An 81 year old man who allowed his dog to maul a cat and was caught on video, was sentenced to three years in prison today.
Hume Hamilton was found guilty of animal cruelty charges and trespassing back in October  The incident happened back in June when Hamilton was walking his pit bull when it attacked a cat belonging to Coral Springs resident Tia Spath.
Spath, who lives in Ridgeview, was shocked to find out that their cat named “Mama” had been killed at her family business, Brandy Bail Bonds, in Fort Lauderdale. Â She says that Mama had been their pet for almost 12 years and was a fixture at the business.
In the shocking surveillance video, the owner of a pitbull is seen walking on the property of Brandy Bail Bonds while following his dog’s lead to get closer to the cat,  when the pitbull viciously attacks.  The dog’s strong jaws grab the cat and the owner cannot get him to release.  The man even tries to pull the cat out of the dog’s mouth, even stepping on the cat’s stomach. He finally he pulls the dog away, runs away, and  leaves the cat for dead.
Mama later died of her injuries and is buried at the business.
The Court ordered that Hamilton can not own a pet after he serves his sentence.
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52 comments
The guy was a jerk. He doesn’t get to own a pet but Michael Vick does? It also doesn’t matter that he owned a pit bull either. This man would have turned any dog into a killer. Biased reporting as usual. But yes, animal abuse is seriously disturbed behavior even some of the pit bull haters that justify animal abuse towards pit bulls because they don’t like them. Not cool.
You like to call people who advocate for justice for the victims of pit bull attacks as ‘haters’? Then what would you call a person who deliberately chooses a dog breed that was genetically engineers to rip, maim, maul, hold and kill both other animals, not just companion animals AND humans, primarily the young children and senior citizens? Sounds like they are PEOPLE and OTHER ANIMAL haters. There is an aggressive personality trait that anyone would deliberately choose a type of dog that has a high propensity to wreck havoc. It isn’t just the owner. It isn’t just the dog, but the COMBINATION OF THE TWO as well as the refusal of the human end of what should be on a leash and under control to pay for the damages their dog inflicts on a victim. If the people who think it is ‘cool’ to have a dog that creates such harm or has the capability to do it expect society to allow them to have such a mutant breed, then THEY have to expect that society will demand protection from their care-less attitude and expect them to provide insurance that they can cover the costs of the damages and that they serve time away from society to think about the error of their ways and thinking. Five-20, depending on the severity and 20-life for death resulting from their dog’s attack. Owning a pit bull type dog is no different from owning a gun.
German Shepherds kill people and animals. A retriever/lab mix and a Husky each killed an infant this year. The first face transplant patient was the victim of a labrador retriever attack. Shall I go on hypocrite? Such superiority. Why don’t you care about the victims of all dog attacks. Such expertise on the dog you hate. Give me a break.
“German Shepherds kill people and animals.”
I’m guessing you just didn’t watch enough Sesame Street as a child, where they show you Which Of These Things Does Not Belong and you have to pick out the item that differs from the others.
Pit bulls are not like other dogs. The fact that you don’t get that seems to be the root of your issue.
I am doing just fine. The millions of these dogs and their responsible dog owners that you refuse to notice are doing just fine also. Such hate and hypocrisy by you.
“I am doing just fine. ”
How you get by clearly lacking social skills might be attributed to sheer dumb luck.
“The millions of these dogs and their responsible
dog owners that you refuse to notice are doing just fine also. ”
I see you failed statistics in college.
That’s all you’ve got Amanda. Hate and no facts about dogs. None of you on that hate site can explain why German Shepherds, labs, Huskies and all sorts of dogs have bitten and killed because you don’t know and don’t care. Such experts on pit bulls but no clue about other dogs. Give me a break.
You really don’t like the fact that you can’t wipe out these dogs. What does standing up for pit bulls and fair reporting have to do with social skills since you are such an expert on everything Amanda?
