Two boys, 5 and 7, hospitalized after being attacked by pit bulls in West Palm Beach | www.palmbeachpost.com

5-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy were hospitalized Tuesday after they were attacked by two pit bulls in West Palm Beach, an Animal Care and Control spokesperson said.

Dave Walesky said the boys were playing in the front yard of a 45th Street home when the dogs escaped from the fenced-in backyard and attacked them. One was bit in the face and the other was bit in the arm.

The incident took place at about 5 p.m. near the intersection with Australian Avenue.

Animal Care and Control has the two dogs and will conduct a 10-day dangerous dog investigation. The dogs are registered as pit bulls, but Walesky said they look like mixed-breed.

If the dogs are classified as dangerous, they will be returned to the owner with strict mandates.

via Two boys, 5 and 7, hospitalized after being attacked by pit bulls in West Palm Beach | www.palmbeachpost.com.

SDPD Officer Hospitalized by Dog Bite | NBC 7 San Diego

An officer was attacked by a pit bull as San Diego Police pulled over a driver in the Mission Valley area Wednesday night, officials say.

The incident happened just after 8 p.m. on Friars Road at State Route 163.

According to the SDPD, the dog bite sent the officer to the hospital, but police did not shoot the pit bull.

via SDPD Officer Hospitalized by Dog Bite | NBC 7 San Diego.

Dog attack leaves woman in critical condition

Plainfield police responded to a dog attack on Putnam Road Wednesday morning.

Police say a healthcare worker, 56-year-old Lynne Denning of Canterbury, was attacked by two to four dogs while caring for an elderly patient at 379 Putnam Road. They say Denning suffered injuries to her face, chest, arms, and legs before the dogs’ owner, 29-year-old Jenna Allen, and a man were able to secure the dogs.

via Dog attack leaves woman in critical condition.

Police Investigating Dog Attack in St. Albans – myChamplainValley.com

The St. Albans Police Department is investigating a dog attack on Lake Street in the area of Food City. The attack happened between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Police say after the pit bull attacked a 52-year-old man fled the scene into a wooded.

The dog and owner have not been identified. Police say victim received puncture wounds to one hand and he was transported to Northwest Medical Center.

The dog is described as a medium size brown and white pit bull with a green nylon collar.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the St. Albans Police Department at (802)-524-2166.

Read more via Police Investigating Dog Attack in St. Albans – myChamplainValley.com.

Three people attacked by pack of pit bulls on the loose in Fall River; two hospitalized – News – The Herald News, Fall River, MA – Fall River, MA

Two people were hospitalized Monday night after they were attacked by four pit bulls that were accidentally released from their pen, police said.

Fall River police and animal control officers caught the dogs after they had been running through a wooded area. The dogs are being held in quarantine for 10 days, said Fall River police Lt. Ronald Furtado.

The dogs’ owner, identified as Sherry King, 43, of 550 Kilburn St., will be summonsed to court on two counts of failure to license a dog, Furtado said.

The police investigation alleges that the dogs were released from their pen after a child who fed the dogs accidentally left the pen door open, Furtado said.

Around 4 p.m. Monday, Fall River police Officers Peter Daluz and Derek Pereira responded to a dog bite call at Howe and Crawford streets. A 70-year-old woman was bitten on her forearm. She told the officers that she was walking in the area when two dogs approached and bit her pocketbook. When she tried to retrieve her purse, the dogs attacked her. The force of the dogs attacking her forearm caused the woman to fall to the ground, police said.

Two nearby bystanders intervened and stopped the attack. The 70-year-old woman was treated at the scene by medical rescue personnel and transported to Saint Anne’s Hospital for further treatment, police said.

Read more via Three people attacked by pack of pit bulls on the loose in Fall River; two hospitalized – News – The Herald News, Fall River, MA – Fall River, MA.

Mastiff escapes from Charlotte home, attacks mailman – WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

A Charlotte postal worker is recovering after he was attacked by a Mastiff Monday while delivering mail in the Plaza Midwood-area.

The incident happened along the 2800-block of Virginia Avenue.

The mail carrier was talking with someone inside a home in the area when a dog inside attempted to get out of the home, said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Animal Care and Control.

That’s when the dog, a 4-year-old Mastiff, came around the back of the home and attacked the mailman.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) says Christian Sparks, an 11-year postal veteran, suffered injuries from the bite and required more than 20 stitches. Sparks was treated at the hospital and later released.

“He will be able to return to work – after some much needed rest,” postal officials said.

Animal control officials say the Mastiff does not have a previous history of incidents and was up to date with rabies vaccines.

The dog’s owner was out of the country when the attack happened, but was able to be contacted as he was coming back through U.S. Customs to get back into the country.

Now that the dog’s owner is back, Animal Care and Control says the dog will undergo a ten-day home quarantine as it is monitored for any signs of rabies.

Read more via Mastiff escapes from Charlotte home, attacks mailman – WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC.

10-Year-Old Recovering from Pit Bull Bite

A 10-year-old boy is recovering at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger after a serious dog bite on Thanksgiving morning.  Five days after the incident, the family describes the little boy’s condition as a God-given miracle.

“Horror is what happened that morning – I heard my son screaming.  I came out the door and he’s on these steps in sheer panic,” said Gary Ramsey, the boy’s grandfather.

