KEIKO SHIBAGAKI
Nov/03/98

The article "Pit bull owner charged for murder of a child his dog killed" is about the man, Michael Barry, whose one of dogs killed a neighbor child on January 13th 1987, and facing second degree murder. If he is convicted, he will spend fifteen years or life in prison. The owner of the dog claim that it was an accident and the mother of child neglected to keep eye on her child after dark. The dog was chained in the yard when the incident happened, however the investigator says that the dog was really aggressive and attacking spectators. The US humane society, the expert of aggressive dog says that it does not matter who the owner of the dog is, dogs behavior is genetic. In this nation, one person dies from dog attack every month and children are more likely to be victim than anybody else is. Furthermore, the children, especially two to three years old are more likely to approach to active dog than the unfriendly dogs. Right after the incident, the California law requires to put any animal in sleep. The other two dogs owned by Michael Barry are held in humane society as evidence of the case and getting along with the stuff there.

I chose this article is because I have been one of victim by an animal attack, also I own an animal as a family member. I believe that this article is a good article because it gives us some questions such as if the owner of the dog should be liable for the child death or not, if the owner of the dog should spend fifteen years or rest of his life in prison in stead of his dog or not, if the children irritated the dog or not. I actually, bitten by one of my friend's cat while I was petting the cat and seriously injured. My friend was so sorry what her cat did to me, and took care of the medical bill, but she should have told me that the cat had bitten someone else before, but she did not. The cat seemed like quiet and peering when he bit me. Also, I know my friend was not abusing him. I believe that any animal attack humans anytime randomly. However, I really believe that if she had told me that he had bit someone before, I would not have even touched him or been bitten. The article says that the dog was attacking the spectators which might be enough conviction for the investigator to believe that the dog was dangerous one. I assume that the owner of the dog should nor should have known that the dog could have been aggressive so that it have been possible for him to put the sign says "stay away from the dog" etc. The stuff at humane society says that the other dogs are doing well, but it does not tell us that if the owner of the dog had abused all of his dogs or not. The dogs might bite the stuff someday may be not. I really do not know the cause of the incident. but there is a possibility that the one of which killed the child, was bad pedigreed which would be the reason why the dog attack and killed the child and the other two dogs were good pedigreed.

Vicious (adj)~ evil
Viciously(adv)
Viciousness(n)
"Can a man train a dog vicious that when the dog kills the owner is guilty of murder."

Grisly(adj)~terrible
Grisliness(n)
"The child's mother described the grisly find."

Pedigree(n)~blood line, good blood line
Pedigreed(adj)
"A U.S. humane society expert on fighting dogs says the dogs pedigree reads like a who's who of the killer."

Pit(n)~hole, cage, dent
Pit(v)~to dent
"Our investigators have reported incidents of dogs jumping out of the pits and attacking specters."

Prey(n) victim
Prey(v)
"The behavior of a particularly small child, a two or three year old is often much more like the behavior of a prey animal than it is like the kind of human being an unsocialized dog comes up against."

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