Tuesday, July 2, 2013

There's a Werewolf in Waddy Kentucky

Ledy VanKavage on pit bulls:
"They're just dogs, not werewolves" 2007
"They're dogs - they're not werewolves," 2010
"Because of all the media bias, it's going to take awhile to realize 'pit bulls' are just dogs, not werewolves," 2012




On November 28, 2012 Theresa Parker discovered five of her pet goats mutilated in what turned out to be only the first attack of a months long spree of mutilating attacks on livestock including attacks on three bulls in Waddy KY.

“Their ears had been chewed off, their tongues had been ripped out, their lips had been torn off; their faces had just been literally ripped off. When I found them that way, all covered in blood, I just started screaming and screaming.”

The rural community of Waddy KY was left shaken by the horrific mutilations. The local Animal Control Director Rusty Newton said the attacks are mystifying to him because they don’t resemble any animal attack he has ever seen.

“It is not doing this for food; it’s just mauling them,” he said.

That’s something that Teresa Parker said was so distressing to her.

“It just mutilated them; just for fun, just to torture them,” she said. “It just tore them to pieces and left them to die.”

“I’m scared to death to go outside without a gun,” she said. “Because this thing, whatever it is, you could just turn around and it could be right there.”

David Theiler agreed.

“Having to go around armed all the time is getting old,” he said.

Over the course of a few weeks the mystery animal had mutilated, sometimes fatally, 6 goats, four calves, and three bulls.  Neighbors say that it only attacks at night, and they fear it is lurking in the woods.

One couple found tracks they believe to be the culprit's:
Speculation ranged from loose exotic animals, to bears, wolves, a pack of wild dogs and supernatural entities.

As word spread and fear mounted among some, others set up a Waddy Werewolf twitter feed and a printer made up some T-shirts.

A town meeting was called and it was decided to do forensic tests on the mutilated animals.  Dog DNA turned up.

When an owner-described "gentle" pit bull named Wacko was caught mauling Speckles, a small, elderly dog right after attacking some horses in January, animal control officers thought they had their culprit even though the owner claimed Wacko could not possibly have been the Waddy Werewolf because he was definitely chained up at the time of each and every other attack.

Cementing her credibility, Wacko's owner, BRENDA TILLETT,  added that the only reason Wacko was out and able to maul the small, elderly dog and some horses was because the night before Wacko's attacks, a mysterious car had pulled into her driveway and someone had stolen Wacko.

Animal control held onto Wacko for a while to see if the attacks would stop while he was in custody.  They did.  However, since there was no proof that Wacko had committed all the atrocities, he was returned to his owner.  (yeah, I don't get that either - Wacko unquestionably did attack horses and a little dog requiring heroic efforts to get him off the little dog he was locked onto.)

When yet another attack occurred - a calf was killed - several months later in April, an animal control officer was dispatched to Wacko's place and found him there where he should be sans blood.  So, its either time to put the T-shirts back on or conclude there are two pit bulls in Shelby Co. Kentucky....

Yes, Ledy, it was just a pit bull, not a werewolf, but you have to admit you can see why the town of Waddy was confused.

Mystery animal attacks livestock in Shelby County

30 comments:

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

the helevisalazer. link is dead. i found it in cache.

Two women from Shelby County's Waddy community heroically saved a beloved family pet Thursday and in the process may have captured the creature that has mutilated several animals on nearby farms.

The suspect in custody is an adult male pit bull that was seen attacking livestock before it jumped a defenseless dog and ultimately succumbed to two undaunted sisters.

The pit bull is a suspect in animal mutilations that killed several animals in late November and early December and a cow’s ears were ripped off in an attack as recently as Jan. 6.

“We are going to keep this dog contained, to see if the attacks continue or if they stop,” Shelby County Animal Control Director Rusty Newton said. He said authorities don’t know who owns the pit bull.

The heroes here are Peggy and Judy Tipton who managed to save their mother’s pet, Speckles, and seize control of the pit bull while their mother watched it all from the window. Here’s how the story unfolded.

Magistrate Tony Carriss, who lives near Mount Eden and has been active in trying to locate the attacking animal, said that on Thursday, a member of the Tipton family that lives on Kings Highway in Waddy came home from school and heard two of the family’s horses causing a commotion.

When she approached the barn, she saw that a white dog was attacking one of the horses in its stomach, Carriss said.

The horse kept kicking and finally kicked down a gate. Then the dog saw the girl, and the dog ran across the farm to the girls’ grandparents’ house, where it started to attack a small dog that was chained outside.

