Maryland Woman, 64, Killed by Newly Adopted Pit Bull: Police

A 64-year-old woman in Maryland was killed by a pit bull that she had adopted, according to local authorities.

Robin Conway, of Columbia, was “reportedly mauled to death” by a “recently adopted pit bull” that she got from another state, said the Howard County Police Department in a statement on Sept. 4.

Police in Howard County were called to a residence for a report that a woman was mauled by a dog that “she adopted two weeks ago,” said Howard County Police.

There, officers found Conway’s body in the backyard with “significant injuries” inflicted by the animal.

Her cause of death is still pending. An autopsy is slated by the state medical examiner, according to officials.

A family member contacted the police after finding Conway injured in her yard with the animal “standing over her,” said the police department. The witness called 911 and tied the animal to a fence.

When police and paramedics arrived on the scene, they found the dog attached to the post. It was “barking and lunging on the leash and had to be subdued by animal control officers and ultimately euthanized,” the department added.

A necropsy will be performed on the pit bull to see if it had rabies or other medical problems that would cause it to attack.

“There were no previous calls to animal control related to this address prior to this incident. Police do not have information about the dog’s adoption, except that it came from out-of-state,” according to police.

Other details about the incident were not made clear by officials.

‘Most Abused Dogs on Earth’

Animal rights group PETA has said that pit bulls are “the most abused dogs on Earth.”

“Pit bulls are left at shelters in record numbers—and since they are difficult to adopt out, reputable shelters (that don’t slam the door in the dogs’ faces) are finding that they must euthanize more pit bulls and pit bull mixes than all other dogs combined,” the group said.

Karen Delise, research director for the National Canine Research Council and author of “The Pitbull Placebo,” has investigated hundreds of dog bite incidents.

She wrote: “My study of dog bite-related fatalities occurring over the past five decades has identified the poor ownership/management practices involved in the overwhelming majority of these incidents: owners obtaining dogs, and maintaining them as resident dogs outside of regular, positive human interaction, often for negative functions (i.e. guarding/protection, fighting, intimidation/status); owners failing to humanely contain, control and maintain their dogs (chained dogs, loose roaming dogs, cases of abuse/neglect); owners failing to knowledgably supervise interaction between children and dogs; and owners failing to spay or neuter dogs not used for competition, show, or in a responsible breeding program.”