Thursday, August 11, 2011
(08-11) 16:57 PDT PACIFICA -- A pregnant Pacifica woman was found dead by her husband today after an apparent attack by a family pit bull, police said.
Darla Napora, 32, was killed in her home on the 500 block of Reina del Mar, said Capt. Dave Bertini, a Pacifica police spokesman.
Napora's husband told police that he arrived home from work around noon and found one of the couple's two pit bulls standing over his wife's body. He was able to get the dog into the backyard before police arrived a few moments later.
Attempts to revive Napora were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
While the investigation was under way, Bertini said, the dog, a 2-year-old male, got loose from the yard and charged at officers who were stationed outside. They fired three shots at the pit bull, killing it.
The family's second pit bull was not believed to have been involved in the attack, but was removed as a precaution by the Peninsula Humane Society, which provides animal control services for San Mateo County.
18 comments:
A tragedy to be sure. But there was more going on here then meets the eye. For a pit bull to do something like this to a human guardian something was terribly amiss in this household. Just a shame all the way around.
I just read through some of the comments on SF Gate and unfortunately they are full of careless speculation and insensitive rants.
These people are our neighbors and are going through an unthinkable tragedy, please resist jumping to any hurtful conclusions - be respectful and wait to see what we learn.
My heart goes out to all the family, friends and neighbors who will be forever affected by what happened today.
Well said Ian. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the young woman.
Unbelievable tragedy. I pray for their family and her husband. I own a pitbull and have some serious issues about keeping my dog now. I love my dog but if this could happen to my kids or me - i really need to think twice about owning one.
I was trying to look thru the comments to see if I knew the people involved.
A friend of mine lives in the same area and heard the screaming the sirens and the gun shots.
If you remember someone broke out of the SF Jail hiked over the hill to Vallemar and killed the residence of a house. Long time ago.
People should try to show some respect for the family, the husband who had to find this tragity. The wife and child who lost their lives. and the first responders, and police and fire department who had to witness this.
Some people just do not think and post things like on the SF Gate board.
in early 1800s bull baiting was popular in England. Object was release a dog in a deep pit and see how long it takes the dog to pin down the bull. Looking to improve the dog for their sport people bred the bulldog with the terrier and when popularity rose it was known as the pit bull. The pit bull was bred to be vary friendly and sociable to people to insure the dog would not turn on the handler when removed from the bull.
When bull baiting became illegal people moved to underground pit bull fighting. in the late 1800s the English and Irish brought the pit to America where it gained in popularity because of how loving the dogs were to people.
The dog was so good with small children it was later nicknamed the "Nanny Dog"
Pit bulls were used on the face of ww1 posters to represent the American spirit, as well as on posters, magazines, etc..
in ww1 a stray pit named stubby, nicknamed "Hero dog" became ww1 most famous dog, protecting troops against German soldiers and gas attacks!!!
in 1927 little rascals featured a pit named peety, peety worked with the people including children on set, this is when the pit bull became the most popular..
in the early 80s gang members adopted the pit as part of a status symbol. pit fighting became a regular event and irresponsible owners and breeders raised the pit for toughness, aggression and fight winning bloodlines.
Of coarse media jumped on the pit bull with only bad stories to sell.
The media only focused on the bad pits or bad doing not of the irresponsible owners or the good pit bulls.
As a result, states began banning the pit or pit type dogs, animal wardens determined what a pit bull or pit type dog was, meaning if you had a dog with muscles and a square head they could kill your dog. they seized and killed 1000s of dog including Stafford shires, bull terriers, boxers ,and mastiffs etc...
in 2007 Michael Vick was arrested for running a dog fighting ring so bad that losing dogs were hanged, drowned, and even electrocuted!!!
in the past, animal shelters euthanized all fighting dogs, but this time the public sided with the dogs. Several different rescues were allowed to evaluate the dogs.
Out of 48 dogs only one had aggression toward people and was euthanized.
in 2010 all Vick fighting dogs were placed in either forever homes with children or other dogs or placed in sanctuaries. There has not been a single aggressive incident with any of them since!!!
All dogs need training and responsible owners regardless of breed. One Vick pit goes to schools and teaches kids how horrible dog fighting is and i know of a man from war who sleepwalks with a loaded gun and his pit bull service dog is trained to wake him up where as a human could get hurt trying to wake up a sleepwalking man with a gun.
If you have a pit bull and you train it good and socialize it you will have a good pit just like the millions of families who own pits or pit mixes and don’t end up on the news, I feel bad for this lady I’m sorry this happened to her and her family and im not saying they were not responible oweners but I will always stick up for those good pits who never did wrong and were killed just because of their breed blame the irresponsible owners and breeders!!
MOST people who don’t like pit bulls have only been subject to media and never really met a pit!
BLAME THE DEED NOT THE BREED
Really...Anonomous. People who own pitbulls like the status. They are generally people looking for attention most of there lives. A specific minded people own that particular breed as a self defense symbol and are excuse makers in many areas of there lives. Many owners get a thrill out of having an intimidating looking dog, generally insecure in other areas of their personalities. Most are not very bright intellectually.......and in addition believe they are "street smart". Since around 1980 in California to begin with pitbulls were prevelent for the above reasons and today have proven to be a "weapon" in many cases and not a "pet". No matter what.... the under- educated claim them as "family pets" so to rally and fit in to society.Their should be laws and registration constraints and weapons training and the law needs to enforce this ASAP. It will be a long time to acquire a culture change though.
