Four toddlers killed by dogs in 10 days: lessons yet to be learned
Two Alabama toddler deaths again illustrate weakness of "one free bite" Emily's Law NEW HOPE, Alabama; MONROE CENTER, Illinois––Two-year-old Mark Alan Partain, youngest child of Kayla and Jason Partain of New Hope, slipped outside shortl…
Two Alabama toddler deaths again illustrate weakness of "one free bite" Emily's Law
NEW HOPE, Alabama; MONROE CENTER, Illinois––Two-year-old Mark Alan Partain, youngest child of Kayla and Jason Partain of New Hope, slipped outside shortly after 5:00 p.m. on Friday evening, March 1, 2024.
Neighbor Rickey D. Clark, 67, told the Madison County Sheriff's Office, Owens Cross Road Police Department, New Hope Police Department, and local media that he believes Mark Alan Partain opened a gate that was latched, but not locked, to enter his yard.
Rickey D. Clark. (WAAY 31 News photo from video)
Owner "Couldn't believe it"
Clark's dogs, a husky and a German shepherd/golden retriever mix, killed the child before anyone realized he was outside.
"I couldn't believe it because my dogs ain't never growled or barked at nobody or nothing," Clark told WAAY-TV, of Huntsville.
"If I even had a clue that those dogs were going to hurt anybody, I wouldn't have had them," Clark insisted.
Clark theorized, rather improbably, that his dogs had tried to protect Mark Alan Partrain "from a brown bulldog that had been running through the neighborhood," he said.
Mark Alan Partrain. (Facebook photo)
Blames "that other dog"
The victim "might have opened the gate, and that other dog might have come in here with him, and then they might have all went at it, and he might have been right in the middle of it," Clark suggested.
"Clark's dogs were taken by animal control and set to be returned to him after 10 days," WAAY-TV reported.
Mark Alan Partrain was the fourth toddler in two weeks to be killed by dangerous dogs, following apparent Great Dane victim Duke Miller Whittington, killed on February 29, 2024 in Monroe Center, Illinois; four-year-old Beau Clark, killed by an Olde English Bulldogge pit bull variant on February 26, 2024 in Hartselle, Alabama; and two-week-old Brayden Heery Burwell, son of Joseph and Shelley Heery, killed by their husky at their home in Milford, Connecticut.
Duke Miller Whittington with his father. (Facebook photo from video)
Duke Miller Whittington
Four-year-old Duke Miller Whittington was son of Nick and Rachel Whittington.
The Whittingtons operate four businesses, the LFD Great Danes breeding kennels, Limestone Sphinx cattery, Nick's Automotive vehicle electronics garage, and another business, Defensive Shooting Inc., clustered at the intersection of North Limestone Road and Edson Road, about two miles north of the actual village of Monroe Center, population 400, but only about a quarter mile east of I-39, 19 miles south of Rockford.
What exactly happened at the Whittington property is unclear, but the Ogle County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene at about 4:40 p.m.
Duke Miller Whittington was reportedly pronounced dead on arrival at the nearest hospital.
The Limestone Sphynx & LFD Great Danes page on their Facebook page announced the next day that, "Due to a loss in our immediate family, we've decided that we will no longer be raising Great Danes. Anyone with deposits in will be refunded. We are also going to be rehoming a number of our adults."
Left: the Clark family. Right: Beau Clark. (Facebook photos)
A dog is not a weapon
The first simple, obvious lesson that can be drawn from the four fatal dog attacks on toddlers in just ten days is that big reactive dogs and small children are an inherently dangerous combination.
A second, concurrent and related lesson, should be that a dog is not a weapon, and should not be kept or trained to protect either people or property.
An effective watchdog is a vigilant dog who barks a warning, not a dog who dismembers a perceived intruder irrespective of the identity and intent of the victim, and irrespective of whether the supposed crime in progress would actually carry dismemberment or death as a legal penalty upon conviction.
Elizabeth and Wyatt Caddel with baby Leo. (Facebook photo)
Alabama has bad record
Further to be noted is that Alabama, human population five million, has now had 14 dog attack fatalities since 2017, 12 of them by pit bulls and free-roaming packs believed to include pit bulls.
