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A 2-year-old Prescott boy dies after being mauled by a pit bull. It happened Wednesday morning just after 9 a.m. off Bemis Road. The city of Prescott is Southwest of Little Rock.

Family and friends wouldn’t go on camera, but say the toddler saw a puppy and chased it to a backyard where the larger pit bull was. They know this because his 3-year-old brother followed him and than rushed home to alert the family.

Families, police and emergency personnel are distraught over the events that occurred Wednesday morning. Neighbor Bridgette Monroe recalls, “A lady came running from this way screaming, my baby, my baby.”

Monroe was in the process of moving and ran with the woman. She continues, “I was down there with the baby rubbing his arms and legs telling the baby it’s going to be ok.”

Monroe says the chained pit bulls hid in their dog houses. Her account of the scene is disturbing. “The babies’ jugular, throat was bitten and from his mouth up to his eye was bitten.”

Chief Brian Russell says, “It’s a 2-year-old baby and each of us have our own children; it destroys you and he’s not here because of something like this.”

Chief Russell says police and emergency crews arrived within minutes and he was airlifted to St. Michael’s where he was pronounced dead.

“There very well could be charges either way. We’ll just have to see where the investigation goes from here,” Chief Russell adds.

Richard Ray Smith points, “The dog attacked the kid right there.”

Smiths’ mother owns the dog; she was home when the incident happened. He says, “She stood over the baby until the ambulance got here.”

Smith continues, “The dog has been raised with us and all the kids have played with the dog. It’s not a violent dog, we don’t know what happened. I have grief for the family.”

But two doors down where the kids were staying, Kevin Taylor and Christy Godwin say they were afraid of the dogs and told the owners they were vicious.

Smith concludes, “We don’t want the family to be mad at us, it’s just an accident that happened.”

After our interview with Bridgette Monore, she found out she’s related to the toddler.

Animal Control is holding two adult pit bulls until the investigation is over; the puppy has not been caught.

Chief Russell says the owners were in compliance with the dog ordinance and the State Police is involved.

The sibling’s age 8-months, two and three-years-old stayed with Kevin Taylor and Christy Godwin while their mom worked. Godwin says they are like family.

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The official position is that they are escaped pets.

Big Cats Caught On Camera In Arkansas

Wildlife Officers Respond to Mountain Lion Sightings

POSTED: 9:15 am CDT May 14, 2009
UPDATED: 10:09 am CDT May 14, 2009

ROGERS, Ark. – Carlos Sinclair set up a game camera in a field near a pond to catch snapshots of deer roaming his property, but instead he caught a picture of a creature that’s rarely seen in Arkansas.

 

State wildlife officers say wild mountain lions, cougars or panthers don’t exist in the natural state. “It is our state position that the mountain lions that are here are most likely released or escaped cats,” said Game and Fish officer Myron Means. 

At one time wild mountain lions did roam freely in Arkansas, but the population was wiped out by the early 1920s when Arkansas was settled. “There has been no evidence of the Florida Panther in Arkansas since the 1920s and no evidence of a wild mountain lion in Arkansas since 1975,” said Means. 

But on average the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission receives 100 reports of mountain lion sightings each year. 

Sinclair lives in rural Madison County near Wesley. He said that in December of 2008 he saw a mountain lion sitting on a pond bank. “It was a pretty good sized cat,” said Sinclair. He checked his game camera and found that he had captured two pictures of the big cat. 

40/29 News has received reports of other mountain lion sightings, but none with pictures to back up the claims. 

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has said that wildlife biologist must have specific evidence to verify a mountain lion sighting, such as track marks. If a picture is taken of a big cat, officers want to go to the scene and investigate the relationship of the camera to the background. 

The most recent verified mountain lion sighting was when a cougar that was caught on a game camera in the Winona Wildlife Management area near Hot Springs. The picture clearly shows a mountain lion. Another verified mountain lion sighting was in 2003 in Carlisle near Little Rock. A mountain lion was struck by a car and wildlife officials were able to analyze the feline. The cat was declawed and also had a scar on its ear where a tag once looped through its ear. 

“We do recognize they are out there, but we do not recognize there is a viable reproducing population of wild mountain lions,” said Means. Wildlife officers believe if a resident spots a mountain lion, it’s most likely a cat that’s been released from captivity. 

According to a 2002 study by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, 150 cougars were living in the natural state as pets. Officials have no idea how many of those cats may have escaped into the wild. 

