Accusations, Counter-Accusations

"He screamed these words: 'You hurt my dog. You deserve to die', and then he took out a knife and repeatedly stabbed Pandora until she died. And as Pandora lay there lifeless, this old man fled the scene with his dog in an SUV."
"Ask me if I would let my very small child around this dog while I'm in another room? My answer is yest, absolutely. I did. Many times. And given the chance again, I would let that beautiful, intelligent, beloved dog care for my daughter in a heartbeat. Sadly, I will never have that opportunity. My daughter has lost her best friend. That pit bull that was murdered today She helped me raise, and care for my almost four-year-old daughter."
Amy Leigh, sister of owner of pit bull Pandora, Kitsilano Beach Park, Vancouver

Pandora the pit bull is shown with the niece of owner Samantha Fairbridge. The girl’s mother Amy Fairbridge said: ‘I would let that beautiful, intelligent, beloved dog care for my daughter in a heartbeat.’ — SUBMITTED PHOTO

In Burnaby, city council there recently boosted fines and impound periods for dogs involved in vicious incidents. If a pet bites someone, dog owners can be fined $500. If the dog appears to be aggressive and engages in aggressive overtimes but does not proceed to actually biting, a $200 fine can be levied. The idea is to make residents of the city consider whether they really want to own dogs considered to be potentially dangerous, like pit bulls.

Not all pit bulls are dangerous, nor are pit bull crosses, necessarily. But it's tough to rise above breeding, and their reputation for attacks does not arise out of a collective feverish imagination. Under that bylaw breeds considered to be vicious include Stafford bull terriers, American pit bull terriers; any dog identified as a pit bull or a mixed breed with pit bull predominant. They must be registered as such.

In Vancouver itself the fine for an un-muzzled, aggressive dog stands at $500. The fee for an aggressive dog that has been impounded runs to $430.  Samantha Fairbridge, owner of the pit bull, was walking her dog Pandora near Kitsilano Beach Park. And a man, 72, walking a little pug came across Ms. Fairbridge and her dog. The man's dog was not leashed, Ms. Leigh had obeyed the sign asking that dogs be kept on leash in the park.

The dogs came nose to nose. And Pandora suddenly lunged at the small dog, her jaws locked around the pug. Both owners desperately attempted to pull the pit bull off the pug. When their efforts were of no avail, the man pulled a folding knife from a pocket and killed the attacking dog. The injured pug received quick medical attention, to stitch up the wounds on its neck, and it will survive its ordeal.

The pug, in obedience to posted signs asking that dog owners keep their pets leashed, should obviously have been on a leash. Its owner trusted that no harm would come to it, but he might have been in a better position to control such an outcome had he kept a leash firmly attached to his little dog's collar. Short of placing a muzzle over her beloved pit bull's face, its owner appears not to have been able to envision Pandora ever behaving in such a manner.

Better, in the final analysis, that if something snapped in Pandora's head, it was another dog that she attacked, and not the almost-four-year-old child, when its mother was out of the room. The thought of a dog, regardless of its behaviour, being stabbed repeatedly is hugely repugnant. For an animal lover to kill an animal makes little sense, although for a man to seek to protect an animal he loves from a strange animal threatening to kill it, does.

"You can see both sides and understand why people feel sorry for both of them", said Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations at BC SPCA. Prevention, she stressed, would be the best advice she could offer. NO dog should be permitted to run about unrestrained in on-leash areas, she cautioned.

It seems, however, there is more to the story than has been originally reported. There was an eyewitness to the event and he has stepped forward to challenge the account given by Pandora's owner. Alex St.Jacques not only witnessed the attack, but he also involved himself to attempt aiding the situation to a safe conclusion.

"I could see it, [the man] was trying and trying and trying [to separate the dogs]. He had his hands in the mouth [of the pit bull] and was gouging at the eyes, anything he could do to separate them. And as a last resort he felt he had to save his boy. It's like saving a child. People that are dog lovers or animal lovers will understand, it's like your family", he explained.

The initial report was that the elderly man stabbed the pit bull ten times, shouting obscenities all the while. Not according to the eyewitness. Ms. Fairbridge had said in an interview: "My dog bit the pug on the ear and was not letting go ... So the owner of the pug ran up and immediately pulled out a knife and began to stab my dog. As he was doing so, he was yelling, 'you deserve to die'."  And then he picked up his dog and fled, she charged.

"The dog was never stabbed repeatedly", contradicted Mr. St. Jacques. "I saw one puncture wound on his side near his lung. The pit bull had the pug in his mouth shaking it violently like it was going to kill it -- there was no such thing as repeatedly stabbing him. And this aggressive vocabulary that I heard that he was saying 'you deserved to die', there was no such thing. The only thing he said was 'your pit bull was going to kill my dog' and that was it. And he left because he was scared for his dog."