Editor, The News:
Re: Pit bull’s death questioned (The News, July 31).
We would like to thank everyone for their comments and well wishes for our daughter.
In fact, we have many people to be thankful for.
We would like to extend our gratitude, first and foremost, to all the neighbours who came running to help our daughter, Sarah Metzner, from as far as a block away.
The response was awesome and it was very comforting to know that we live in a community of people willing to sacrifice their own safety for another.
We would like to thank the fabulous staff at Ridge Meadows Hospital, as we received top-notch treatment in the emergency room. The pediatric staff members were so caring and kind. They made the treatments much easier to manage, with their compassion and thoughtfullness.
And special thanks to our doctors, who fought to ensure our daughter was protected from any further complications.
We also would like to thank the staff at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, where the surgery was performed.
Our hospital workers are truly amazing and a credit to our community.
Finally, we would like to thank the RCMP officers who attended.
We know there is some dissention regarding the manner of their handling of this incident.
Let us be clear, we stand in full support of any measures the Ridge Meadows RCMP felt were necessary to get that beast off of our daughter.
We believe their actions were directed solely for the purpose of her protection and we thank them deeply for their service, knowing what it must have cost them.
As for the comments of the dog’s owner in this paper, we are deeply disappointed to read the latest article, which seems to indicate that their dog’s well-being was a priority over my daughter’s safety.
Under no circumstances do these people get to abdicate their sole responsibility in this matter.
It should have been to engage in proper handling techniques to counter the aggression.
They assert that the police should better know how to deal with an aggressive dog.
The reality is, police did the best they could to mitigate the damage that should never have occurred, and would not have occurred had the owners better known how to deal with their aggressive dog.
At its most base level, these owners failed their dog, and our daughter paid the price, is still paying the price, and will continue to pay the price for a long time to come.
Mark and Kelly Sullivan
Maple Ridge
‘In a heartbeat’
Editor, The News:
Re: Pit bull’s death questioned (The News, July 31).
I want to commend the RCMP officers who arrived on scene of this defenseless young girl who was savagely attacked by these people’s pit bull.
They have the gall to criticize the way the police handled it? They ran away from the scene and could not control this brutal attack by their dog.
If that was my child, I would have done anything to put that animal down in a heartbeat.
The SPCA should not be judging the RCMP here.
Thank-you Ridge Meadows RCMP.
Bob McKee
Pitt Meadows