Two more dog attack dead, but USA Today gets hep to the pit bull jive

Lottery winner killed in Manitoba;  in Tennessee,  pit bulls took a Chance.

            COLUMBUS,  Ohio––The known U.S. and Canadian dog attack fatality toll in the first 10 weeks of 2025 reached 16;  14 in the U.S.,  two north of the border,  with the deaths of Rick Flett,  56,  on February 23, 2025 in Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  and Charles David Chance, 59,  three days later in Gallatin, Tennessee.

Flett,  attacked on February 21,  2025 by five dogs of unidentified breed on the Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation,  70 miles north of Brandon,  Manitoba,  was rescued by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who shot two of the dogs.

Died 500 miles from home

Rushed to the Brandon Regional Health Center and then to a health care facility in Winnipeg,  130 miles east,  Flett was discharged in Winnipeg on February 23,  2025,  200 miles from the Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation by the main roads,  550 miles from Split Lake,  his listed home on Facebook,  but died soon afterward at a Winnipeg hotel.

RCMP spokesperson Sergeant Paul Manaigre told media that Flett did not own the dogs who killed him,  and did not live at the home they came from.

Photographs indicate that Flett may have been the Richard Flett,  then of Elphinstone, Manitoba,  who in January 2015 won a million dollar lottery prize.

Tried to break up multi-pit fight

Charles David Chance “died of a heart attack on February 26,  2025,  after being attacked at his own home the previous evening by 11 of his own dogs,”  according to Gallatin News reporter Janet Scott.

Gallatin police captain Lamar Bullard told Scott that  “The dogs looked like a mix of pit bull and other breeds.”

Wrote Scott,  “Chance’s wife,  Christal,  had been in the shower when the dog fight ensued, per Ballard.  She heard the fracas,  got out,  pulled the dogs off her husband and called 911.

“She said it appeared that her husband tried to break up a dog fight,  and in that process,  he was attacked and went into cardiac arrest,”  Ballard said.

Nine of the 11 dogs were euthanized by local animal control,  Scott reported.

USA Today chain details mayhem in Ohio

In Ohio,  with 25 dog attack fatalities,  21 of them by pit bull,  since the state dog law formerly defining pit bulls as “inherently vicious” was weakened in 2012,  as often exposed by ANIMALS 24-7,  USA Today network reporter Laura Bischoff and colleagues with 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio over the weekend of March 7-8-9,  2025 produced a three-part series detailing the mayhem:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/2025/03/08/how-ohios-dangerous-dog-laws-fail-victims-who-are-attacked-and-maimed/74631614007/

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/state/2025/03/08/dogs-attacked-nearly-killed-ohio-girl-now-her-mom-fights-for-reform/75479962007/

 ‘I figured I was dead.’ Ohio man survives attack by friend’s pit bull

Fell short of recommending abolition of one-free-bite law

But while calling for stronger legislation,  Bischoff and her many sources fell short of calling for either restoration of a breed-specific state dog law,  or abolition of the one-free-bite definition of a dangerous dog in effect since 2012.

Among the 727 pit bull attack fatalities and more than 6,200 pit bull attack disfigurements logged by ANIMALS 24-7 since 1982,  about half have been claimed by the pit bull owners to have been the dogs’ first known violent incidents.

Bischoff et al did take note of a March 2,  2025 attack by two pit bulls running at large that left 8-year-old Oscar Koon of Columbus in “extremely critical” condition,  unconscious for at least six days,  “having suffered severe damage to his face and arms in the attack,”  reported the Columbus Dispatch. 

Parents “have not left 8-year-old victim’s side”

“His parents,  John and Rachel Koon,  have not left his side in the intensive care unit since the March 2,  2025 incident.  The couple’s 6-year-old daughter is staying with relatives,”  the Dispatch added.

“Neighbors who called 911 said two pit bulls attacked the boy before attacking another dog and lunging at a neighbor, who fended them off with a shovel,”  the Dispatch continued,  until the first police officer on the scene shot both pit bulls.

One pit bull died at the scene;  the other was later euthanized.

