In the Toronto Star, the front page story's headline asks the question "Should dog pay with his life for mauling girl?"
Here's a quick primer on the story:
Last August, a 7-year-old girl was playing in the backyard of her friend's house. Meanwhile, the family that lived in the house were dog sitting a rescued street dog named Panny, a German shepherd-collie mix. The 7 year old was attacked by the dog, resulting in facial injuries that required 40 stitches. As a result of the incident, the mother is pushing to get the dog euthanized during the court case this Thursday.
I see the situation like this: we don't have enough info on the situation to determine what's right.
First of all, we need to look from the side of the girl's mother. How many similar incidents has the dog been involved with in the past, and how recently? Does this sort of thing happen with this dog frequently?
From the perspective of the dog's owner, how long was the mother that was looking after the two girls away from the scene? Was it enough time to possibly provoke the dog into aggression? And can the victim of the attack weigh in on the situation to provide more perspective?
Anything is possible in this situation. Personally I have a dog that is easily provoked by a 12 year old friend of mine (once he pulled his tail), but his reaction wasn't as aggressive. Granted, he wasn't a street dog.
I don't want anything to die until we have enough information, and hopefully that'll turn up in court on Thursday.
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