Community shocked by death of 5-year-old in dog attack
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers UNDERSTANDING WHY—The male pit bull mix responsible for the death of 5-year-old Katya Todesco awaits euthanasia at the Camarillo shelter. Animal control, which is still investigating the attack, is asking residents to contact their office at (805) 388-4341 if they have any information regarding the dog.

A 5-year-old Simi Valley girl has died after being attacked by a pit bull.

Katya Teresa Todesco was severely bitten Tues., Sept. 23 at around 8:45 p.m. at the home of a friend in the 1000 block of Appleton Road, according to Lt. Paul Fitzpatrick of the Simi Valley Police Department.

Katya, a first-grader at Crestview Elementary, was taken to Simi Valley Hospital and then transferred to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. She died Sept. 26.

Fitzpatrick said he wasn't sure why the dog attacked when Katya and a 13-year-old friend went into the backyard.

"The dog was loose in the backyard; the kids were in the backyard and for some reason the dog turned on the little girl," Fitzpatrick said.

According to Shasta Gainer, Ventura County deputy medical examiner, Katya died because her brain didn't have the oxygen it needed due to blood loss from bites to the neck and head. The manner of death is listed as an accident.

Because Katya died at Childrens Hospital, she was taken to the Los Angeles Coroner's office. Later she was transferred to the Ventura County Medical Examiner's office.

"If issues in the investigation make it easier—because the injury occurred in Ventura County—there can be a transfer," Gainer said. "There was a request and a mutual agreement to transfer."

Kathy Jenks, director of Ventura County Animal Regulation, said the residents of the Appleton Road home didn't own the dog and were keeping it for friends.

The dog is an unneutered male pit bull mix named Bubba, probably about 18 to 24 months old and weighing about 60 pounds. Jenks said he is not "aggressive, just fearful."

"Now we are trying to piece together the loose ends," Jenks said. "We want to talk to some people, and we're trying to find out a little history of the dog. We want to know if he's shown any of this behavior in the past."

Bubba will be euthanized upon completion of the investigation.

Jenks has worked with the agency for 36 years. This is only the second animal attack that has resulted in death since she's been with the county.

Jenks said pit bull bites are the most commonly reported. The second-most-common biting dog is the Chihuahua. Though there were almost as many reports of Chihuahua bites last year as pit bull bites, people tend not to report bites from small breeds.

The third most common bites are from Labrador retrievers.

"The whole world is afraid of pit bulls, so they report them," Jenks said. "People tend not to report bites from other dogs because it's 'the family dog' or a little dog.

"When any other dog besides a pit bull bites, it's an accident."

A child under the age of 10 should never be left alone with a dog of any breed, she said.

"The problem is that with dogs, it doesn't matter what breed," Jenks said. "We've seen (incidents with) Chihuahuas to Rottweilers and everything in between. They do not see children under the age of 10 as humans. They just see them as prey.

"(Children) are the same size as things dogs like to chase or things dogs like to eat. If a dog is sleeping or minding its own business and a small child goes up to it, the dog doesn't get it; it doesn't recognize it as a small human being."'

There were 1,548 animal bites reported in Ventura County during the 2007-08 fiscal year; 1,185 were dog bites.

Nearly 250 of those bites occurred in Simi Valley.

There were 117 pit bull bites, 115 Chihuahua bites, 88 German shepherd bites and 76 Labrador retriever bites in Ventura County last fiscal year.

Responsible ownership is the most important issue Katya's death has brought to light, Jenks said.

"We need to seriously look at and rethink this whole thing that says people have the right to own a dog," Jenks said. "The companionship of a dog is a privilege, not a right, and not everybody should be extended that privilege."

Jenks said she was not surprised to see the outcry against pit bulls surge since Katya's death.

"I understand the emotion, I truly do, but it's not the breed; it's the behavior of the individual dog," said Jenks, who is not in favor of the types of breed-specific legislation that has been adopted in cities like Denver, where it is illegal to own a pit bull.

"The people that have these dogs and care for them properly, and would never leave a child alone with them, love these animals. A person who really respects dogs and knows the breed would never say, 'My dog will never hurt anybody,' because they know they can't promise that."