Some dogs are cat aggressive, not just pit bulls. I was born and raised in Florida, and we had all breeds of rescued dogs. We had a lab and a doberman who could not be trusted around cats. Now, I have a rescued pit bull, and my 3 cats sleep on top of him. But the bottom line is, he should not have left that cat for dead. He should have taken the cat to a vet.
“Some dogs are cat aggressive, not just pit bulls.”
If your first reaction to seeing this video is to defend the breed of dog that perpetuated this vicious annihilation of an innocent cat, then there is clearly something wrong with you.
If you didn’t want to come off as that wildly insensitive, you could be mourning the loss of Mama and posting a support Tia and
the business in which Mama was a fixture, and to discuss changes in the
law that make people safer. Perhaps you didn’t realize how inappropriate you are being.
If you want to discuss pit bulls and how much you love them and how awesome they are, surely you can find a board of like-minded individuals who will affirm your already held beliefs rather than posting a defense of them in the face of a video that shows one tearing apart another innocent animal.
It has been established the guy was a jerk and was punished appropriately but it is not right that they said he was a pit bull owner. Plenty of dogs (carnivores) kill other animals. That is part of being a carnivore unless you train them to do otherwise. The fact that they said this jerk was a pit bull owner was to inflict bias towards pit bull owners and make the assumption that only pit bull owners would do such a thing as this jerk did. So inappropriate behavior goes both ways when it comes to commenting on this article.
“That is part of being a carnivore unless you train them to do otherwise.”
What are you, Sigfried and Roy?
“The fact that they said this jerk was a pit bull owner was to inflict bias towards pit bull owners”
So it’s just a big conspiracy against you, then and the media is out to get you. Perhaps we should turn this comment section into a discussion about how 9-11 was an inside job as well?
Yep. It is. You only have to look at the DB (i hate pit bulls site) and look at enough articles about pit bulls and see the same people over and over again post AGAINST pit bulls and act all superior but don’t care at all about all dog bites and I found out only by stumbling on a pediatrician’s report that a retriever/lab mix and a Husky each killed an infant this year because it wasn’t reported any where else. Also, there was a report on the i hate pit bulls site (DB) that there was a code red alert about a loose pit bull. The way they made it sound was that King Kong was running loose through the neighborhood. The video of the dog showed a dog who was scared to death and proof of how some people do their best to over-dramatize and make up stories about pit bull attacks so yes, there is tremendous bias towards pit bulls and that is why people stand up for them because some of the people that do this bias towards pit bulls are not ethical or even good people.
“yes, there is tremendous bias towards pit bulls”
You are apparently not familiar with the law of Parsimony.
You really are biased towards pit bulls. None of you on that site ever care about other dog bites except a few dogs and can’t explain why German Shepherds, labs, Huskies,etc or any other dog have killed of which they have done and still do. It’s because you don’t know and don’t care.
“You really are biased towards pit bulls.”
No, that’s you. You have not once said a word about Mama or her family. You came here to push an agenda about a flipping dog breed, and it’s deeply ironic that the one you chose has a tendency to be as indiscriminate in its attacks as you are.
It takes a special type of person to defend a dog that is statistically known to be vicious, and is chosen specifically FOR that very reason, on an article about a family who lost their cat to one.
Your mind is gone and you have no compassion for others.
If you watch very closely it looks like the dog owner does get the cat away and then it goes after the dog. The dog got it again and killed it. If the owner hadn’t let the dog start the fight in the first place the cat would still be alive. Owners fault; not the dogs.
Clearly anyone seeing this video, including the jury, knew to defend the dog and the only monster is the one holding the leash.
I think we are all mourning the loss of Mama. But the truth is Pit bulls are demonized by the media. This truly had nothing to do with the dog. Hume Hamilton admitted to ‘playing a game’ of kill the cat. He was caught a few weeks earlier doing the same thing. This has nothing to do with the dog. Baiting animals to fight is the fault of whoever is doing it, not the dog and that;’s the difference. By the way, he doesn’t own this dog. It’s his roommate’s and he used the dog in his sick fantasy.
