[TheeBadOne]

Pit bull attacks police horse in Golden Gate Park; two injured


Police are investigating an incident in which an unleashed pit bull attacked a mounted police officer's horse in Golden Gate Park today.

The caper began shortly before 1 p.m. near the Conservatory of Flowers, according to Sgt. Neville Gittens.

A woman was walking her pit bull in the park when she removed the dog's leash, Gittens said. A mounted police sergeant called to the woman, telling her to put the dog's leash on, and it was then that the dog noticed the horse, according to Gittens.

The pit bull attacked the horse, biting the animal's rear legs, Gittens said. The sergeant was thrown from the horse to the ground. The pit bull's owner tried to intervene and regain control of her dog, but she was kicked in the face by the horse, according to Gittens.

The horse then began running west down Golden Gate Drive with the dog in pursuit, Gittens said. At some point, the two animals were separated and a group of park visitors was able to corral the horse.

Meanwhile, a second sergeant responding to the incident saw the group with the horse as he entered the park at Eighth Avenue, Gittens said. The group pointed out the dog to the sergeant, and the dog started to charge the horse again. The officer fired his gun twice, hitting the pit bull once, Gittens said. The dog ran into some bushes after being shot, and was later retrieved by animal control authorities.

The SPCA has the pit bull, which is still alive, and the horse is in its stable being treated for puncture wounds to its back legs, Gittens said. The sergeant who was thrown from the horse and the dog's owner were taken to St. Mary's Hospital. According to Gittens, the sergeant is suffering back pain and the woman is being treated for a broken finger and trauma to her right eye.

Police have not yet determined whether the dog will be euthanized, and it is not known whether any charges will be filed in connection with the incident.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2003/11/23/horse23.DTL

[Preacherman]

I'll lay odds that the police will bill the woman for the vet's bill for the horse AND the medical bill for the injured cop, since it was her negligence in taking the dog off the leash that started the whole thing.

[Jeff White]

Preacherman said;
'll lay odds that the police will bill the woman for the vet's bill for the horse AND the medical bill for the injured cop, since it was her negligence in taking the dog off the leash that started the whole thing.

As well they should! But I'll bet they don't.

Jeff

[Jim March]

Oh, I'll betcha they will. After that recent fatality by a mega-doggie, that whole town is rather sensitive on the subject of violent dogs. The police will have all kinds of political support on socking it to this moron and it's a fair chance they'll kill the dog.

[HABU]

Sounds to me as though fido's owner got the worst of it. I dont want to be kicked anywhere by a horse, least of all in the face.:what: Too bad Stadank didn't get a beter shot on Fido.

[XavierBreath]

I'll wager that the lady will loose her suit against the city for being kicked in the face by the horse. Bravo to the officer who shot this dog. Pity his aim was off.

[BluesBear]

A horse is a horse of course of course.

:D



(can't attach file since it won't let me attach an .mpg)

[rayjay]

i'm wondering why the horse didn't stomp the crap out of the pit bull? The last dog that I seen attack a horse got punted like a football thru the corral bars and 20 feet across the yard. Needless to say the dog took a "10" count and was carried off by his very sad owner. I was thinking to myself when the dog went flying......... GOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!

[Black92LX]

The horse then began running west down Golden Gate Drive with the dog in pursuit

i find this very strange considering the when i went and visited the police acadamy i got to see them train the horses. they put fireworks under the saddles, broke bottles on them, drove ambulances at them and they didn't budge.

[son of a gun]

i'm wondering why the horse didn't stomp the crap out of the pit bull? The last dog that I seen attack a horse got punted like a football thru the corral bars and 20 feet across the yard. Needless to say the dog took a "10" count and was carried off by his very sad owner. I was thinking to myself when the dog went flying......... GOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!


I've seen on horses some restraints that go around the legs and it only lets the horse gallop and not run or stand on its hind legs may be it was wearing those.

[WonderNine]

My favorite pitbull is the shot one. One that lays in the street.

He is dead and so he is my favorite pitbull.

[TheeBadOne]

i find this very strange considering the when i went and visited the police acadamy i got to see them train the horses. they put fireworks under the saddles, broke bottles on them, drove ambulances at them and they didn't budge.
Hmm, I don't think it said anywhere in the article that fireworks were used on the horse, or bottles broken on them. As to your visit to the acadamy I suspect you didn't find them training the horses to take bites from large powerful preditory animals... :confused:

[rick458]

Hey what did ya expect it was a CITY horse:neener:

[Orthonym]

dog owners, most especially the urban female variety who let their critters run unleashed in city parks, are somewhat mental. (Not the normal dog owners who have the shotgun to go with the dog; but we don't seem to have any of those around here.)