Gary Ramsey says Thanksgiving morning started out like any other day for his 10-year-old grandson.

“My boy and the dog have played, rolled, they’ve rough-housed and wrestled every day with never any bad outcome.  For some reason that morning it was just different,” said Ramsey.

Their neighbor’s 2-year-old pit bull named Nikko bit the boy, causing severe injuries to his left arm. At first Ramsey says he was told the boy might lose his arm.  On Monday the 5th grader had his third surgery to work on restoring his nerves.

“He went from probably won’t be able to save his arm to being able to move his fingers,” said Ramsey.

As for Nikko, the owner turned the pit bull over to the Humane Educational Society in Chattanooga, where the dog is under observation.  The Executive Director at the Humane Society, Bob Citrullo, says Nikko is under a 10-day bite hold to make sure it does not have rabies or any other disease

“I’m very concerned with that behavior because he attacked with no warning and with what we saw I feel that he will do that again. I definitely consider him a very dangerous animal,” said Bob Citrullo.

via WTVC NewsChannel 9 :: News – Top Stories – 10-Year-Old Recovering from Pit Bull Bite.

Dog’s potential euthanization postponed in Ware | WWLP.com

There was a huge outpouring of support for a dog deemed dangerous by the Ware Police Chief. Tuesday night the owner and town officials came to an agreement that will save Dino.

Close to one hundred people filled the Ware Board of Selectmen’s meeting as the board considered whether a restaurant owner’s dog was vicious and dangerous. Dino has bitten as many as twelve people on his owner’s property, despite graphic signs warning people.

Ware Police Chief Dennis Healy told 22News, “My personal belief is that a dog that has bitten as many as twelve people is a vicious dangerous dog.” However, Dino’s supporters say it’s not that simple; the people getting bitten are trespassing on Steve Kolenovic’s property, and ignoring the signs saying “Beware of the Guard Dog.”

Phil McManus of Ware said, “A dog stops a guy from breaking onto property and stealing something. ‘Let’s kill the dog?’ That’s not what this town should be like.”

Read more via Dog’s potential euthanization postponed in Ware | WWLP.com.

Proposed ordinance needs more tweaking, say officials

A proposed ordinance that would create tough restrictions for dogs and other domesticated animals that bite or attack a person or pet is heading back to the Board of Health for some additional tweaking.

The measure had been slated for final consideration by the City Council on Tuesday night, but aldermen voted 14-0 to send it back to the board, after City Public Health Administrator Dottie-Kay Bowersox said some changes were needed to the proposal, most of them centering around the restrictions for animals deemed

dangerous.

In the works for close to a year, the measure was recommended for passage by the Board of Health in October.

The City Council scheduled a public hearing for residents to comment or ask questions about the proposal on Tuesday, but the only people who spoke on the proposed changes at the meeting at City Hall, 730 Washington Ave., were Bowersox; Jill Kline, vice president of community impact programs for the Wisconsin Humane Society; and Board of Health member Bob Mozol.

Although fairly complex, the proposed ordinance essentially calls for eliminating the city’s existing vicious animal ordinance, which dubs a licensed animal “vicious” if it bites or injures a human being or pet without provocation twice within a 12-month period.

In its stead it would create two new designations — one for dangerous animals and another for prohibited

dangerous animals.

An animal would be deemed dangerous if police and Health Department staff could prove the animal bit, attacked or otherwise injured another pet or person

without provocation.

An animal would be deemed a prohibited dangerous animal if it seriously injures a person, kills another domesticated animal while off its property, or was already deemed dangerous and was found guilty of an additional unprovoked incident in which it bit, attacked, injured or endangered another pet or person.

An animal could also be deemed prohibited-dangerous if it had already been determined to be dangerous and its owner failed to follow the restrictions required to keep the animal in the city, such as posting signs and keeping the animal penned, kenneled or muzzled while outside.

Once designated as a prohibited dangerous animal, the animal would have to be removed from the city, but its caretaker would be allowed to appeal that decision.

Read more via Issues arise with animal rules — Proposed ordinance needs more tweaking, say officials.

Mother Lies to Protect Pit Bull Who Bit Child | whotv.com

On Sunday, two-year-old Gabrielle Looney was bitten on the face by her mother’s boyfriend’s pit bull. The couple took the injured little girl to the hospital, where her mother did the unthinkable.  She lied to doctors and police about what happened to protect the dog.

“She tried to say that this injury to her child occurred from a stray,” says Des Moines Police Sergeant Jim Butler, “And that’s not something that sits too well for me. First and foremost we all love our pets but we have to take care of our children first before the family pet.”

The dog, a two-year-old named Bowser, was seized by the city. It does not appear to be licensed or vaccinated.

“I will more than likely deem the dog dangerous vs. vicious or high risk because the dog according to the code did bite once at or above the shoulders of a human being,” Sgt. Butler says.

Bowser’s owner, John Houston, says he just moved in with his girlfriend and her daughters a couple of weeks ago, and Bowser and Gabrielle seemed to get along just fine.  “They were always like best friends,” Houston says, “She’s a baby, messy eater, drops crumbs so he’s always sticking around her, stuff like that. They play together. She tries to ride his back all the time. Stuff like that.”

Read more via Mother Lies to Protect Pit Bull Who Bit Child | whotv.com.