![\"Dorothy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-02-23_19-51-46-947-e1740369143385.jpg?ssl=1\")
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<\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n ACERRA, Italy;\u00a0 ENTWISTLE, Alberta;\u00a0 ANTONITO, Colorado;\u00a0 WICHITA,\u00a0 Kansas;\u00a0 CAPE CORAL, Florida<\/strong>\u2013\u2013Denialists could find many excuses for the pit bulls believed to have killed two infants, \u00a0two troubled women,\u00a0 and a 57-year-old man in recent attacks, including denial that pit bulls were even involved.<\/p>\n Be that as it may,\u00a0 the known U.S. dog attack body count in 2025 is up to 11,\u00a0 plus two more abroad,\u00a0 in eight weeks through February 23,\u00a0 with no other dog type suspected.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Pit bull advocates quickly rose to defend pit bulls after several of the fatalities were disclosed, even as police cautiously held back from identifying the dog breeds responsible for the deaths\u00a0 while describing pit bull physiques and behavior.<\/p>\n Neighbor statements and in one case a photograph put pit bulls at the scenes of the deaths.<\/p>\n Dogs of other breeds were quickly named as perhaps having roles in the mayhem.\u00a0 But the probable presence of a pit bull,\u00a0 officially acknowledged or not,\u00a0 was the common denominator.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n The first victim in the string,\u00a0 a nine-month-old baby girl in Acerra,\u00a0 Italy,\u00a0 was named in news reports as both \u201cFrancesca\u201d and \u201cGiulia,\u201d\u00a0 suggesting her full name may have been \u201cFrancesca Giulia.\u201d<\/p>\n Her father,\u00a0 a bartender who was at home with \u201cFrancesca Giulia\u201d while her mother worked at a pizzeria, \u00a0told police he fell asleep on a couch,\u00a0 but awakened at about 10:30 p.m. to find the baby in her blood-soaked bed,\u00a0 having suffered severe head and facial injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tragedy could have been avoided, \u00a0according to the residents of the neighborhood,\u201d\u00a0 reported the newspaper L\u2019Unione Sarda<\/em>. \u00a0\u201cAccording to what they say, \u00a0the pit bull escaped from the apartment last summer and attacked another dog who was walking in the neighborhood in the company of a dog sitter.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone said that the owner should put the pit bull down,\u00a0 but the owners didn\u2019t understand that the dog could hurt people, \u00a0especially children, \u00a0including their little girl.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n The death of \u201cFrancesca Giulia\u201d came only four days after Warren Houston,\u00a0 45,\u00a0 was on February 11,\u00a0 2025 indicted by a Hamilton County,\u00a0 Ohio grand jury for involuntary manslaughter, \u00a0reckless homicide,\u00a0 and endangering children in an at least superficially parallel case.<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s three pit bulls on December 27,\u00a0 2024 killed his biological daughter,\u00a0 three-year-old Kingsley Renee Wright,\u00a0 on her first overnight visit to his home in the Roselawn district on the north side of Cincinnati, \u00a0Ohio.<\/p>\n Houston claimed he was asleep in an adjoining room,\u00a0 with the pit bulls in cages they somehow got out of and then got back into before he found his daughter\u2019s remains about eight hours after her death.<\/p>\n (See Pit bull victim Kingsley Wright, age 3, was 70th dog attack death of 2024<\/a> and\u00a0Cincinnati pit bull death indictment; owners guilty in Circleville pit death case.)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Within Italy,\u00a0 the pit bull attack death of \u201cFrancesca Giulia\u201d recalled the April 22,\u00a0 2024 death of 13-month-old Francesco Pio in Campolongo, \u00a0identified by L\u2019Unione Sarda<\/em> as \u201ca hamlet of Eboli in the Salerno area.\u201d<\/p>\n Five adults are reportedly under investigation in connection with Pio\u2019s death,\u00a0 including the two owners of the pit bulls,\u00a0 his two uncles,\u00a0 and his mother,\u00a0 who was injured trying to save her son.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n A 14-month-old boy who has not been identified was killed on February 17,\u00a0 2025 by \u201ca medium-sized dog\u201d who has also not been identified,\u00a0 in Entwistle,\u00a0 Alberta,\u00a0 literally a former railway whistle stop,\u00a0 population 425,\u00a0 about 63 miles west of Edmonton.