New record number of dog attack fatalities

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2013:

AUSTIN,  Texas––DogsBite.org recorded 38 fatal dog attacks within the U.S. in 2012,  23 of them by pit bulls,  founder Colleen Lynn announced on January 11,  2013.  Nineteen victims were eight years old or younger,  Lynn said;  15 were under two years old.  

DogsBite.org counts only fatalities resulting from bite wounds.  Counting also deaths resulting from heart failures suffered during dog attacks,  injuries suffered in trying to escape from dog attacks,  and infections resulting from dog bites,  and covering Canada as well as the U.S.,  ANIMAL PEOPLE recorded 47 fatal dog attacks in 2012,  33 by pit bulls.

“Only 5% of the dog bite-related fatalities in 2012 involved a tethered dog,  down from 6% in 2011,  9% in 2010,  and 19% in 2009,”  Lynn found.

“I’m encouraged that maybe progress is being made,”  said Tamara Thayne,  founder of the anti-chaining organization Dogs Deserve Better.

Lynn attributed five dog bite deaths to “dogs referred to as a ‘rescue.’”  ANIMAL PEOPLE counted six dog attack deaths involving dogs from animal shelters or nonprofit rescues.

Brandy Furlong,  22,  of McKeesport,  Pennsylvania,  was on January 14,  2013 sentenced to six months of house arrest and five years on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges in connection with the February 16,  2012 fatal mauling of her two-day-old son Howard Nicholson Jr. by a husky who was recently adopted from an unnamed rescue.  Three pit bulls were reportedly also in the home at the time.