Nintendogs Blamed for Child Mauling

[ShinobiMan]

http://ds.ign.com/articles/112/1124183p1.html

British tabloid the Daily Mail has highlighted the dangers of Nintendo's pet sim Nintendogs, following an animal attack on a 9-year-old girl.

Megan Walker was mauled by Saracen, a bull mastiff, while playing the game at a friend's house. The dog dragged Megan from the sofa and sank its teeth into the girl's face, removing her lip.

The Daily Mail attributes the attack to the sounds of barking emanating from Megan's DS "game station" during a bout of Nintendogs.

The girl's grandmother, Jean Taylor, told the paper, "I think this game should carry some kind of warning. People should be told not to play it when there are dogs in the room. I blame the game for what happened to Megan. If they hadn't been playing it I don't think the dog would have gone for her."

The Daily Mail concludes that the friend's mother was unavailable for comment, but "it is understood that she told police that Megan may have kicked Saracen and that is why he attacked her".

Doctors managed to re-attach Megan's lip following the attack and the dog was later destroyed.

WTF? So the kid provokes the dog with a kick, gets attacked, and the dog dies. Really messed up.

What do you think? Who's to blame? Nintendo or the girl?

[Vecanti]

What do you think? Who's to blame? Nintendo or the girl?

The parents?

[Necromancer]

Who's to blame? Nintendo or the girl?

Neither; the dog's owner is to blame for harboring a dangerous animal.

Since the girl was sitting on a couch when attacked, I doubt that she even kicked the dog; even if she did, she wouldn't have been much of a threat to such a big dog, so its response was disproportionately aggressive.

[SignOfZeta]

Megan Walker was mauled by Saracen, a bull mastiff...

It seems I've read this same article a hundred times before, its just that this one is the first to blame it on a video game. If you keep a animal like that around kids, you're just walking a tightrope.

[Joe Redifer]

I wonder what people find so fascinating about those kinds of dogs that they want them as pets.

[Tatsujin]

A sad chapter.