Saleena is a young child VICTIM of a vicious pit bull attack that left her severely injured and disfigured for life.
"I noticed on your map, Utah doesn't show any children injured or killed. I am Saleena Wickward's mother & I can testify that in 2010 alone, 3 children just in our area were injured.
People always have a reason for why that particular dog attacked. Let's be honest, the majority of severely injured children or children mauled TO DEATH comes from the jaws of a Pit. I am often accused of being a "Pit Bull Hater" which humors me. I raised American Pit Bulls, owning a total of 51 over the years. The problem that plagues me is that there IS NOT ALWAYS A REASON THAT AN ANIMAL ATTACKS! Chico (the dog that mauled my daughter) was extremely well cared for. He wasn't left on a chain for hours at a time. He wasn't abused, neglected, taunted, mistreated or anything else that one might think. That dog was taken for walks every day. He spent a lot of his mornings & early afternoons inside with his owners & had ample outside time as well. There wasn't one single thing that anyone could say the owners of Chico didn't do.
So now what? While hundreds of people contacted us when Saleena was initially injured, nobody contacts us about it anymore besides her doctors. Nobody sees the now 7 year old child plagued with nightmares, self image issues, & PTSD . Nobody calls to see why Saleena didn't show up to picture day at school. No one has sympathy for us when we went without a vehicle for 3 months because my once pristine credit is now unworthy of a loan for a piece of paper. No one understands when Saleena's older brother has anxiety & panic attacks when anything even suggests a threat to his younger sisters. Not one person gives an iota of a care when four children won't even go to a public park, pool, or grocery store without the fear of God inside of them at all times. This being after almost 2 years of counseling.
Yet, the support for proper care of animals & Pro Pit Bull banter continues. Like a slap in the face, there's a new commercial, website, or facility asking for donations to save the animals, Pits in particular, almost everyday it seems.
WHEN DO WE START SAVING OUR OWN CHILDREN?! When did animals start ranking above our race...our futures...& the little people we bring into this world that look to us for protection?! Saleena's accident brought out the support for pits more than anything. While a child was stuck in a hospital bed, with her hair being rubbed off the one side of her skull due to the severity of injuries encompassing her head... fighting infection...without the ability to open her eyelids due to the excessive swelling and bruising...having lucid nightmares...withdrawing from morphine...and all of this after having her face pieced back together with glue, stitches, staples, a metal plate, a screws. Her family in a state of emotional/physical/mental perdition, unsure of their loved one's outcome, & unable to be together to support & sooth one another not only during that time but for months to come along with more heartbreaking surgeries, scares, and distress at levels in which some will never even fathom... All of these occurrences & ANYONE was concerned for the dog's situation or fate?!? What?!
It makes me absolutely sick that anyone would donate to any of the "animal support" facilities when there are families like us out there paying astronomical amounts to try to save their child's life, put a face or limb back together for them, & pray that somehow a miracle will happen to save us from the poverty that an animal's mouth plagued our lives with.
We eat cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals but chose a canine's life over or own children.
Honestly, how can anyone be confused as to why our communities grow more corrupt generation by generation, or what we're doing wrong by our children to have our crime rates rise, children shooting up schools, or addictions forming at younger ages continually?
No one seems afraid to stand up for the animals. In my opinion not only should they be afraid, but ashamed. Ignorance plagues our country like an outbreak of Ebola Zaire. Then to add salt to a wound, we publicize the "animals rights over children's safety/lives" for the entire globe to see. There were actually comments on the articles about Saleena's accident saying that "the dog was in his yard (mind you there was no fence & a dog run built having never been used) the little girl got what she deserved". I researched to the highest extent possibly in desperation to find the sadistic tormented mind behind those words. I wanted nothing more than that person to say those words while showing his/her face. There is no way that person had children. I'd love to sit with those people & show them every photo of Saleena taken due to this dog. The pre surgery photos would cause almost anyone to have haunting visions and nightmares for the rest of their days.
I could go on and on from the $ worth put on a little girl's face to every single domino of our lives that fell all aftermath of "man's best friend."
I pray that we quit breeding ignorant & self destructive tendencies into our children. When will there be enough lives taken, enough innocent children sacrificed? I wonder how many "animal rights activists" could voice those same opinions after seeing their child shredded like the first course of a starved lioness.
I wish it was as simple as changing the way we confine our pets. Instead, our communities stand & support this issue as our children are one by one traumatized, brutalized, & demonized. You never hear these stories where the dog owner says they knew there was a problem. The first time so often being the only time due to the severity.
Animal rights..... What happened to Human Rights? Who is going to protect our babies if we don't???"
