This story is so wrong in so many ways it defies commentary.
From the SF Gate website:
Mother shut boy in basement to protect him from pit bullAnd the attack:
12-year-old was killed by family dog; owner sees death as tragic accident but defends the breed as loving pets
Hours before being mauled to death by the family pit bull, 12-year- old Nicholas Faibish had been told to stay in the basement separated from the dogs, said his distraught mother, Maureen Faibish, who called The Chronicle on Saturday, trying to make sense of what she called a "freak accident."
"I put him down there, with a shovel on the door," said Faibish, who had left the boy alone with the dogs on June 3 to run some errands. "He had a bunch of food. And I told him, 'Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me."
On the day of the attack, Maureen Faibish arrived at the family home at 711 Lincoln Way about 3:15 p.m. to discover her son's lifeless body in a front bedroom. His face had been mauled, and he was covered with bite wounds and had a hole in his scalp from the attack.And the mom:
"It's Nicky's time to go," she said. "When you're born you're destined to go and this was his time."Bullshit -- Nicky was killed because you were too stupid to see that your dogs were a threat and should have been put down. Since you left him in the basement, I'm betting that he had to use the bathroom. He was found in a bedroom so that reinforces my thought. What a horrible way for a kid to go -- bleeding out from a dog attack. As for the mom -- here is a quote:
"Even after the whole thing," she said, "I'm not mad at my dogs. I just love them to death."The whole thing?!? Your dog just killed your 12-year-old son and you are defending the dog. I am hoping for a nice looong stay in the gray-bar hotel...
I am so tired of reading the same thing about this poor grieving mother. This needs to stop. I have almost lost faith in our society. These responses comprise of unintelligent individuals who are incapable of thinking for themselves and believe everything written in the paper to be true. Every article/blog I have read has been in response to one poorly written article. It is outrageous. This mother was clearly grieving. I saw the news the night this article was printed and she mentioned the basement was a recreation room. I have 3 boys, ages 15, 11, and 7 and I would say that 99% of their time is spent in our family room which is located in our basement.
The shovel on the door comment could probably also be explained. Perhaps the door did not shut probably and this was the only means to keep it closed. The problem is we do not know all the facts. Wouldn't it be nice if we heard all the facts before we condemn this poor woman.
Now the part that concerns me and most of us is that allegedly he was told to stay down there. Perhaps she simply did not want her son near the dogs when one of them was in heat. Since most 12 year boys would prefer to play videos in a family room it would make sense for her to simply say stay here and I will be back in a while. She obviously did not make a big deal about it as Nicholas did not have any fear about leaving the room.
I believe this woman had a false sense of security about this breed. It appears that she like many pit bull owners simply couldn't imagine their sweet loving animal would ever cause any harm to anyone.