[Marko Kloos]

i'm wondering why the horse didn't stomp the crap out of the pit bull?

Probably because it was a gelding, and not a mare. They tend to use geldings for mounted police, because they're less likely to have a temper or go wild at the smell of a mare in season. If it had been a mare, the dog would have gotten punted all the way over to Sausalito.

[buttrap]

Seems odd to me, usually horses get a bit agrivated over a dog but tend to kick the heads off them. Possably a city rider? Where I live its perfectly legal to pull out a 9mm and off the dog and have the dog owner pay for the expended rounds and any vet work for dog bites in the horse. The dead dog owner also will get a 250 buck ticket too.

[Sergeant Bob]

Most animals have a natural instinct to flee from predators (a dog is a predator) and will not fight unless they are cornered.
Which explains why my mom's 15 pound Australian Sheppard puppy could could push around 30 cows which could easily stomp him if they wanted.
Or my 28 pound Jack Russell can chase 8 or 10 White Tail Deer out of my back yard :D , when they could easily stomp the crap out of him.
The horse did indeed flee and evade the pit bull.

[TarpleyG]

I know I'll get the ol' "not all Pit Bulls are bad" routine here but I just have to ask, why would someone, anyone, want to own a dog with such a bad rep?

When I was a kid (12 or so) our neighbors had a Pit Bull. We didn't know anything about them then. Just another dog as far as we were concerned. We used to wrestle with him daily on the trampoline and tease the crap out of him. He loved it and never, ever showed aggression towards us. However, I remember distinctly losing two front motorcycle tires to that dog. I would ride my dirt bike down to the neighbor's house and if the dog wasn't in the fence, he came after the bike. He hated the sound of the motor and literally shredded the tires.

Another time, my stepdad had a Pit Bull that he had had for years. My little brother had just gotten a kitten and was outside with it and the dog came over and ate its head. No more kitty. I am convinced that's what's wrong with my brother now.

My vet (and friend also) says that any dog can snap but it seems like Pit Bulls do it more often than others. Maybe it's the media, maybe not. He also says that he would rather deal with a Pit Bull than a Rottweiler any day as Rotties are more aggressive. One day though, a Chow almost took two of his fingers off. Guess you never know which dog it'll be.

GT

[Black92LX]

Guess you never know which dog it'll be.

That's exactly right. when i was a kid 4-7 i'd say, my best friend had a pitbull named Sugar. sweetest dog EVER! we would ride on her back pull her tail, you know everything that kids do to dogs. But never once did the dog growl, snip or ever show any aggression towards us kids. the only time i ever saw her get aggressive, was when a strange guy came up and started talking to us in the yard. and he didn't stick around too long. it's sad because there are good pitbulls out there. there really are. but there are far to many bad ones and i have to say i would never own one eventhough the only personal experience i have had was the best dog a kid could ever have.

[TheeBadOne]

I remember distinctly losing two front motorcycle tires to that dog. I would ride my dirt bike down to the neighbor's house and if the dog wasn't in the fence, he came after the bike. He hated the sound of the motor and literally shredded the tires.
That's pretty damn scary :eek: and probably a good testiment as to why the horse didnt' appreciate being bitten by a pitbull and ran away.

[XavierBreath]

"i find this very strange considering the when i went and visited the police acadamy i got to see them train the horses. they put fireworks under the saddles, broke bottles on them, drove ambulances at them and they didn't budge."


I have to say that if I was a cop who counted on my horse, I'd want one smart enough to to get out of the way of an ambulance........

[Orthonym]

The reason for training horses is to get them to do what the rider wants. If I were a horse, I'd hope my human had brains enough to dig the spurs in and get both of us from in front of the onrushing ambulance.

[HD]

we can only hope they'll put the owner down along with the dog...

[Stevie-Ray]

i'm wondering why the horse didn't stomp the crap out of the pit bull? The last dog that I seen attack a horse got punted like a football thru the corral bars and 20 feet across the yard. Needless to say the dog took a "10" count and was carried off by his very sad owner. Hahahahahahahaha!:D I would've loved to see that!

[Orthonym]

Even with all parties concerned in this one getting more or less hurt, I still wish I'd been there to see it all. Guess I just have a really low sense of humor.