Bite attack again

There is no human right to a dog

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

A Rottweiler cannot be calmed down, the muzzle is lost, the animal bites into a woman. For minutes, until the police shoot the dog. The terrible incident on Friday evening in Gratwein-Straßenengel is shocking and raises questions. Because there is a back story.

"I immediately suspected that something bad had happened," said a man who lives 300 meters from the scene of the dog attack to my colleague Andreas Barth during a local inspection. There were probably no eyewitnesses to the incident on Friday, but there were several earwitnesses: The 34-year-old's cries of pain and help must have been piercing.

Because the dog kept biting into the Styrian woman's body, the police had no choice but to shoot the animal at a moment that was safe for the woman. The accounts are shocking and also a little frightening: what if you yourself - or one of your own family - were to become the victim of such an incident? In Upper Austria last year, a jogger was mauled to death by three dogs. In Tillmitsch in southern Styria, a neighbor's dog bit off a woman's thumb - which was then reattached.

"It's never the dog's fault, especially not individual breeds," says Georg Resch from Hartberg, who specializes in problem dogs. "Owners increasingly lack knowledge and common sense. If this doesn't change, there will unfortunately be more biting incidents."

In addition, in the case of Gratwein-Straßengel, the Rottweiler seriously injured a five-year-old three years ago. The owner was fined and allowed to keep the dog. It remains to be seen whether the authorities made an error of judgment in this case.

There is no human right to own a dog or a certain breed. If you can't control it, you shouldn't. This is for the good of the animals - and of us all.

I wish you a safe Sunday!