That is so sick and why he is in jail.
MARK WULKAN, MD, surgeon at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
“There is a difference with the pit bulls. In the last two years we’ve seen 56 dog injuries that were so severe the patient had to be admitted to the hospital so this doesn’t count just a little bite and then goes to the emergency room. Of those 56, 21 were pit bulls. And then when we look at our data even further, of the kids that were most severely injured, those that were in the hospital for more than 8 days or had life threatening injuries, 100% of those were pit bulls.”
You really are such a hypocrite. That is why people speak up for pit bulls. According to your analogy any dog that causes injury or death should be banned or persecuted. So that would mean all types of dogs should be persecuted, you know, the lab that bit the woman who had the first face transplant or the retriever lab mix that killed an infant this year or the Husky that killed an infant this year. How about we not be hypocrites and deal with dangerous dogs the fair way? You know. Punishing the irresponsible dog owner and leaving the responsible dog owners alone?
MICHAEL BURNS, Los Angeles Animal Control Lt.
You have a dog that has aggressive tendencies enhanced through constant and incestuous breeding. If there are some recessive genes on the aggressive or psychotic side, they will make themselves manifest.
They are different. There’s an absence of the normal sounds a dog makes when it attacks. It’s almost a workmanlike way they hold on in an attack. It’s a persistence I haven’t seen in any other breed.
You really are such a hypocrite and don’t know dogs. That is why most people don’t want to live in a world where you run things through hate, bias, hypocrisy and ignorance of what dogs are all about. You do know what a dog is right? A carnivore. Such hypocrisy and ignorance and hate.
Now We need to see more sentencing in all dog attack cases.Pit bull advocates always say its the owners fault in all of these cases.Ok then put on the orange jump suit and do Your time.No excuses !!
This has nothing to do with pit bulls. It has to do with an animal abuser who happened to own a pit bull. He would have made any dog he owned attack that cat. Quit being such a hypocrite.
“He would have made any dog he owned attack that cat.”
Really? You think this guy would have gone out of his way to get a sheltie to attack a cat that way? Funny how we don’t see a rash of vicious shelties latching onto other living creatures so tenaciously that they can’t be forced to let go by a grown man.
You know what they say about denial not just being a river in Egypt.
Yes he would. You really have a hate for pit bulls and don’t understand that the man was the problem and not the dog. How do you explain German Shepherds or labrador retrievers killing of which they do and have in the past? Really stop the hate and bias for a dog.
“Yes he would.”
As evidenced by the fact that this has never happened anywhere else ever.
You appear to be having trouble thinking clearly.
No matter how much the same people post on these articles how they hate pit bulls and go on a rampage about the monster pit bull and could care less about other dogs that bite the point of this whole story is dogs are carnivores and many kill animals. That’s what carnivores do. They always needed a human to train them not to kill animals. This jerk would have made any dog he had a killer of that cat. It has NOTHING to do with the dog being a pit bull.
This is not a poor old man and he got exactly what he deserved for baiting animals and intentionally killing one. For the record that perverted, sexual deviant killed more than one animal, was caught doing the same thing to another cat just a few weeks earlier and has another pending case for STABBING and PUNCHING a woman with a deadly weapon. He admitted he was “playing a game’ of killing the cat. You should breathe a sigh of relief for getting that monster off the streets You might want to check out his sex life and sex websites he is also very much into S & M, Bondage, Spanking, Orgies and taking ‘erotic’ photos. He bragged about his growing picture collection and collection of his experiences. He’s got lots of sex photos online. I’m glad he is behind bars. It’s exactly where he should be.
Google Pictureman6911 or Scubadiver6911 and look at the sites and click Google “Images”. Check out his photo collections and interests.