The breed apologists need to get their priorities straight. The question of nature or nurture is irrelevant here. That poor woman is dead and her family will have to deal with the loss every day. That's a big enough burden without all the controversy.
I have a part pit. I got her from the SPCA. They told me she was a black lab. She is - - a mix. I didn't learn until the vet told me that she is part pit. I've had my dog 14 years. I've raised my two kids around her since they were babies. She is very protective, but also minds. I have taught my kids to read her - - because dogs tell you what they are thinking with their body language. All animals do. She's never bitten, never snapped.
I didn't get her for status or to raise her to hurt anyone. I got her because I enjoyed having a dog companion. And I looked through the SPCA until I found one with a nice temperament. She was spayed. She had been abused in a prior home and the first year I had her was trying to get her to stop being scared of everything.
We don't know anything about the family that this happened to. We can speculate based on what we would do or wouldn't do - - but you will never have the same facts, perspective, or thoughts these people did. Your judgment of them, then, is based on false propositions. The only fact that you can know from an outside perspective is that someone is dead.
To me, that fact is sad. A person lost their life on an ordinary day seemingly doing ordinary things. How it happened and why are not questions I can answer. Hopefully peace will come soon to the family.
I have a pit bull mix. Adopted her from a person who had health issues and could not keep her. She has been been spayed, chipped, and registered with the county. We walk and socialize her as much as possible and have taken her to training classes. She is highly intelligent and very attached to me and my kids. She is a joy to us just like other dogs are to other owners. Still she is a pariah in many people's eyes because of her breed. It is quite a trip to see peoples' reactions to her. I did not adopt her for status reasons; I adopted her because a great dog needed a home.
I am still in shock by what happened. It is horrible that this woman lost her life particularly if her pet, who she reportedly adored, was responsible.
Dogs are potentially very dangerous, some types more than others. However, an unaltered male is particularly a problem -- 97% of dog mauling fatalities are reportedly caused by males who have not been neutered. I personally think most folks should have their dogs spayed or neutered and would favor such an ordinance. However, I think it should not be breed specific.
My lab and I were attacked by a blue pit bull while walking last night. I squirted it in the eyes with lemonade I had with me. If I had had my knife or pistol it would be dead today. I hate them. They needto be banned here like they are in England. Always carry pepper spray with you when you walk or if you own one of these beasts. My roomate got a pit puppy and treated that dog like royalty. When it turned 2 it turned into a blood thirsty werewolf and put my friend in the hospital. So much for the"its all in how you train and treat them" crowd. Why don't you just get yourself a pet alligator and just test date and the odds that it won't get out of its pen and kill you our one of your neig gb bors children. Pitbull owners are just stupid people.
Perhaps when there's enough public outrage cities and towns will act to protect their resident's from what is all too often a public menace. Hell, Pacifica sure moved fast enough to save us from those vicious payday loan places.
Some of you need go back and read a couple books on dog training and or Alpha Dog. The A or alpha dog has to be the owner at all times. This has to be trained into the dog when the dog is a puppy.
If the dog is alpha over the owner, the dog will not obey and all hell can break loose.
I guess I am lucky, being I have been in countless thousands of homes for work and never got bit. In fact people always would jump behind me when I went into a home with a dog.
At one time we had 3 dogs which for a short time all thought they where the Alpha dog. A couple quick squirts with the hose stopped that in about 2 weeks.
Little dogs like Jack Russells and Pomeranian's can have the small dog body but the big dog attitude.
Personally, I saw a cat do some major damage to a neighbor once, that got pissed off and clawed the heck out of her scalp and face.
Dogs, and cats are animals.
Well that's all well and good but what about all the people who aren't up to date on their
"alpha dog" training. You know, little kids, the elderly, and apparently some pit bull owners? Pit bulls are a menace.
Landsharks.
Unfortunately, the fact is EVERY DAY unsuspecting women and men are killed by their spouses; children are killed by their own parents, strangers, even people they know; pedestrians are killed by automobiles even bicyclists; people are mauled and killed by animals; hikers fall off cliffs and are swept over waterfalls. All recent news stories.
Fact is, life is unpredictable and can change with every breath we take. For those pit bull bashers that are posting comments, how about some respect for the dead and condolences for the family instead of your closed-minded, factless opinions that really only other pit bull bashers cheer for. I, for one, am sick of hearing it. Get a life, show some respect. In this case the only ones that matter here are Darla and Greg and their families. Here's a FACT I do know. Darla loved her pits.
And perhaps that will be some kind of comfort for a family that is suffering. The Napora family has been in many hearts and minds since this happened. People posting concerns about pit bulls are simply shocked and angry that this poor young woman died here in her own home in such a savage way. As you say, life is unpredictable. It is also precious.
There are a so many wonderful breeds of dogs to choose from. Why pick a pit bull? I believe (like others before me posted) that people choose the pit bull for "status." They want people to think they are tough or want to prove a point that pit bulls are nice dogs. This tragic story reinforces the fact that pit pulls can turn on you at any moment. So why would you own a pit bull? This poor woman paid the ultimate price. I am terrified of them and always will be, no matter what people try to tell me abuot them.
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