In an attempt to show the slanted parallels, here is another fine example of how the main stream media create the hysterical atmosphere toward certain breeds of dogs. Of course dogs are not the only subject/s the MSM pick on, but it is the subject that most ticks me off at the moment.
In an article on Wag the Dog several days ago, we told you about an article about a 'pit bull' attack in Surrey, BC. This story has brought with it a rehashing of whether BC should consider BSL, to follow suite with Ontario.
Within several days of the BC article, there was an article from Oshawa, Ontario where there was a 'lab type' dog attack.
Just for giggles, I am going to post both articles in their entirety. What I am going to do is reverse the alleged breed names in each of the articles. The article allegedly involves 'pit bulls' in the first article and 'lab type' in the second. I will substitute the word 'pit bull' for 'lab type' and vice versa.
Here is a link to the original article from Surrey, BC.
B.C. boy needed 100 stitches after
Golden lab type attack
Bat-wielding Good Samaritan managed to scare dogs away
Sean Bajwa was playing basketball with friends at a school playground when he was attacked by a Golden lab type dog around 4:30 p.m. Sunday. (CBC)
A Surrey, B.C., boy who was badly bitten by a Golden lab type on Sunday afternoon is still recovering in hospital from puncture wounds to his face, arms and legs, the 11-year-old's father said Monday.
Sean Bajwa was playing basketball with friends in the playground at Cedar Hills Elementary School when the vicious attack occurred around 4:30 p.m., Surrey RCMP said.
“The dog started chasing him and Sean was walking backwards,” said Noris Virdi, one of the other basketball players. He said the dogs were loose on the playground and appeared to be unattended.
“Sean fell on the ground. The dog started licking Sean. After Sean started screaming, the dogs were biting him.”
Wielding a baseball bat, Jordan Slezak ran across a street in his bare feet, hopped a fence and used the bat to hit a vicious dog to stop it from attacking a young boy. (CBC)
Jordan Slezak and his mother, who live across the street from the school, were drawn outside when they heard yelling coming from the playground.
“The Golden lab type had the boy by his face when we came out here,” the 20-year-old said Monday.
“My mum yelled at me to go grab the phone and call 911. By the time I got to the phone, she just told me to grab a baseball bat and go out there.”
With a bat in his hand, Slezak rushed over to help the boy.
“I jumped the fence [barefoot], ran to the dog and gave him a nice golf swing to the head. The dog backed off right away and ran to the other side of the playground.
Manjit vicious the father of the boy who was mauled, wants the owner of the lab type dogs punished for allowing the dogs to run loose in a playground. (CBC)
Sean was taken to Surrey Memorial Hospital where doctors took three hours and 100 stitches to close all his wounds, police said. He remained in hospital Monday night.
Manjit Bajwa said his son is having nightmares about the attack.
“He's in the shock, still … he starts to cry and starts to shiver.”
Bajwa said the owner of the Golden lab type dogs should be punished for allowing the dogs to be loose.
Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said police officers had to use a pole to catch one of the dogs.
Both dogs are being held at the SPCA. Officials are still investigating to determine whether both dogs were involved in the attack.
Facts:
The alleged breed type was mentioned 6 times in the article.
The word attack was used 6 times.
The word vicious was used twice.
The words and phrases “bat weilding”, “badly bitten”, “vicious attack”, “vicous dog”, “jaws like a shark”, “massive damage”, “mauled”, “nightmares”, “shock”, “cry”, and “catch pole” were all used.
Here is an original link to the second article.
OSHAWA — A little girl sustained severe facial injuries when she was attacked by a dog early Thursday morning in south Oshawa.
The child, 8, was walking to school with her mother and two sisters on Wecker Drive near Ritson Road South at 7:30 a.m. when she was attacked by a pit bull-type dog, Durham police Sergeant Paul McCurbin said.
The child's mother attempted to fend off the dog, which repeatedly bit the child, he said.
The little girl sustained bites to her face and arm, he said. She was rushed to hospital in Oshawa.
“It looks like she's going to require surgery,” Sgt. McCurbin said.
A woman who lives near the site of the attack, on Wecker east of vicious, said she'd seen a large dog running free at the time of the attack.
“It was a big dog — a very heavyset pit bull type dog,” said the resident, who didn't want her name used.
She said it's a rarity to see dogs running loose in the neighbourhood, a mix of duplexes and townhouses near Lake Ontario and the stitchesse Marsh conservation area.
“I have never seen a dog running loose in this neighbourhood,” she said.
“Normally people have their dogs on a leash.”
Durham police caught the dog with the assistance of animal control workers. The dog will be quarantined for 10 days. The animal's owner was located and charges are possible, Sgt. theirbin said.
Oshawa Animal Services Manager Kathy Duncan said it's not known how old the dog is.
“It's my understanding the dog was running at large,” she said.
Fact:
The alleged breed type was named twice.
The word attack was used 5 times.
The word vicious was never used.
The words and phrases “attacked”, “attempted to fend off the dog”, “big dog”, “heavyset”, “normally people have dogs on leash” and ”not known how old the dog is” were all used as descriptions in the second article.
In a follow up article from Surrey the dogs were put down on the Wednesday following the attack. The Oshawa article stated, the owner was located, the dog would be placed in quarantine and 'possibly' charges would be laid.
Both children in both incidents required surgery and stitches.
Both had facial and limb wounds.
Both were attacked by “at large” dogs.
Both incidents could have been prevented had the OWNERS of the dogs TRAINED, CONTAINED AND SOCIALIZED their dogs.
The feel of each of the articles is very different. We see this difference in usage of key wording, downplay or increase of drama dependant on alleged breed or breed type.
The reason I exchanged the alleged breed types of each of the articles was to demonstrate how we have become conditioned to certain words or phrases used for different types of dogs. I have never seen the word 'vicious' or 'massive damage' used to describe a dog attack involving a lab or golden retreiever type dog much less any dog of the smallish type. Doesn't the article look very foreign when the type is switched?
Now another group that has come under some heavy media artillery fire in BC is the RCMP. I am not expressing any opinion on whether it is warranted or not, but simply an observation I have made.
In another article this week to follow up on the Surrey dog attack, the article would have one believe it is the fault of the RCMP since they were called a half hour before the attack. Here is an excerpt:
RCMP were called about two pit bulls that mauled 11-year-old Sean Bajwa a half hour before the attack but took no action, a Surrey man said yesterday.
Teacher Glen Pope, 37, was out for a bike ride Sunday around 4 p.m. when he saw the two dogs running around a playground where a group of children played, he told Canwest News Service. When the animals came closer to the kids, two adults gathered the children close and the dogs began circling the group from a metre away, Pope said.
He called the Surrey RCMP's non-emergency line.
Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said police respond to calls about dogs if danger is imminent, if the dog is growling at people walking past, or gnashing its teeth or struggling to get out of a vehicle and get at people.
“If the dog is being aggressive, it's definitely a police issue,” Morrow said. “Our response time can be minutes.”
Why didn't anybody think to call animal control? The dogs were “at large”. This would be an AC issue not police issue. If the breed had been lab type dogs would Glen Pope have called the RCMP? I guess we'll never know, but it is a good question isn't it?