Hume Hamilton was mainly sitting in jail on no bond because when he intentionally killed this animal he also had a 3rd degree felony pending trial for Aggravated Battery w/Deadly Weapon and Battery. His bond was revoked. I hesitated to label him a serial killer but he does have a history of violence according to a family member. Being a Vietnam Vet could have played a role in what he did and that also means he’s a trained killer. I was face to face with him and spoke to him. The man was creepy, has the coldest eyes I’ve ever seen and is a major hoarder. When we started doing a search on him his 3rd degree felony for assault came up and I wasn’t surprised. Not that this was part of the trial but the “hardcore” s & m porn blogs/websites, his conversations about young girls and his naked photos materialized and that spoke to a little bit of his character. I guarantee there is kiddy porn on his computer.
While none of this applied in this case, he did trespass by willingly walking the dog onto private property and up the path. What sank his battleship in my opinion was in his deposition he admitted he was ‘playing a game’ where the dog kills the cat. His words
If you haven’t seen it I can send you the raw footage which would give you the whole picture. The media clips aren’t complete. The other parts you probably haven’t seen are where he stomps his foot with full force, crushing the cat’s ribs and heart to pry the dog away. Someone from across the street runs over and tries to help and has the cat in his arms. Hamilton then slowly walks away from the scene and seconds later the ‘unleashed’ dog comes running back and chases the man who rescued the dead cat – down the street. Hamilton had taken the collar off the dog. He runs after the dog, puts the collar back on and scurries away without helping at all.
When the story broke about two weeks after the fact I found him. I watched him walking this dog and uncollaring the dog and walking a full block away from the dog.. It’s what he does. It’s a killing game. It’s not even his dog.
Someone just posted on the DB i hate pit bulls site that they had a bad experience with a pit bull and will never trust one again. I feel sorry for that person that they don’t like these dogs based on one experience. That is why people speak up for these dogs. You don’t make laws or decisions based on one animal and one experience. Millions of these dogs live out their lives as safe pets without the media or the lady who had one bad experience with a pit bull even noticing. Also. Again. This story above has nothing to do with a pit bull. This abuser would have made any dog kill that cat because he’s a monster. The dog is just being a dog.
I’m posting on here what the DB i hate pit bull site is doing since she deletes any posts that speak up for the dogs so we have to spread the truth somewhere about these dogs.
Then find a forum that agrees with you.
The only way you will expose what DB i hate pit bulls is all about is by telling what is really going on with that site and some of you people. It isn’t about public safety for a lot of you. It’s about hate for a dog. If you were really concerned about public safety you would be demanding all dogs that bite be banned whcih would mean we’d have no dogs.
” It isn’t about public safety for a lot of you. It’s about hate for a dog.”
Your desperate need to believe, without any evidence whatsoever, that other people who you do not know have negative motivations just goes hand in hand with the rest of your intellectual dishonesty.
Now that some people have spread the word that DB I hate pit bulls site deletes posts of anyone who wants to speak up for pit bulls she (Colleen) may wait to delete the posts and they have cleaned up their posts because they know more people are looking at their site. The old posts were ridiculous with the superiority act and assumptions about millions of dogs and dog owners and I know she is just dying to delete any posts that speak up to defend pit bulls. Ignorance, fear, hypocrisy and hate don’t work with people nor does it work with dogs.
Like I said to another poster, if you are coming here to defend the type of animal who perpetuated the disgusting attack on a cat seen in the above video rather than expressing sympathy and outrage full stop, something is wrong with you. That you could use this video and story to press an agenda that includes sympathy for the attacking party in this speaks volumes about your lack of social skills.
Your attitude and behavior are incredibly insensitive and wildly inappropriate.
Quit being a hypocrite. The dog is not the issue hypocrite. That man would have made any dog a killer of that cat. They said the dog was a pit bull to persecute pit bulls. Simple as that.
“That man would have made any dog a killer of that cat”
This is an assertion lacking any logic, common sense, or empirical support.
“They said the dog was a pit bull to persecute pit bulls”
That you think pit bull attack stories shouldn’t be considered news is evidence of either your concession that this happens too often to be allowed to continue or that you’re more concerned with the reputation of a dog than you are the general welfare and safety of people.