<\/p>\n \u201cMounties confirmed there were three adults and the baby living in the home when the attack happened,\u201d\u00a0 reported Craig Ellingson for the CBC.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would not confirm if the baby\u2019s parents owned the dog, \u00a0or if the third adult did, \u00a0but said the animal was surrendered to authorities.<\/p>\n \u201cConstable Julie-Ann Strilaiff said officers were looking at the health of the dog and not considering criminal charges,\u201d\u00a0 Ellingson continued.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage<\/strong><\/em>)<\/div>\n \u201cOnce the dog has an examination, we can have more determination about what specific breed it is,\u201d \u00a0Strilaiff told Ellingson.<\/p>\n \u201cShe added that the newborn was the only child in the home, \u00a0and the dog was the family pet,\u201d\u00a0 Ellingson said.<\/p>\n Note that official alleged uncertainty about dog breeds tends to involve only the many variants of pit bull.\u00a0 In the 43 years that ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> has logged fatal and disfiguring dog attacks,\u00a0 there has never been any dispute or hesitancy on the part of authorities to identify any other type of dog.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Franklin Anthony Baca,\u00a0 57,\u00a0 of remote Antonito,\u00a0 Colorado,\u00a0 was found dead in a ditch on the morning of February 19,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n According to Rob Lowe,\u00a0 strategic communications director for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,\u00a0 \u201cLacerations from possible dog bites were observed on the victim\u2019s body. \u00a0Investigators are exploring several possibilities surrounding the man\u2019s death, \u00a0including the possibility of an animal attack.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo dogs are being considered as possible factors: \u00a0a neighbor\u2019s pit bull and the victim\u2019s own dog, \u00a0a Labrador mix,\u201d\u00a0 believed to be a pit bull mix.<\/p>\n A probable scenario is that Baca intervened in a fight between the two dogs.<\/p>\n <\/a> Moeshae Tanika Thomas.<\/strong><\/em> This also appears to be what happened to Moeshae Thomas, \u00a040, \u00a0owner of two pit bulls,\u00a0 on the evening of February 22,\u00a0 2025 in Wichita,\u00a0 Kansas.<\/p>\n Found by police in \u201cextremely critical condition,\u201d\u00a0 reported Kara Nixon for KWCH television news,\u00a0 Thomas died soon afterward.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Wichita Police Department said, \u00a0based on the investigation, \u00a0there were two pit bulls inside the home fighting. \u00a0Both pit bulls were family dogs. \u00a0Thomas attempted to break up the dogs when she was attacked,\u201d\u00a0 recounted Nixon.<\/p>\n Moeshae Thomas,\u00a0 according to her booking record,\u00a0 spent most of the last seven years of her life in jail.<\/p>\n Picked up on a warrant on November 27,\u00a0 2017,\u00a0 Moeshae Thomas was charged on October 30,\u00a0 2018 with a variety of drug-related offenses including possession of opium and other opiates,\u00a0 as well as possession of stolen property worth less than $1,000.<\/p>\n Moeshae Thomas was then booked at least eight times for further alleged offenses while still in custody,\u00a0 and was then booked again for an alleged probation violation on March 1,\u00a0 2024.<\/p>\nNo breed type other than pit bulls suspected<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nPit bull advocates rise to the defense before pits are accused<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cFrancesca Giulia\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nParallels to Kingsley Renee Wright case<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFrancesco Pio<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nWhistle stop case<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nBreed identity<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFranklin Anthony Baca<\/h2>\n
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(Crawford County Sheriff\u2019s Office photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nMoeshae Thomas<\/h2>\n