsin.
Other online sources indicated that Weger while in Madison worked for the Burkhalter Travel Agency. before relocating to Tucson, and was formerly married to a Timothy Edward Weger, with whom she had two now adult sons.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Speed kills. So does cocaine. And pit bulls.
NewspaperArchive.com added, on page 8 of the September 25, 1997 edition of the Waunakee Tribune, that a Tina M. Weger had been fined $71.90 for speeding.
But Kenneth Francis Ripple, senior United States Circuit Court judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, apparently mentioned both Timothy and Tina Weger in an April 11, 2000 unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel of the court, upholding the conviction of one Michael Roe.
Wrote Ripple, “Michael Roe was convicted of conspiring with Timothy Weger to distribute cocaine. There is no dispute that Weger was involved in the distribution of cocaine; he pleaded guilty to cocaine conspiracy and then testified against Mr. Roe at trial.
“A Madison, Wisconsin, police officer testified that he had found drug paraphernalia in Weger’s trash, and more paraphernalia was found inside Weger’s home. Further, there is no dispute that Mr. Roe and Weger engaged in cocaine transactions with each other.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Enough to fill a Coke can”
“At sentencing,” Ripple summarized, “the district court attributed 623 grams of cocaine to Mr. Roe. The district court had relied on several pieces of evidence in arriving at this amount. Timothy Weger had testified about the amount of cocaine he saw Mr. Roe handle. Tina Weger, Timothy Weger’s wife, had testified about a pile of cocaine she saw Mr. Roe weighing in the Weger basement and had made hand motions to demonstrate the size of the pile.”
The trial court, Ripple continued, “considered Tina Weger’s testimony that she ‘saw Mr. Roe weighing out a quantity of cocaine sufficient to fill a soft drink can.’
(Beth Clifton collage)
Different terminology does not change facts
“At trial, Tina Weger, when asked how much cocaine she saw Mr. Roe weighing on a scale in the basement of her home, made a hand gesture that the court described as holding her thumbs and first fingers together. Tina Weger then responded, ‘It was more. It filled the whole scale. I don’t know how big it is. I don’t know how big, but it looked––or from here I mean it looked like it was a nice-sized pile.’
“The district court used terminology different from Tina Weger’s in describing the amount of cocaine,” Ripple acknowledged. “That difference does not make its finding of facts clearly erroneous. The district court, after observing Tina Weger’s gesture and seeing the scale to which she was referring, simply described in graphic terms what it had seen.”
Gladys & Pam Robb, her victim.
Eight rescuers in five years killed by pit bulls
Tina Weger, the fifth known U.S. dog attack fatality of 2025, all killed by pit bulls, was also at least the eighth pit bull rescuer killed by a pit bull since 2020.
The others:
Juanita L. Sanchez, 35, 11-3-2024, Fontana, CA. Killed by two of her four “rescued” pit bulls. (See Five pit bull fatalities in first week of November 2024 include 3 in one day)
Jimmy Miller, 72, 9-25-2024, Cardwell, MO. Killed by rescue pit bull. (See Skunks, raccoons, bears, bad bugs & pit bulls, oh my! in the Carolinas.)
Lilly Elizabeth Cluckie, 76, 6-16-2023, Burlington, Ontario. Fatally injured by her own rescue pit bull, died 10 days later. (See If pit bull victims were billionaires in a leaky sub, public might give a damn.)
Pit bulls Angel & Isabella. Isabella killed owner Don Gibson in Tulsa, 3-23-2023.
Don Gibson, 67, 3-23-2023, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Two pit bulls were leaders of an 8-dog attack. (See Pit bull kills rescuer trying to stop a fight; third fatal dog attack in six days, and Waterloo denies pit bull killed baby; Tulsa ignores 2 more pit bull deaths.)
Pam Robb, 71, 2-17-2022, Oakland Park, FL. Rescue dog also mauled Jan Haas Stenger, 52. (See Will lawsuit over Pam Robb death expose history of dog who killed her?)
Sharon Rene Baldwin, 60, Fort Worth, TX, 4-12-2020; attacked in home by rescued pit bull on March 28, 2020. (See Pit bull attack deaths only slightly slowed by COVID-19 stay-home orders.)
Beth & Merritt Clifton with friends.
Zachary S. Willis, 27, Moses Lake, WA, 10-8-2020; killed in female housemate’s trailer. The housemate was injured. (See Self-defined pit bull rescuer killed by pit bull in Moses Lake, Washington.)
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The post Tucson pit bull rescuer Tina M. Weger, 61, killed by own foster pit appeared first on Animals 24-7.