As for the big cat caught on camera in Madison County, Means said he believes it is probably a former pet. “It looks like a mountain lion, without a doubt. But, as a wildlife biologist, I don’t have the evidence to validate that sighting and I certainly don’t have the evidence to validate it’s a wild mountain lion.” 

Means said the closest wild mountain lion populations are in Florida and Southern Texas. He says it’s unlikely that a member of those cat communities would travel as far north as Arkansas. However, Means also said a confirmed wild mountain lion was recently killed in Bossier City, La., not too far from the Arkansas state line.

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UPDATE: Sinkhole Threatening Family’s Home

Reported by: Lauren Trager, KARK 4 News

We have more information on a giant sinkhole in the front yard of a Little Rock home that we first told you about Sunday. It’s threatening to swallow the home.

The hole is about 20 feet long, 15 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Look a little closer and you see water running through it–and the remnants of the concrete box that used to hold the water inside.

Early Sunday morning Homer and Maxine Boose say they heard what sounded like a muffled bomb going off and later learned their yard had caved in.

Today, city workers evaluated the sink hole, to decide what to do about this private drainage ditch– put in long before the city regulated where and how you could build-possibly 60 or 70 years old.

The Booses say they’re worried about the safety of their home and are considering moving.

“I really don’t want to live here like this. I don’t know what to do and I don’t know what to say because I really don’t want to live here like this,” said Maxine Boose.

The city says they are still considering options for repairing the sink hole—but say because it isn’t a city-owned drainage system, they aren’t totally responsible and likely will not pay to move the Booses to another home.

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Rains Create Huge Sink Hole

Reported by: Betsey Martin, KARK 4-News

Weekend storms have caused major problems for an elderly Little Rockcouple.

Massive rains created a huge sink hole Sunday morning after a storm drain collapsed.

The family that lives there actually heard it happen.

They say they were so alarmed by the noise, they thought lightning had struck their home.

“Like a boom, just kind of shook the ground. It happened before in between the houses and they fixed that, but they didn’t think this was going to happen,” explained homeowner Homer Boose.

City crews were busy working on the problem Sunday morning.

But now the couple worries the hole which runs under their home could get even bigger and….cause their home to collapse.

The storm drain is more than 50 years old.

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Second Possible Tornado Hits Area

POSTED: 5:51 pm CDT April 30, 2009
UPDATED: 10:56 pm CDT April 30, 2009

WITTER, Ark. – A second possible tornado hit the area Wednesday night, 40/29 News has learned.

 

An unconfirmed tornado was reported around 5 p.m. Thursday a few miles south of Witter, in Madison County. 

Mother Nature blew through a trailer home and left it in pieces. 

“I’m guessing something hit the front of the house because there are two giant holes,” said Amanda Bayley. 

Bayley believes her mother’s home was destroyed by something stronger than a thunderstorm. 

The side of the trailer is torn apart, and just next door, the roof has completely blown off. 

“They’re going to have to tear it all apart and wall it in,” said Bayley. 

She said her mom and her mom’s boyfriend were inside when the storm hit. 

“She told me that she could feel it shifting and they were afraid it was going to come off the blocks. She said it was over in like two minutes. It came and left really quick,” said Bayley. “I’m just thankful no one got hurt.” 

Pieces of metal were found in trees, insulation was caught on the fencing and a satellite dish was found in pieces at a nearby field. 

“I kept my kids home from school. I stayed home from work, and we’re out here just trying to get this place cleaned up. It’s a big mess,” said Bayley. 

“We came out here, and we started helping,” said Michael Huey, Bayley’s son. 

The family said it’ll have to rebuild. 

For now, it is helping to clear debris and tear down what’s damaged. 

“Hopefully we can fix this up,” said Huey. 

The people who live there will be staying at a nearby house until their home is rebuilt. 

Madison County’s Department of Emergency Management is currently working with the National Weather Service to determine if, in fact, a tornado touched down.

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Van Buren Man Hurt In Pit Bull Attack

Police Arrest 3 On Suspicion Of Harboring Animal

VAN BUREN, Ark. – An elderly Van Buren man is recovering after being attacked by a pit bull.

 

Police said the victim was attacked in the 1700 block of Poplar Street. 

The victim told police which house he thought the dog and its owners came from, but they said the dog didn’t live there. 

Officers later arrested Michael Walker and Lori Cook on suspicion of obstructing governmental operations after another resident told police the dog was inside the house. 

A third man, Scott Pulliam, was also arrested on suspicion of harboring a vicious dog and allowing a dog to run at large without vaccinations or city tags. 

Investigators have quarantined the animal to see if it shows signs of disease.

