Jogger bitten to death

What a dog owner says after the drama surrounding the dead jogger

The dog owner at the trial in Linz

(Bild: Dostal Harald, Krone KREATIV)

"Today I have found the strength to speak out here about this dramatic accident" - with these words, a woman from Mühlviertel (38) begins her statement on the tragedy in Naarn in Upper Austria. On October 2 last year, her three American Staffordshire terriers literally mauled a jogger (60). 

First things first: the 38-year-old does not feel like a perpetrator but a victim, blaming the evil media for everything. Right at the beginning of her post, she offers her sincere condolences to the bereaved, before describing at length how poor she herself is: "It's not just the bereaved, we went through hell too!"

It is interesting how the 38-year-old describes the incident: She had been walking her three dogs as usual when a scream was heard from behind. When she turned around, the jogger was about one and a half meters away. She herself fell over the lead, fell and was then unconscious. Her "absence" combined with the dogs' hormonal balance at the time - a female dog had given birth two weeks previously - had caused them to react in this way.

The dog owner at the trial in Linz

(Bild: Dostal Harald, Krone KREATIV)

Even the skull bone was bitten into
"Reacting in this way" means that the three American Staffordshire Terriers, weighing a total of 72 kilograms, mercilessly attacked the jogger Herta A. The dogs named "Cookie", "Peanut" and "Elmo" mauled the woman's head, neck and throat, even biting into skull bones. Body parts were later found in "Elmo's" stomach. Herta A. died from blood loss and a gas embolism caused by the enormous bite wounds.

Dogs could not have done otherwise
Dogs can only choose from four reactions, namely "Fight, Flight, Freeze and Feedle about", i.e. freeze, fight, flee or fool around. Because of the puppies, the four-legged friends would only have had one choice. 

Yes, I'm talking about an accident, because it simply was one .... Nevertheless, I have to handle my dogs in such a way that nobody gets hurt, and that's exactly why I pleaded guilty and got my punishment.

Die Hundehalterin auf Facebook

On March 7, the 38-year-old was sentenced to 15 months in prison, five of which were unconditional, at the Linz Regional Court.

Criticism of the media, apology to all dog owners
What happens next in the Facebook post, which is more than 1000 words long? On the one hand, the 38-year-old complains about the "media witch hunt" that she allegedly experienced, while on the other hand she apologizes to all responsible dog owners for the unpleasantness. She herself had neither sharpened her dogs nor mistreated them in any way. On the contrary, the four-legged friends were treated like dogs, but were still fully-fledged family members who were also allowed to lie in bed with the woman and her partner.

Numerous further training courses
The 38-year-old then describes in detail that she has had numerous further training courses in cynology and that her dogs have also been tested several times. But she also shows insight, writing again: "Nevertheless, this accident should NEVER have happened!"

Great response
The dog owner's "confession" has already been well received on Facebook. The post, written on May 12, has already been shared more than 1150 times and there have been around 1200 comments so far. Most of these comments, which have presumably also been screened out, are supportive, but some are borderline offensive. One of the posters even drew a comparison with the "Mühlviertel Hare Hunt", in which around 500 escaped concentration camp prisoners were killed by the local population in 1945.