Six dogs euthanized, owner arrested after ‘vicious’ dog attack in Jackson

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Police released new details Wednesday about Tuesday’s dog attack in a Jackson neighborhood.

Some of the new details are different from what the police told 3 On Your Side and what we reported yesterday.

The main one is that it’s a 37-year-old who is recovering from the attack, not an elderly woman.

We know her injuries are severe but have not been able to get an update on her condition.

Six dogs have now been euthanized, and their owner is behind bars.

This means Nancy Singleton can walk up and down Clairmont Street without having to worry about being attacked by dogs.

Still, she says the feeling is bittersweet.

“It’s bitter because it shouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t have taken someone to be fighting for their life for something to be done,” she said.

The six adult pit bulls Singleton claims she spent years calling city leaders about and talking to their owner, Debra Ann Bell, about were taken to the Mississippi Animal Rescue League (MARL) Tuesday and put down.

“I was advised when they came in that the two dogs that evidently were the perpetrators of the attack were covered in blood, a good bit of blood. They were aggressive. This wasn’t a bite. this was an attack,” MARL Communications Director Deborah Boswell said.

If the victim passes away, Bell could go from having an aggravated assault charge to something harsher.

State law says, in part, “If the owner of a mischievous animal, knowing its propensity, willfully suffer it to go at large... and such animal, while so at large, or not confined, kill any human being, such owner shall be guilty of manslaughter.”

While the pit bulls are gone and the homeowner is behind bars, Singleton says she still needs to overcome her trauma before she’s ready to walk along her street again.

“I tried earlier to go, but it’s like something in my mind is not clicking that they’re not up there because it’s been so many years,” she said.

Boswell with MARL says euthanizing dogs after attacks like this is their standard policy, in part, because housing them would put their staff at risk.

She also says animal control only dropped off six dogs.

WLBT hasn’t been able to account for the puppy that JPD says animal control confiscated as well.

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