Mini Me Mugged
Caution: Don't read this entry immediately after eating...it might make you ill.
Back on Dec 18th, just before university staff began their holiday break. We nearly lost our one-half white horse. We hear about dogs on the loose and dog attacks, but these stories really don’t hit home until something makes it personal. That day in December it got really personal for Mini Me and the Six White Horses program.
Mini Me was grazing in the HSU pasture when three neighborhood dogs, a Pit Bull with two half-grown pups, escaped from their yard, and viciously attacked him. Mini me sustained injuries to the nose, chin, throat, legs, and belly before former rider and HSU grad student Starla Bailiff just happened to come by to feed the horses. She saw the attack and chased the dogs away. Mini Me was in shock and trembling. It took some coaxing, but she was able to get him safety into the barn. The City of Abilene animal control unit picked up the dogs, and Mini Me spent the next week undergoing a variety of treatments for his wounds.
I really have to include this picture, not for any gratuitous shock value, but to show what can happen when an animal, with the potential for violence, is not adequately secured. In accordance with city statutes, the dogs' owner was assessed a fine and the dogs were returned; but, the older dog has already been seen running loose. The latest report from animal control is that the owner has been given until the 11th to find a secure home for the dogs or the city will sieze them.
Mini Me shortly after the attack
Until the pasture is again safe, Jones plans to keep Mini Me safely in the barn unless she can watch him. He's doing much better, but won't be able to accompany the Six White Horses team to the Sand Hills Rodeo in Odessa this evening.
For those who don't mind the drive, and haven't seen the new Six White Horses team, they will perform at the PRCA event tonight through Saturday in Odessa.
Since this is a blog, and readers can comment, I’d like to hear your opinions about the issue of loose dogs in general, and the attack on Mini Me in particular.
I promise the next entry will be more upbeat. We have an exciting Spring planned.
9 Comments
Kecia Ashford writes:
This made me cry. If those dogs had attacked a child, the outcome would be immediate! Why should there be any change of standard because it's another animal? It still shows the dogs are potentially vicious and not properly secured. This is not the fault of the animal. The owners should be held entirely responsible! I think our town needs to revisit this law/code, and I think HSU should consider a lawsuit for Mini Me's pain and suffering and the potential loss to the University's highly-prized property. Things will change only when something horrible happens. Isn't this horrible enough?
Gloria Guinn writes:
HOW TRAGIC! How very awful to think of poor little Mini Me being so injured and traumatized!
I am SO sorry to hear of this terrible attack and by the lack of action being taken by the City of Abilene. Owners of violent and vicious dogs should NOT be given slap on the wrist punishments of a simple fine and given the dogs back. The fact that the dogs are running loose again only proves this!
I hope the City of Abilene reviews and makes changes in their laws and policies concerning this type of violence. Vicious animals should NOT be allowed to remain to attack again. Innocent pets and companion animals should and MUST be protected. It is up to us, as humans, to enforce this. It is up to the City of Abilene to protect the other pets, animals and people of their city.
Dogs that do such attacks will easily turn on humans.
I am very happy to hear Mini Me is recovering. My heart breaks to think of the trauma that he endured.
Yes, I hope to hear good news next time and that Mini Me is healthy and performing again.
LOVE the Blog!
Gloria In Missouri
Marva Livengood writes:
Outrage would be a proper word to use for this attack on MIni Me. I'm having great difficulty understanding how the attack dogs could be returned to their owner after such an attack. Why would anyone think that they would only attack an animal? It would seem to me that adults and small children could just as easily have been the target.
As an animal lover, I don't like to see any animal suffer. It is obvious from the photo of MIni Me after the attack that there was some suffering. I would guess he will have ongoing trauma from this and would be surprised if he isn't quite leery of any dog or animal for quite some time.
I would ask the question. What if a wild animal had been attacking Mini Me? Would the citizens have said just let it return to it's home in the wild? I somehow think there would have been some sort of a hunting party formed to destroy the 'wild' animal that had attacked this precious little horse.
