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Dog Attack in Los Angeles -- NOT Bullmastiff’s!!!!!
On the morning of April 16th three loose dogs attacked several people in South Los Angeles. At least two people were sent to the hospital. Two of the dogs were captured by Animal Control. A third was killed when it attacked police officers. The first news stories said the dogs were Bullmastiff’s. However, while there is still some confusion, that has been corrected and they are now described as either Neopolitan Mastiff’s or Cane Corso’s.
Channel 7 News Story
Tentative identifications in the dark are problematical at best. Someone on the scene said “Bullmastiff” and it stuck. Even though the owners have stated the dogs are not Bullmastiff’s. there are now hundreds of links to the original story. Once that’s happened, it’s almost impossible for corrections to catch up.
This type of mistake is unfortunately quite common. Someone makes a guess at a crime scene and it’s picked up by a reporter or an error is made when the dog is identified by Animal Control.
Previous high profile stories where this has happened were the Diane Whipple case in San Francisco. In 2001 she was attacked and killed by dogs living in a neighbors apartment. The dogs were first described as Bullmastiffs but they were actually Presa Canario’s.
More recently a man was found dead on actor Ving Rhames estate. As there were some dog bites on him, the death was originally described as a dog attack and the dogs were identified as Bullmastiff’s. Investigaton eventually proved that the man had a heart attack and the dogs were trying to rouse him. Just as important, the dogs were Fila Brasileros, a Brazilian Mastiff, NOT Bullmastiff’s. \
Contacts if you need information are Scott Peterson or Hanne Mintz.
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