4 dogs kill 83 year old man

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

A story that hit close to my home. The attack happened July 1, 2005. "The dogs, an American Bulldog, a Johnson Bulldog, a Border Collie, and a Neapolitan Mastiff, allegedly attacked Boyd Fiscus at his home." According to the news and it sounds like they wondered often.


Multiple dog bites killed Boyd W. Fiscus, 83, on his rural Morgan County property, according to an autopsy Saturday.

Fiscus' body was found about 8 p.m. Friday near a pond behind his home.

Sometime Friday, while his wife watered plants in the front yard of their home in the 12600 block of North Mann Road, south of Camby, Fiscus was attacked by four dogs owned by a neighbor, the Morgan County Sheriff's Department said Saturday.

On Saturday morning, an autopsy determined he died of multiple dog bites, according to the Sheriff's Department.

Authorities sent the four dogs to a veterinary clinic in Indianapolis, at the owners' request, to be destroyed, deputies said.

In the rural, northern Morgan County neighborhood of secluded ranch homes tucked behind leafy trees, residents said pets regularly wander from one large yard to another.

"A lot of people have dogs here, and there is a lot of other wildlife, like coyotes, but no one's ever had a problem," said Donna Baker, 66. "If you don't want them around, you just shoo them away."

Police would not say what type of dogs mauled Fiscus, but neighbors described them as two mastiffs and two bulldogs.

Katona Reed, 13, said that when the Fiscuses weren't gardening, they were walking around the yard holding hands.

"He was a really sweet man, and they were always together," Katona said.

Jim Baker, Donna Baker's husband, said that after Fiscus' wife had watered the plants and walked back to the house, she saw her husband's hat lying near the front door, shredded.

She called for her husband but got no answer. She sought the help of the next-door neighbor who owned the dogs, he said. The neighbor found Fiscus facedown near the pond in the back, his shirt torn open.

Jim Baker came over to the Fiscus home to provide her company until relatives arrived to comfort her.

The Bakers said Fiscus often fed the dogs when they came onto his land. Authorities did not indicate what might have prompted the dog attack.

The dog-biting death was at least the fourth of an elderly Indiana resident in recent years.

[WingedFoal]

Oh that's so terrible, makes me really sad to think about. And it could have been easily prevented.

[calgal]

How terribly tragic!! If there is a leash law there, then I bet the owner will be in some major trouble and could spend time in prison. Your right........this could have been prevented.

[richnrissa]

6 lives destroyed by ones negligence.
a man, a wife and four dogs.
sad

[clraymond]

So sad to hear when something like this happens!

[Schwe]

What a trajedy! It pains me to hear stories like this. One thing I have to take note of, is my happiness that the news article did not automatically accuse the dogs of being "pit bulls."

Putting the dogs down was the right thing to do.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Originally Posted by Schwe

What a trajedy! It pains me to hear stories like this. One thing I have to take note of, is my happiness that the news article did not automatically accuse the dogs of being "pit bulls."

Putting the dogs down was the right thing to do.

Actually the first reports came in as the dogs being " Bulldogs" but failed to say what type. I was asked that night several times in our training class by different people what I was going to do since this would make "my breed" look bad.

I told them that even if it was "my breed" its the owner the looks bad, the breeder who looks bad and putting that aside more importantly a sad day for a wife who lost her husband to someone's pure ignorance. This could be done by ANY breed not just one or another.

[corrine]

That is terribly sad...and mostly because it is a tragedy that could have been easily prevented.