Some animals are bred for their attack qualities and are not much different than any wild animal of prey. Domestic animals that are bred to be attack animals are a danger to other animals and humans. If they cross the line and attack animals or humans, they should be mercifully euthanized.
I sincerely hope the citizens of Abilene see fit to update their laws and remove any animal that attacks another animal or human.
Marva LIvengood
Marion, Iowa
Gloria Parker writes:
As a dog owner in New York City, where owners are fierce about their rights to allow their animals off leash in public parks during city-ordained hours, this unfortunate photo makes one sit up a little straighter and examine the responsibilities that come with such freedoms for our pets. Both I and my animal were attacked by an off-leash pit bull a year ago. I detest generalizations, but it's hard not to wonder if the behavior is really about the breed. Poor horse. I think letters to the City Council in Abilene are in order. It seems to me that a second offense should land the owner in the pokey, and not just overnight. Also the aggressive animal should be confined.
Joy Carrillo writes:
I agree with most everyone else, except that I would add that those dogs MUST BE put down immediately, and the owners prosecuted. While I don't think that animals should be elevated to the same status and deserving of the same rights as humans, I do believe they should be protected and responsibly well-cared for. The victim of this attack easily could have been a person, and especially could have been a small child. As a runner, I frequently am startled by loose dogs, whose irresponsible owners are not worthy to own an animal. An animal needs to be restrained as much for their own safety, as for the safety of others.
If these dogs are not properly dealt with now and end up harming or killing someone later, I imagine someone will try to hold the city accountable.
Kaitlyn LeCompte writes:
Mini me is lucky that it only had those injuries and is not dead from the looks of it. I agree that it easily could have been a person or child attacked if not Mini me, especially when it's dogs that automatically go into attack mode. As an HSU student, I'm sorry to know that it was my school's property that got attacked like this. We do need stricter laws for animal owners that let their animals loose and don't keep a close eye on them, especially those untrained and dangerous. I can't think of what other punishment can be used in these instances, but it should be more than a fine.
Mary Jane writes:
I learned of this incident from one of the riders of the Six White Horses, on the day it happened. The dogs' owners were washing the blood off of the dogs when animal control arrived, and tried to convience AC,that their dogs had done nothing wrong. I wonder if it will be human blood they are washing off the next time their animals attack. I really feel these animals should be distroyed, not because I have anything against pit bulls, but because they are more likely to attack again after experiencing the thrill of the chase, bring down the prey and of course, the taste of blood. Lets face it, a toddler running in the yard is going to be pretty temtpting to these animals' and I would hate to be the one to explain to the parents of the murdered child, why I didn't distroy the dogs after their last attack. Please don't get me wrong, I love dogs, I have a large hybrid dog of my own, I also have horses. As much as I love my dog, if she ever attacked the horses, I would have her put down. It would really hurt me to do it, but I would be forced to, because I have a responsibility to my neighbors and to myself, to control my animals.
Bethany Howell writes:
The attack is truly appalling, but hardly surprising. Apparently the neighborhood has a problem with pit bulls, as one of my former neighbors in HSU married housing informed me of an incident not long ago where another married housing occupant's three pit bulls (the university pet policy is one pet per household) jumped into a neighbor's yard and gang attacked their own fenced-in dog. The dog was only saved at the intervention of another neighbor. Keeping this in mind, there are children living with their parents in married housing, which is located near the Six White Horses paddock. However, despite the aforementioned factors, I have not heard that the university facilities office has enforced the one pet per household rule, or disciplined the occupant, so perhaps HSU is unable to point fingers. In order to stop this kind of behavior, the university and the city of Abilene should be vigilant in discipling transgressors. That having been said, I truly hope for everyone's sakes that something like this doesn't happen again.
brianna writes:
awwwwwwwww thats sad did she survive the attack is she ok
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