Last Updated on November 26, 2019
Leonard Miller, 88, is being hailed as a hero for his quick action to save a 10-year-old girl from being mauled to death by the Breed of Peace.
The Korean War veteran was at home when he heard a pounding on his front door. It was the girl from next door begging for help because the family pitbull was mauling her sister.
Miller rushed outside and grabbed a 3-foot-tall plastic lawn ornament shaped like a toy soldier.
He went into his neighbor’s house, where he found the dog holding a girl by the arm and violently shaking her.
Pitbulls are responsible for 72% of all fatal dog attacks in 2018 and 311 deaths from 2005-2018.
Miller started hitting the beast on the head, but to no avail.
“It did not faze that dog at all,” Miller recalled.
The former Army medic changed strategies and aimed for the dog’s back.
“I started hitting it on the back, several times, and it released the little girl then,” he recalled.
Medics later credited Miller with saving the life of the girl. The full story can be seen below.
Data from dogsbite.org shows that pitbulls are – unsurprisingly – the breed most likely to go from family pet to family destroyer:
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Family dogs inflicted 72% (26) of dog bite fatalities in 2018; family pit bulls were responsible for 69% (18) of these deaths. Of the 26 deaths inflicted by pit bulls, 69% (18) involved killing a family or household member vs. 31% (8) non-family.
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28% (10) of fatal dog attacks involved a family dog killing its owner, over 2 times the rate of the 13-year average of 12%. Females, ages 28-64 years old, comprised 80% (8) of these victims. Pit bulls inflicted 70% (7) of all owner-directed fatal attacks.3
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In 2018, 25% (9) of attacks resulting in death involved the dog or victim new to a household (0-2 month period). In all but one case, the fatal attack occurred within the first 14 days. Children ages 0-6 years accounted for 67% (6) of these victims.
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28% (10) of fatal dog maulings in 2018 involved a babysitter or grandparent watching a child or the dog being “watched” by a person other than its owner when the dog inflicted a deadly attack. Pit bulls carried out 70% (7) of these attacks.
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In 2018, 22% (8) of fatality victims were either visiting or living temporarily with the dog’s owner when the attack occurred. Of this subset, 88% (7) were inflicted by pit bulls, and 63% (5) involved a child killed while under the care of a babysitter.
It remains to be seen if Miller will be told he should’ve “blamed the owner, not the breed.”