Carriss said that another relative, Peggy Tipton, drove up and saw what was going on and jumped in to help the small dog by hitting the pit bull with a PVC pipe, which had no effect. Then her sister, Judy Tipton, arrived and joined the fray, getting a stick in the pit bull’s mouth to make it let go of the other dog, which it did.

The sisters’ mother, Elizabeth Tipton, 86, said she was looking out her window when the pit bull ran into her yard and attacked her small, 12-year-old dog.

“That dog just came out of nowhere and grabbed poor Speckles by the neck, and she wasn’t able to do anything to protect herself,” Tipton said.

But the Tipton sisters were able to spring Speckles without fear, their mother said.

“My girls were raised on a farm, and they know how to handle animals,” she said. “And they thought a lot of Speckles.”

After getting Speckles free, the two women got a chain around the pit bull’s neck and called 911, their mother said.

“Speckles is OK now; she’s just sore,” Tipton said.

Newton said the horses are OK, too, with no broken skin, but Speckles had blood on her neck.

He said the attacks were similar to the others that occurred between Nov. 28 and Dec. 6 in that the animals attacked were penned up.

But he couldn’t determine any additional similarities because Thursday’s attacks did not progress as far as the prior attacks, when several goats were mutilated, with the ears and faces torn off. The cow whose ears were mutilated was attacked on Ditto Road, which is the area of the original attacks.

A large crowd turned out in December for a town meeting at the Waddy Ruritan Club to discuss the situation, where the consensus was that it was a dog that was terrorizing the area.

Newton said the dog in custody at the Shelby County Animal Shelter is extremely aggressive toward animals but so far has shown no aggression toward people.

When asked if he thought it was possible that if just one dog could have been responsible for the attacks or if it had to have been a pack, he said it was “entirely possible” for just one animal to have caused all the prior carnage.

He said efforts are under way to locate the owner of the animal that is described as being in good condition, not malnourished, an indication that it is probably a domestic dog as opposed to a stray.

The dog is a male pit bull, with a brown spot on its right ear.

scorched earth said...

An owner described "gentle" pit bull who just by chance is named Wacko happens to be stolen at just the moment that a mauling takes place. Poor "gentle" Wacko is blamed. What are the chances?

LOL! Pit bull fiction at its finest.

Why are "gentle" pit bulls named Wacko, Capone, Felony, Killa?

Anonymous said...

The dog should be put down. It's clearly a danger to the public and the owner clearly can't confine and control it. I can't believe no one in the town has taken care of the problem on their own with some poisoned meat or a rifle. Everyone whose livestock was injured should get together and do a class action against the mauler's owner-and AC if they don't deal with the problem in a 'permanent' way.

DubV said...

Great catch and connection to Ledy's statements.

The first series of killings were obviously Wacko. Maybe in this one case, the owner of the pit actually learned their lesson, and the last death several months later was due to a coyote or something.

Hmm...pit bulls running around 24/7 that often take multiple shots or werewolves that only come out on a full Moon and will fall to a single, silver bullet. It's unclear which is preferable.

Animal Uncontrol said...

Yes, they are NOT werewolves. Ted Bundy was not a werewolf, or an alien from outer space, either. So what? An apple is not an orange. A .357 is not a .45 but both will blow your head off. These idiots think that everyone else is more idiotic than they.

Small Survivors said...

Thank you Dawn for the cached story. That is the best one - about the heroic women.

Thank you DubV. I agree. And who's to say that Brenda Tillett didn't get Wacko back and wash him off after trying her hardest to keep Wacko contained for a little while.

AU - Yes! so totally right. I find it hilarious, though that Ledy was using werewolf to mean "a perverse monster." But, when the attacks occurred, people were alarmed and upset by how perverse and monstrous the attacks were. And this is a rural area where people have been raising livestock for literally a hundred years - One of the things they think of is the same friggin monster Ledy insists they aren't.

They're not werewolves, but they're perverse monsters.

Packhorse said...

Ripped up faces, very typical of a pit bull attack on livestock--why aren't police/AC aware of the pit bull calling cards by now??

Anonymous said...


when you consider that pitbulls are a human creation and do what they do because some deranged people bred them that way , its possible to see some of the werewolf in the pitbull phenom. terrible , horrific , mindless attacks co-perpetrated by dogs and humans .

Small Survivors said...

I LIKE that - "co-perpetrated by dogs and humans"

I always wonder about that, too Packhorse. Are there really places - and rural Kentucky of all places - that haven't had problems with pit bulls?

I would think that pit bull have always been in rural kentucky - owned by dogfighters. Maybe its the new message that pits are just like any other dog and anyone can own them.

