I don’t really expect anyone to euthanize the babysitter but, let’s be honest, if anyone is responsible for 4-year-old, Kevin Vincente being mauled by his neighbor’s pitbull, Mickey, maybe we should place blame where it belongs…at the feet of the negligent adult whose care he was in. The poor kid has been mauled beyond recognition and there is a Facebook campaign to save the dog from being euthanized. Too bad no one fought that hard for the preschooler to be in the care of an attentive adult. Even if you want to save the dog, people need to realize there is a much bigger issue at hand; a child being neglected and in turn could have been killed.
Little Kevin Vincente was being babysat by an “adult” woman who somehow lost sight of a 4-year-old long enough for him to walk next door ( there were no fences) approach the neighbor’s chained pitbull and pick up the dog’s bone, at which point he was mauled. This poor little kid. I am sure he is traumatized. But the question remains, what the fuck was the babysitter doing that was more important than actually watching the kid? This wasn’t a slip off of a chair, he had to actually leave the house and it took time for this to take place.
Next, there was apparently an eyewitness, the girlfriend of the son of the babysitter ( yes, I know confusing). Okay, I don’t know about you but if I am “eyewitness” to a baby about to get his face chewed off by a dog, I am running as fast as I can to save the child. My priority is not to file a petition to have the dog euthanized after the child has been mauled. It’s as bad as those assholes who watch someone die in a wreck or a fire because they were too busy documenting it on Instagram to actually give a shit about anyone.
By my count, we have two negligent adults now involved and neither is the owner of the pitbull Mickey. In our house, our dog is like family, but Lola and everyone else knows that the two-legged children trump the 4-legged ones. It was established from the very start that if our dog ever snipped at the children or bit them, the dog would have to go; whether it be to another home or that farm “in the sky” we would never tolerate an animal that hurt our children. Of course, we wouldn’t allow our children to put themselves in dangerous situations either. We would never allow our children to take a bone away from our puppy. She’s still too young to know any better and it is our responsibility as parents and pet owners to take care of these little people and animals who depend on us.
All that being said, the dog was in his own yard. Minding his own damn business. Chained up. This poor unsuspecting preschooler picked up the bone because he didn’t know any better. And anyone whose ever had a dog knows that if you approach a dog with a bone in his mouth or take it away, you are going to piss that dog off. Dogs are territorial about their shit, especially their food. It’s a natural instinct. It has nothing to do with Mickey being a pitbull and everything to do with little Kevin Vincente being in the care of the world’s most negligent babysitter and definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
People are divided; euthanize the dog or save the dog. What about the kid? Is anyone worried about this kid? What everyone is failing to remember is that there is now a terrified little boy who will be living next door to his attacker. There is a little boy who will be permanently disfigured and scarred for life. If the dog is not euthanized, this little boy will have to face his biggest fear just going into his own backyard. He will be a prisoner of his own home.
It is a tragedy but I think the dog needs to be euthanized or removed from the area. Unfortunately, we cannot euthanize the truly responsible party in all of this; the terrible babysitter who neglected to keep the child safe in the first place. As a parent, I can understand wanting the responsible party to pay every time you look into the sweet disfigured face of your son. If it were my child, I want the dog euthanized. In this case, responsibility is being deflected to the dog, he’s the scapegoat, but I think we all know who is to blame for this tragedy and she doesn’t have four legs. Lucky for that bitch, we don’t euthanize assholes.
Who do you think is to blame in all of this? Would you euthanize the dog? Would you euthanize the babysitter or the “eyewitness’ who did nothing to stop it?