News

Cane Corso Mastiff Isn't to Blame for Mauling Toddler

NewsPublished May 30, 2011
By Julie Ryan Evans
Cane Corso MastiffA Cane Corso Mastiff

Friday evening 4-year-old Jayelin Graham of Brooklyn, N.Y. was mauled to death by a dog, a Crane Corso Mastiff. It was an unimaginably horrific death in which the dog attacked the helpless young toddler, while neither his mother who responded to his screams nor neighbors could fend it off. His brothers, 2 and 5, witnessed the entire gruesome incident.

It reportedly happened in just seconds. The mother, Saquina Jubear, had gone out into the hall with her baby to grab some keys she'd left in the stroller. She heard screams and came back to the horrific scene.

There are cases that pop in the headlines from time to time in which family pets who otherwise seem mild-mannered and loving suddenly turn and for unknown reasons attack a child. They are sad and frightening as well, but this is not one of those cases. Not at all. By all reports, this is a case in which someone could have, someone should have done something to prevent this boy's death; and someone other than the dog should be held responsible

According to the New York Daily News, the dog was trained to kill by the mother's boyfriend, Damian Jones. He allegedly called this dog and another who was uninvolved in the attack but lived in the house, "monster dogs" and did everything he could to make them mean. Neighbors say he donned protective armor and punched and kicked the dogs, and everyone was scared of them. The superintendent of the building in which the attack took place, Kenny Risher,  told the paper:

Those dogs were vicious. They stink and they are nasty. The same dog ate their (pet) rabbit. 

A neighbor who tried to help the boy added: "He was trained to kill. He had the boy by his throat. The dog was shaking him. He had no chance."

But he should have had a chance. Training an animal to attack like that is criminal and to let it even enter the same  home as children is beyond irresponsible. It's worse than leaving a loaded gun around, because a dog like that is even more unpredictable.

Sources say calls had been made repeatedly to the Administration for Children's Services suggesting the children be removed from the home that was apparently filthy and filled with animals. The boy's grandmother told the paper:

A lot of people called. I don't know if they actually came, but people pleaded to get the kids out of that house.

If the neighbors knew it, the mother must have too. Criminal charges haven't been filed yet, but it sure seems like they should be forthcoming for both the mother and her boyfriend.

The dogs have been taken to a local shelter, and the surviving children removed from the home. None of their fates is clear at this point.

Who do you think should be punished in this case? What do you think should happen to the dogs?

Image via Brittany ((halo))/Flickr

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