DubV said...

Rural areas in Appalachia are often strangely diverse.

The people that have money for land and a small farm/hobby farm are usually very respectable and have means (at least in WV there are not many large farms due to geology). There will be a smattering of smaller land holdings with decent houses, but there is also usually a trailer park within a few miles and dilapidated houses.

Given this, it is very common to see stray dogs running around outside of the city limits.

DubV said...

By "large farms" I meant farms that provide a primary income.

Anonymous said...


" no bad dogs " just bad pit lovers?

thats the part i dont get , u cant blame a vicious dog but a vicious person u can?

like these idiots choose to be scum ,....thats ignorant !!! i suppose they chose their tweaker parents too and chose to grow up in single wides and have daddy come in the middle of the night .

yep , i dont think the owners are any better or worse than their mutant pitbulls.

Bagheera Kiplingi said...

The authorities went to the trouble to test the DNA of the attacker and determined it was a dog. Why not take it one step further to either exonerate Wacko or convict him on it? SWAB HIM!

And btw, I have it on good authority that Heidi has determined that the foot print absolutely does NOT belong to a pit bull.

Anonymous said...


maybe the paw print is not characteristic of a pure shitbull but i doubt its possible to say much else from just a paw print .

definitely sounds like pit M.O.

there was a serial murderer in my area that was on the lam for a couple of years and turned out to be just a sweet pitbull with bad owners .

Anonymous said...


apparently this rogue pitbull got tired of all the killing and decided he wanted to become a regular dog again . now that hes been rehabilitated he has a job as reception pitbull for HUG-A-BULL RESCUE .....he gives hugs to all the pit-droolers that come by for a pitbull.

Dayna said...

Oh the mystery! I guess there's not enough on the tube for these folks. I can tell you what, if this were my town and my animals getting killed I'd start staying up nights with night vision goggles and trusty rifle to put an end to it. And I'd bet money that Wacko would be my first "werepit"!

Packhorse said...

When your bulldog dies, use your kid!

Me: Who did you fight?
Him: All the kids who lived there. I beat some ass.
Me: It sounds like a pit bull fighting ring.
Him: That's how it started, but our dog got his ass beat and died.

http://web.archive.org/web/20050307091941/http://slowchildren-atplay.com/entry6.html

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

that's a funnysad website packhorse.

DubV said...

Dayna,

"werepit"

I love it.

Anonymous said...


i imagine i werepit should have a beer gut , tattoos and jack-o-lantern smile .

Small Survivors said...

LOL!

vintage said...

GREAT PIT BULL NET DAMAGE TO SOCIETY REVIEWS IN HISTORY:

US 2013 MID YEAR REPORT:

DBRFS: 15; 1 every 12 days

Life Flights: 25; 1 every 7.2 days

Bravery Awards to Rescuers: 7; 1 every 26 days.

Darwin Attacks on Owners with 911 response: 39; 1 every 4.6 days

Owner Rescue Methods:

Shoot Offs: 10

Stab Offs: 7

Taser Offs 4

Pepper Spray Offs: 2

Tranquilizer Dart Offs: 1


It's a real Serengeti out there!

*Disclaimer...You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Anonymous said...


the werewolf used to be the stuff of bedtime stories and nightmares , the werepit is the reality of anyone whos had a child or pet ripped up by domesticated beast and deranged owner.

Anonymous said...


at least the werewolf was secretive and elusive .....whereas the werepit is in your face , hideously ugly , has beer and pizza on his breath and can be found anywhere from wallmart to the nearest dog park .

Dayna said...

at least the werewolf was secretive and elusive .....whereas the werepit is in your face , hideously ugly , has beer and pizza on his breath and can be found anywhere...

So true Snarky!

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

"at least the werewolf was secretive and elusive .....whereas the werepit is in your face , hideously ugly , has beer and pizza on his breath and can be found anywhere from wallmart to the nearest dog park"

oh snarky, you are such a poet.

Rumpelstiltskin said...

Dawn,

You speak such truth! LOL

Anonymous said...


rumple
you may laugh at the idea of a werepit but that is in effect what we a have , pitbull and deranged human combined to attack animals and humans with sickening regularity . each one needs the other to complete the equation.
ok , ok , some of the humans look fairly normal but are deranged just the same .

Crazy Lizzie said...

Thanks for another great post and comment-fest :-)

"Speculation ranged from loose exotic animals, to bears, wolves, a pack of wild dogs and supernatural entities."

Obviously the latter was the correct theory, since it was a gripper-dog. I mean were-pit.

Lisa said...

We can add another 'Not Werewovles' yet again.