Pit bulls had priors

Columbus City Attorney’s Office spokesperson Pete Shipley told the Dispatch that the pit bulls’ owner will be charged with failure to register a previously designated dangerous dog,  failure to confine a previously designated dangerous dog,  and two counts of failure to confine a dog,  which carry cumulative maximum penalties for all offenses combined of up to 30 days in jail and fines of as much as $1,000.

“According to Franklin County Animal Care & Control records,”  the Dispatch said,  on June 22,  2024 “three dogs jumped the fence at their owner’s house and began attacking dogs being walked by a man.  As the man was breaking up the dog fight,  a white pit bull named Luna bit him on the hand,  court records say.  Luna was not involved in the recent mauling of Oscar.  But two other dogs described in the June case are similar to the ones seen on the body camera footage following the attack on Oscar.

“Luna was designated a dangerous dog,  but city prosecutors dismissed the charges against the owner on October 4,  2024,  due to insufficient evidence.”

Police threatened rescuer

Meanwhile a March 7,  2025 pit bull and Rottweiler attack in Colerain Township,  a Cincinnati suburb,  left resident Emily Rose Rentschler with injuries to her face,  both arms,  and both legs––and left both Rentschler and her mother Carrie R. Davis furious.

“I need to deal with Colerain Police and the dog warden now,”  Rentschler posted to Facebook,  “because from my understanding those neighbors still have the dogs and my street is not happy about that.  And to deal with the police officer who held Ryan Witko,”  who came to her rescue with a shotgun,  “at gun point!!!  Anyone have a good liability lawyer to recommend?”

Township “condemns inaction of dog warden”

In a supporting resolution passed late on March 9,  2025,  the township trustees declared “Colerain Township condemns the inaction of the Hamilton County Dog Warden and their decision to allow dogs that ruthlessly mauled one of our residents to remain in the neighborhood.

“The woman who was attacked is going to need several surgeries and will face a long road to recovery from her wounds.  She also has several young children.  There are also many other children who live in this neighborhood. By choosing to allow these dogs to remain behind,  the Dog Warden and their staff have chosen to put the lives and safety of Colerain Township residents at extreme risk.

“Too vicious” to impound

“The Dog Warden staff cited to our officers,”  the resolution continued,  “that they felt the dogs were ‘too vicious’ to take in. So instead,  they left them behind.”

Concluded the Colerain Township resolution,  “State law is very clear. It is the responsibility of the County to control dangerous animals in Townships. Our residents should not have their safety compromised because the County has ignored a core responsibility.”

Colerain Township in September 2010 debated,  but did not pass,  a vicious dog ordinance in

“after a number of incidents involving pit bulls,”  two of which ended with pit bulls shot after attacking police officers,  reported WLWT television in Cincinnati.

Rochester perp pleads guilty

In Rochester,  New York,  Sulamain Hawkins Sr.,  20,  on March 6,  2025 pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the August 3, 2024 pit bull mauling death of his 3-month-old son Sulamain Hawkins Jr.

Hawkins Sr. and the baby’s mother,  Anastasia Weaver,  allegedly left their son alone with two pit bulls dogs in the attic of the home where they were staying,  while doing drugs downstairs.

(See History repeats in four pit bull fatalities near scenes of previous attacks.)

Denver donor promotes pit bull s/n

In Denver,  Colorado,  the Department of Public Health & Environment on March 8,  2025 announced that,  “A private donor is paying to spay/neuter pit bulls at Denver Animal Shelter whose owners live in Denver and lack the resources to provide this vital care.

“In addition to free surgery,”  the announcement appealed to pit bull owners,  you’ll receive a $100 grocery gift card.  For more information, email [email protected].”

(See Denver repeals pit bull ban on night that pit bulls kill two people.)

 

Trumps & Musk raise $4.3 million for pit bull rescue

In Palm Beach,  Florida,  Lara Trump,  daughter-in-law of U.S. president Donald Trump,  celebrated raising $4.3 million at the Mar-A-Lago Club for Big Dog Ranch Rescue.

Photos posted of dogs offered for adoption indicate that Big Dog Ranch Rescue is primarily a pit bull rescue.

The fundraiser was also attended by both Donald Trump himself and his Department of Governmental Efficiency advisor Elon Musk.

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