Again, your behavior is highly inappropriate.
Too bad you really have a bias towards pit bulls. None of what you post is logical. It didn’t matter what dog he had. He would have made any dog kill that cat. Really. You have to stop hating a dog of all things.
“Too bad you really have a bias towards pit bulls.”
It’s too bad you don’t have any compassion for people or other animals. I believe this is the same attitude often seen in sociopaths.
“None of what you post is logical”
You apparently don’t understand what LOGIC is, then again you’re upset that this news outlet had the temerity to report all of the facts of the story. YOU were the one upset about the fact that they correctly reported the dog breed. So your agenda is not just to push a dog that no one needs and most people cannot handle, but you want the media to lie by omission for you as well.
there’s nothing to be said about the idiots who torture these dogs which makes them the way they are!!
Theresa just posted on the DB i hate pit bulls site that the millions of pit bulls and responsible pit bull owners in this country alone are in denial. She says there are 1 million of them in shelters. Well. I guess we have to take this experts word for it right? Pit bull is a generic term used to describe several breeds of dogs and depending on who you ask and where you live many mixed breed dogs are mistakenly unintentionally and intentionally included under the term pit bull. So, yes, there may be plenty of mixed breed dogs in shelters and yes, the breeding of all dogs needs to be slowed down to reduce the number of unwanted dogs but there is no accurate study that says they are truly pit bulls. No DNA testing is done. So, again, the only hype out there is the monster pit bull myth created by some of the media and some people that have hate in their hearts and don’t care to understand what a dog actually is or the reality of dogs in this country.
Now we have the next regular Lynn posting on the DB I hate pit bulls site after Colleen predictably deleted a non-abusive post by Lee who was trying to stand up for pit bulls. She is doing her usual predictable superior act and saying Lee was harassing. Hmmmmmmmm. The truth is out there and I am showing it. That is why people stand up for these dogs. DB I hate pit bulls site has a lot of hate and fear and bias but very little truth if any.
Amanda Allison. You really don’t get it, do you? If we lived in a world where you ran things. You’d want to wipe out the next thing you don’t like. The reality of life is yes, once in a while things will injure or kill us and we will die. But you don’t blame millions of dogs for the actions of a few and you don’t blame millions of responsible dog owners for the actions of a few. All sorts of dogs bite. Why should a German Shepherd owner get to have that dog when we know they have killed? Why should a labrador retriever owner have that dog when we know they have killed? Why does some of the media only report what they hope are pit bulls attacks and not care about the infants killed by the retriever/lab mix or the Husky? So quit with your superior act or your psychological profile of pit bull owners. You just don’t like pit bulls. I said way in the beginning this guy was a jerk and was appropriately punished but it isn’t fair to persecute the dog for being the unlucky pet of this jerk. He would have made any dog kill that cat so stop all the superior act. I am so tired of the DB hate group. If you weren’t so hateful and biased people might actually take you seriously. You don’t think the millions of responsible dog owners get pissed off at the irresponsible dog owners that cause their dogs to bite or don’t pay for medical expenses of a dog victim? You assume so much about pit bull owners and that is not fair. That’s why DB is a hate group. Not a public safety group. That’s why people have to speak up against breed specific legislation because it’s about hate for a dog and not public safety.
“You just don’t like pit bulls.”
I couldn’t care less about these dogs, it’s their trashy owners I can’t stand, a particular type of person who seems to have a distinct inability to keep their animals on their own property.
As for whether people take me seriously or not, BSL opponents were soundly defeated in Miami Dade recently, despite the fact that those who wanted BSL defeated campaigned noisily for it’s overturn, and proponents did almost no campaigning at all. Australians and Canadians have also figured this out, as well as several other countries, counties in WA and other states.
