Pit Bulls Shred Teenage Owner

October 16, 2006 (WPVI) -- Police in South Jersey say an 18-year-old boy was teaching his pet pit bulls how to fight. Perhaps the training got too intense - the dogs turned on the owner, with bloody results.

It happened in a home in Woodbine, Cape May County last night. It is something out of a horror movie, folks. Here is what police are telling us:

The 18-year-old was in an upstairs bedroom with two dogs, teaching them the ways of a fighting pit bull. Suddenly, the dogs began, in the words of police, shredding the teen apart.

Family members became alerted to the situation, and came to the teen's rescue. They managed to pull him away from the dogs, and barricaded themselves in a bathroom. Wait, there's more.

Police arrived on the scene, and realized they needed to get the family out of the house. An officer climbed onto the roof, and started pulling each family member, one by one, out the bathroom window. It was that bad. These dogs were bent on continuing their savage attack.

In fact, the police arrived just in time. They say the bloodthirsty dogs were minutes away from reaching the family - they had almost completely gnawed their way through the bathroom door.

The 18-year-old is in bad shape. He was airlifted to the Atlantic City Medical Center, and is in serious condition. Stop reading if you don't care for the more gruesome details on his injuries...Authorities say the teen was bitten multiple times, and some of his bite wounds are down to the bone. There is no word on the fate of the dogs.

We had some chilly temperatures to start. Did you have frost on your windshield like I did this morning? Of course, you probably didn't head to work at 3:00am. Join Rick and Sarah for Action News at noon. Or get the forecast right now on our website (it's all there). Click Here for the Action News AccuWeather page.

Oh, and much has been made about America welcoming its 300 millionth resident. But the crack staff at my Deep Six podcast (which consists of me, and, well, me) were on that story many months ago. Listen to what I had to say about this population milestone by downloading my podcast. Click Here to download my Deep Six podcast. A transcript follows below, if you would rather read it. And see you tomorrow!

-Matt- Click Here for the Action News Morning Team web page.

DEEP SIX PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Recorded January 17, 2006

I'm Matt O'Donnell, and welcome to Deep 6. If you've recently become an expectant mother, you have a chance of giving birth to the 300 millionth America this year. The Census Bureau predicts that the landmark child will be born sometime in October. 300 million Americans in 2006 - it was only back in 1967, when the population of the United States was estimated at 200 million. That's a jump of 50 percent, in just 39 years.

So who is it going to be? Where is it going to happen? And what does this mean? And how does anyone figure this out anyway?

Well, it is the job of the Census Bureau to not only track population, but to project it as well. As of now, the bureau believes the U-S population is at 297.9 million. It also estimates that a baby will be born every 8 seconds, that someone will die every 12 seconds, and that an immigrant will move here every 31 seconds. When you average it all out, the nation has a net gain of one person every 14 seconds. And one person every 14 seconds until October, equals about 300 million people. The Census Bureau believes that 300 millionth person will likely be a newborn, will likely either be white or hispanic, and will likely be celebrated by the entire nation once the landmark is realized.

Should we be happy for whoever this child will be, or feel sorry for him or her? You can bet that the event will create a media and advertising mania. The New York Times suggests that hospital publicists, baby product manufacturers, and public officials will all jockey to find and exploit this poor baby. How would it feel? Ask Robert Ken Woo, Junior of Atlanta.

You see, back in 1967, with the milestone 200 millionth American approaching, Life Magazine conducted a massive search to find that person, once he or she was born. The magazine sent nearly two dozen photographers across the country, and arbitrarily decided that Woo was the milestone child. I guess it worked out for him. He went on to graduate with high honors from Harvard, and became a lawyer.

What does it mean? Well, for one thing, our nation, along with many other countries worldwide, is getting more crowded. What sort of impact that will have on our environment is up for interpretation. Back in 1967, when the U-S was at 200 million, The Times spoke with a former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Back then, he said, a national population of 300 million, would - quote - "threaten the very quality of life of individual Americans." He also told the Times that population growth held unchecked might doom the U-S to water and energy shortages, plus cause rampant poverty.

And yet, here we are, at the cusp of 300 million in 2006. And plenty of people would probably disagree with those statements. Oh, by the way, the Census Bureau predicts that the United States will be 400 million strong, by 2030. Happy counting.

I'm Matt O'Donnell, and that's your Deep 6.

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