By Susan Hardee Steger
May 29, 2018 10:00 a.m.
“The Pit Bull was on a leash and was being walked by two older white females . . .” The unidentified females fled the scene. The Pit Bull was described as being black in color and with a red collar and a green leash.” Police Report
On May 22, shortly before 8:00 p.m., City of Fernandina Beach Police Officer James Carey responded to a report of a dog attack at Beach Access #2. A Middlesboro, Kentucky resident Lance Burgess reported his dog, a Chocolate Lab/Australian Shepard mix, was attacked by a Black Pit Bull.
The Fernandina Observer contacted Casey Hagg, wife of Lance Burgess, who was with her husband as they walked their leashed dog “Dina” on the beach. Burgess was bitten by the Pit Bull on the hand and foot as he tried to separate the two dogs. He is now undergoing rabies and vaccine treatments.
According to the police report, “The Pit Bull was on a leash and was being walked by two older white females . . .” The unidentified females fled the scene. The Pit Bull was described as being black in color and with a red collar and a green leash.
Hagg said, “The dog [Pit Bull] was on a leash but got away from the owner and ran about 50 yards towards us. Later, the owner told me that she knew the dog was aggressive towards other animals. The attack was unprovoked. The dog remained latched [on Dina] for 3 minutes (which felt like forever in the moment).”
“Once attacked, {Dina} did not fight back,” said Hagg. “My dog has never attacked another dog and was recently certified by the University of Tennessee to be a therapy dog and visit nursing homes, hospitals and children at schools.”
“The thing I feel worst about is that the dog that attacked Dina is still out there and will probably attack another dog. I hope your story can raise awareness! We thought Fernandina was a safe, pet-friendly place to visit and we wish someone had warned us!”
Such a travesty that the pit bull’s cowardly owners fled the scene forcing Mr. Burgess to undergo the painful and expensive rabies treatments. One would hope that their conscience will get the best of them and they will come forward or others that might recognize the dog and owners will report them to the police.
Unfortunately, such attacks cannot be predicted so I am not sure what “warning” would be expected as it could have happened in any place at any time.
Hopes and prayers for Mr. Burgess and Dina’s quick recovery.
I have had similar incident whereby dog owners let their dog loose & it attacked my Labrador & he didn’t fight back. The police have got to do a better job enforcing leash law & more signage is warranted !
John, understand your concern and hopefully the new beach patrol program will put more enforcement on the beaches, but with 6+ miles of beach to patrol, they can’t be everywhere.
And, banning dogs from the beach will NOT solve the problem. Attacks can happen anywhere. Think it is the owners’ responsibility to control their animals.
Hagg said, “The dog [Pit Bull] was on a leash but got away from the owner and ran about 50 yards towards us. Later, the owner told me that she knew the dog was aggressive towards other animals. The attack was unprovoked. The dog remained latched [on Dina] for 3 minutes (which felt like forever in the moment).”
So, we know the owners or they ‘fled’ and we don’t know the owners?
“The thing I feel worst about is that the dog that attacked Dina is still out there and will probably attack another dog. I hope your story can raise awareness! We thought Fernandina was a safe, pet-friendly place to visit and we wish someone had warned us!”
How in the world can anyone expect to be warned about this kind of thing? And then to plant fear that the dog is ‘still at large’. How pathetic.
This is bias reporting with large gaps of facts. The comment about the story raising awareness sounds as if it’s contrived. The full truth about the other PITT BULL attack on the beach before this was never revealed. It had to be dug for and it was.
Not happy about any of this, nothing good comes from it.
As the owner of small dogs and a frequent visitor to the Scott Road beach, I hope that all dog owners take the rules seriously or we will lose our rights to take our dogs to the beach. It is a special right unique to our island.
With such an accurate description, I would think that the dog and owners should be identified quickly.
My dog was attacked by a very young pit bull a couple of years ago. Both were on leashes, just sniffing each other and saying a friendly hello when the Pit all of the sudden latched on to my dogs throat. Luckily it only had the skin and not the wind pipe and only had a small puncture wound. I understand Pit Bulls can be very sweet but they should not be allowed as pets because even the best can snap and kill in an instant. It’s a free country but if your Pit kills another pet or worse hurts a small child it should be a serious criminal charge on the owner. I now Conceal and Carry when I walk my dog and small children so that will never happen to me again.
One other item of note….if your dog is people and pet friendly and not a dangerous or unpredictable breed there is absolutely no reason why it can’t run in the waves on the beach! Leash rules are there for a reason but come on people!
Why any idiot owner would take an aggressive animal into a public forum is beyond reason. Aggressive people who act like that are locked away for the good of society. My gentle service dog has been attacked twice now (unprovoked each time but not at the beach) by aggressive breeds with thoughtless owners (not masters). Dogs need to be trained to be in public places. A few bad owners can ruin life for everyone else.
Thousands walk their beloved pets on our beaches without incidents of any sort, week in and week out. That’s the norm. This is the horrible exception. The owners of the pit bull in question here are the true criminals who should be prosecuted and locked away.
There aren’t enough signs. I walk my dog every day, leashed, on the beach. I’m frequently warning visitors, whose dogs aren’t leashed, about our law. Most often, they are surprised.
But that’s not always so.
Yesterday, an unleashed pit bull was lying by his owners’ chairs. He saw us before I could get ready. He ran toward us, tail wagging, presumably wanting to play with my dog. He ran into me. And I’ve got one large bruise on my leg where he made contact. I told the owners to leash their dog.
The owners’ response. “Yeah I know. Sorry.”
An hour or so later, as we were walking back, the dog was playing by the water, with another dog, both unleashed.
I hate that this behaviour might spoil it for the rest of us who are obeying the law.
By the way, this was in front of the condos near exit 5.
Maybe better signage would include “beach patrol” officer’s call numbers, so that (leash law) offenders can be reported on sight with our always carried cell phones? Stiff financial penalties (like that with reckless drivers) wouldn’t hurt either. Such apathy to laws always results in injuries or death somewhere along the line of apathetic injustice.
Has the dog been found yet? Nervous on the beach if he’s still running loose.
My understanding from reading the article is that the pit bull had a leash on but was not under the control of the owners (two ladies) who left with the pit bull after the incident. I suspect if they were visitors they are long gone and if residents, they are keeping the dogs hidden. I would be carrying a small can of pepper spray to ward against such possible attacks.
Just saw a loose black pitbull type dog on 8th and Calhoun, collar is brown leather though, and it has white on its chest.