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Florida wins, hands down.

# 1	Florida:	337
# 2	Texas:	15
= 3	Georgia:	9
= 3	South Carolina:	9
# 5	Alabama:	5
# 6	Louisiana:	2
= 7	Arkansas:	1
= 7	North Carolina:	1

DEFINITION: Number of documented alligator attacks since 1948. There have been 17 fatal attacks in Florida and one fatal attack in Georgia. Additional deaths which were previously reported have been ruled out because the wounds appeared to be post-mortem. The most common cases were lacerations or scratches on the hands, whereas the most common activity attributed to the attack was an attempt to capture, pick up or exhibit the alligator. Other common activities that led to an alligator attack were swimming, fishing activities and retrieving golf balls.

SOURCE: Alligator Attacks on Humans in the United States, Ricky L. Langley, MD, MPH. Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, 16, 119 124 (2005). Additional figures taken from news reports.

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Largest project to study tornadoes to start in May

In what’s described as “the largest attempt in history to study tornadoes,” more than 50 scientists are preparing to hit the road next month to explore the origin, structure and evolution of the killer storms, the National Science Foundation says.

From May 10 to June 13, scientists will focus on the central Great Plains — southern South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma.

The project, called VORTEX2 — Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment — involves 40 research vehicles, including 10 mobile radars.

This year’s tornado season has been punishing. Today, severe weather swept across much of the South, killing at least two people, toppling trees and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes. More than 92,400 customers still did not have power this afternoon after a strong thunderstorm blew across Alabama, spawning an apparent tornado and wrecking a yacht marina near the Mississippi line. Most of the Florida Panhandle and areas east and southeast of Tallahassee have been under tornado watches or warnings most of the day.

A twister Friday killed a woman and her infant daughter and damaged 500 buildings in Tennessee.

Late Thursday a tornado killed three people in Arkansas.

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Be sure to click through for images and video.

Rain hope for US wildfire states

Heavy rain this weekend could bring relief to parts of the southern US hit by wildfires, forecasters say.

The blazes have killed three people and destroyed hundreds of homes in Texas and Oklahoma since they ignited on Thursday.

They were fanned by high winds, part of a storm system that has also triggered deadly tornadoes in Tennessee and Arkansas.

At least five people died and about 70 were hurt in two separate tornadoes.

A mother and child were killed when one touched down in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Friday.

Officials said it damaged more than 200 homes, and search teams were checking for people trapped under rubble.

Three more people died in Mena, Arkansas, in a tornado late on Thursday.

Other tornadoes and high winds were reported across several states.

State of emergency

The winds have been blamed for driving wildfires that have been burning in Texas and Oklahoma since the middle of the week.

In Texas, a couple were killed and their son injured when their home was engulfed by flame near Montague, north-west of Dallas.

A woman died in another part of the state, officials said, and scores of homes in the Texan towns of Sunset and Stoneburg were charred.

Neighbouring Oklahoma declared a state of emergency in more than 30 counties after fires destroyed more than 160 homes.

A marshal in Midwest City said at least one fire was thought to have been started deliberately.

Forecasters in both states said rain was expected late on Saturday into Sunday, potentially helping to control the raging fires.

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Significant Tornadoes expected in Louisiana on Easter Sunday

April 12, 1:27 AM

Saturday’s storms were finally limited to a small area, and better yet there were no tornado reports! There were just a handful of hail and wind reports, which is a nice change since the previous two days both had deadly tornadoes.

Unfortunately Sunday may be back into the tornado-realm of things, with ongoing convection turning into redevelopment in the afternoon hours over parts of eastern and southeastern Texas and all of Louisiana. This is the area that should see the most significant coverage of severe storms–and tornadoes. In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has southern Louisiana under a Moderate Risk for severe weather on Sunday. They also outline a larger area for a slight risk for severe storms across all of Eastern Texas, Southern Oklahoma eastward through Southern Arkansas and Mississippi.

On the map I have outlined the SPC’s severe risk areas as well as the area I’m most focused in on. Note that in Southwestern Louisiana the SPC’s Moderate Risk area overlaps with my interest area. Therefore, the threat seems most significant in that area by consensus. Here is where significant tornadoes may be possible in the late afternoon hours.

For storm chasers, the areas farther north into Arkansas and Oklahoma seem less appealing to me. Moisture and moisture depth will be significantly lacking, however very cold mid levels may be able to compensate for the lack of moisture. With good instability in these areas there could be some storms, and that must be what the SPC is homing in on in those areas.