Less than six months ago, two well-cared for yet poorly restrained pit bulls owned by a pit bull advocate and blogger (whose poorly written blog is still active by the way) escaped their owner’s property multiple times and attacked a neighbor’s show sheep, mauling over 14 of them, tearing their faces to shreds and leaving them for dead. The ones who were not outright killed had to be euthanized.
Here is the video, if you can stomach it, showing the damage to the sheep’s faces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN5JWcsqCp4
To add insult to injury, the dogs’ owner, who is in addition to being an irresponsible owner is also a pathological liar, denied his dogs were responsible and blamed the attacks on mountain lions. There are no mountain lions in that state and the two pits were eventually shot on the sheep farmer’s property.
Those two dogs were not abused, they were not chained, they were not beaten, fought, starved, neglected, or otherwise trained to attack. They were obtained as puppies for the purposes of being family pets and companions.
Now in stark contrast, had the same dog owner had a pair of shetland sheepdogs instead, we know **for a fact** that the worst case scenario would have been the sheep…being ripped to shreds? NO…they would have been gently herded into a cluster. You know it and I know it. Any idiot knows it.
The fact that you need this distinction graphically outlined for you is the reason why you apparently do not live in the same reality that everyone else does.
To Amanda Allison below. You are the reason why I speak up. You don’t have a realistic view of dogs or life. I get that a dog attack is scary and life changing. I get that. But to actually assume you know all pit bull owners or their dogs is incorrect, unfair, biased. Other dogs kill and we don’t go on the rampage about them. Because we aren’t part of a cult that hates a certain dog. Simple as that. I am all for making the public safe but the correct way. All dogs are individuals, as are people and people need to be educated about dog behavior and spay and neuter most dogs, reduce some of the breeding of dogs and weed out the reckless breeders, enforcing leash laws, training and socializing your dog to people and animals and stiffer penalties for irresponsible dog owners and putting criminals that make a dog dangerous in jail. Really Amanda. You are exactly why I speak up for these dogs. It doesn’t take long to realize what’s going on with pit bulls. There is tremendous bias with SOME of the media and with some people towards these dogs. Some of the media has made people who know nothing about dogs hysterical about a dog of all things. Sorry you feel the way you do but laws should not be made based on isolated incidents and backed by fear and hate and ignorance. It won’t make anyone safer.
There are many dog breeds that see cats as “prey” and will give chase and even attack them if given the chance. I mean look how many dogs chase and attack squirrels and rabbits, but you don’t see these making headlines. When I was a child our neighbor’s labs jumped the fence and killed our pet rabbit. It could just have easily been our cat.
Why on earth this man led his dog toward the cat is beyond me. He probably noticed the dog’s “interest” in the cat and thought it would be ok to let him take a closer look. Bad and stupid move for sure. I don’t think he intended for the dog to actually attack the cat. It doesn’t take an abusive owner to have an incident like this with a dog. As long as people who don’t understand canine behavior own powerful dog breeds, there will always be these problems.
Who is it that owns these dangerous dogs and breeds them ? All pit bulls should be spayed and Neutered. That is a humane solution.In L.A. they estimate that 200 pit bulls suffer euthanasia a day.Who is responsible for that ? The breeders the owners that do not spay and neuter these dogs it is You that are the “Killer Haters ” not Us the ones that just want a safer world for Our Children.Pit Bull advocates always pointing their finger everywhere but where it belongs. Clean up the dangerous mess YOU have created !
I’m a bit confused. It does look like the dog owner let the dog get to the cat. Then he tries to get the cat away and it looks like at one point he did but the cat went after the dog and the dog got it again. If it is the owners fault that the dog got the cat in the first place (since the dog was leashed) then jail time is in order but if he got it away and the cat went after the dog its not. On a whole if a dog catches another animal its in the dogs nature to do so. If this was a rabbit or something it wouldn’t have made the news.
I have cats and a dog. One cat ran out of the house to chase a dog. He tried to chase off some kids too. Not sure how he expected anyone to take him seriously though he did scare the dog. If it had been a bigger dog and the dog got him I don’t think it would have been the dogs fault.