90 year old Virginia Beach woman mauled to death by pit bull: Could one woman’s death been averted? Did an animal adoption center take full precautions?
Margaret M. Colvin a 90 year old Virginia Beach woman has died after being mauled to death by a pit bull dog.
Notice of the attack came after police were called to the woman’s Bunker Hill Lane home 7.30pm Wednesday, after reports of being mauled by a 50 pound pit bull.
Rushed to hospital with serious injuries, Colvin died the following morning WVEC reported.
The victim’s daughter, identified only as ‘Linda,’ says she adopted the one-year-old, pet hours before the attack from Forever Home Rehabilitation Center after having answered an ad on Craigslist.
The daughter told of being in the backyard playing with the dog, Blue, when she heard her mother inside yelling for help after falling.
Upon entering the home, the dog rushed ahead and began biting her mother.
Linda says the dog straddled her mom’s back on the floor, biting her neck and shoulders and later her legs and stomach.
From there the daughter tried hitting the dog with a hammer, nevertheless the pit bull couldn’t to maul her mother.
The daughter also disclosed the attack happening shortly after taking off a shock collar that ‘Blue’ had been wearing from the adoption center.
Just spoke to victim’s granddaughter-she says attack lasted about 5 mins, but it was extremely gruesome #13NewsNow https://t.co/3VbgLxWQQk
— Chenue Her (@ChenueHer) June 1, 2017
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Forever Home Rehabilitation Center issued a statement saying ‘none of us could have ever predicted this horrible event.’
The center said Blue never showed any aggression while training, and passed his final evaluation before being adopted.
The daughter has since told of planning to euthanize the dog.
‘I can’t believe it happened. I am still in shock,’ neighbor Lydia Walther told KFVS.
‘She’s outside all the time with her elderly dog. We bring her tomatoes. It’s just really sad,’ another neighbor, Sondra Smith, said.
Hours earlier, an adoption service dropped the dog off at the home after Linda purchased it on Craigslist for $20.
Reflected Walther: ‘If she got killed by an animal, it just makes me feel that it could happen to any of the kids around the house. We do have dogs ourselves’.
According to the daughter, upon her mother being admitted to hospital, doctors were forced to amputate one of her arms.
Come Thursday morning, the mother fatally succumbed to her injuries.
Reiterated Walther, ‘I feel for her. I feel for her family. My heart goes out to them. We are praying for them, hoping they can overcome something like this’.
Latest developments now include attempts to close the animal center which has since been accused of using shock collars to temper dog’s behavior.
The dog is currently in quarantine and may be put down.
