January 25, 2014

Jeremiah Shahan - an infant killed by a dog in Nevada

Jeremiah Shahan, age 1, died on April 27, 2012, at his family's home in Henderson, Nevada. 
Jeremiah

It was his birthday. A party had been held earlier.  At some point in the day, the child tripped and fell on the grandmother's dog while it was sleeping in a dark room. The boy lifted himself up by the dog’s ears and the startled animal grabbed and shook the boy, causing devastating head and facial injuries.  Jeremiah died. 

His family were devastated by his death and will forever mourn his loss. 

The dog, named "Onion", is a 120 pound Mastiff-Rhodesian crossbreed.  

As would be expected the City of Henderson sought to euthanize the animal. Normally, dogs that kill human beings are killed, without question.  

"Onion"
However, in this case, an animal rights group, intervened and started legal proceedings to save this dog, to place the dog in another state, to indemnify the City of Henderson of any future liability connected with this dog and to pay for some sort of memorial in a park to honor the deceased child. 

And now, in 2014, the City of Henderson, Nevada, has given up and has surrendered the dog to the animal rights group. They did this to spare the boy’s family more pain in a trial that would relive the horror of the tragic incident. 

A spokesperson for this animal rights group stated that they were overjoyed with the outcome. 

Why?  Because a killer dog is relocated to repeat the tragedy in another town?  What happens if "Onion" is once again startled by a sudden action by a senior citizen walking by or by a child grabbing it's fur? Another death? 

Dogs involved in the killing of human beings should be put down immediately and without question.  This should not be a matter for debate. 

Death by Dog is not acceptable in a civilized country. 

It is a sad and tragic indictment of our society when dogs are given more consideration than human beings.  It is tragic that there are groups of seemingly intelligent people who expend time, money and energy fighting to save dogs who have proven to be potentially erratic, skittish, out of control and ultimately deadly. 

God help us.  God give us sanity if not compassion for our fellow human beings. Amen. 

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