The March 1, 2024 death of Mark Alan Partain in New Hope, Alabama, appears to have been only the second of the 14 Alabama fatalities since 2017 definitely not involving a pit bull, unless Rickey Clark's theory involving a pit bull can be proven.
The first of the 14 Alabama dog attack fatalities that definitely did not involve a pit bull was three-month-old Leo Caddel, attacked in his grandparents' kitchen by a wolf hybrid on November 30, 2023. Multiple adults were present, but none were able to react in time to save Caddel.
Illinois, human population 12.7 million, has had eight dog attack fatalities since 2017, six of them by pit bull.
Connecticut, human population 3.6 million, has had just four dog attack fatalities since 2017, three of them by pit bull, and one––the death of Brayden Heery Burwell––by husky.
Brayden Heery Burwell. (Beth Clifton collage)
Alabama dog-keeping habits
From this data, one may infer that while pit bulls are by far and away the most deadly dogs in all three of these very different states, ranging geographically from the Deep South to the central Midwest to coastal New England, the dog-keeping habits of Alabama clearly accentuate the risk.
Those habits include a greater tendency for Alabama residents to keep multiple dogs, keep pit bulls, allow dogs to run at large, neglect spay/neuter, and keep dogs on chains, instead of securely behind fences that the dogs can neither jump over nor tunnel under, and that small children––like Mark Alan Partrain and Beau Clark––cannot enter by themselves.
To what extent any or all of these habits contribute to any given dog attack fatality, and to the overall Alabama dog attack death toll, may be endlessly debated.
One or more of these factors, however, appear to be involved in 13 of the 14 recent Alabama dog attack deaths.
Emily Mae & Eric Colvin. (Beth Clifton collage)
Emily Mae Colvin
Further to blame is the weak design of Alabama animal care-and-control laws, which appear to be crafted more to protect owners of dangerous dogs than to prevent dog attacks.
New Hope, Alabama, where Mark Alan Partain became the most recent Alabama dog attack victim, is about 40 miles east of Hartselle, where four-year-old Beau Clark was fatally mauled by an "Olde English Bulldogge" pit bull variant on February 26, 2024.
New Hope is also 40 miles west of Section, where Emily Mae Colvin, 24, was killed by a neighbor's five pit bulls in front of her own home on December 7, 2017.
And New Hope is 40 miles northwest of Guntersville, Alabama, where vegan blogger Tracy Patterson Cornelius, 46, was killed by four pit bulls on November 29, 2017, after rushing to the aid of her friend Valeria Hinojosa, whose own pit bull the other four had attacked.
Emily's Law, introduced in memory of Emily Mae Colvin, took effect on June 1, 2018, but made matters worse instead of better.
Alabama governor Kay Ivey, however, a Republican, had already signed the bill into law a week earlier.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Protects owners of dangerous dogs
Emily's Law co-authors Steve Livingston, a Republican state senator from Scottsboro, and Republican state representatives Tommy Hanes of Scottsboro and Nathaniel Ledbetter of Rainsville, among them they could scarcely have crafted a bill doing more to protect owners of dangerous dogs from the consequences of first known attacks.
Regardless of how many animals a dog might have killed, and regardless of whatever other history comes to light, a dog is now officially deemed "dangerous" in Alabama only if the dog has already injured a human in a previous reported attack.
Recent Alabama dog attack victims other than those whose deaths are detailed above:
Joe Cleveland Scott, 73, 2-28-2023, McDonald Chapel, Alabama. Killed by six-dog dog pack including pit bull, boxer, and German shepherd/Malinois mixes.
Michelle Sheeks, 44, 7-12-2022, Red Bay, Alabama, died nearly three months after being injured in April 28 attack that also led to death of Alabama Public Health Department worker Jacqueline Summer Beard.
Jacqueline Summer Beard, 58, 4-29-2022, Red Bay, Alabama. Alabama Public Health Department worker Michelle Sheeks was fatally injured by the same six or seven pit bulls while investigating the attack the next day. Pit bull owner Brandy Dowdy was charged with manslaughter for both deaths, and wile out on bond was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, but has yet to be tried for any of the alleged offenses.
James Derle Patterson, 63, of Dadeville, Alabama, died on May 7, 2017 from a heart attack after apparently being knocked off a small gasoline-powered scooter and being mauled by two or more pit bulls.
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