RIO RANCHO, NM -- The pit bull whose vicious attack on an 11-year-old Cielo Vista Elementary fifth-grader could return home today, but its owners will apparently face no reprisals.
The same can't be said for the victim, Cosmos Skelton, who bears an ugly series of 37 stitches that curl up the side of his forearm.
The attack occurred Easter Sunday at the Northern Meadows home of Joseph Kraus shortly after Skelton, a frequent visitor, had stepped inside, along with two girls who live there.
The dog, Angus, was rarely inside the house because of his temperament, Skelton said. And when the two girls saw the animal, they both fled, leaving Skelton alone with it.
"I guess he thought I was an intruder," he said. "I backed up against the wall and threw my arms up in the air and he must have taken it as a threat."
The dog chomped down on Skelton's arm and its grip was so powerful that Kraus and two other people had to pry the dog's jaws open from Skelton's arm.
It finally let go after somebody dumped a bucket of water on it, he said.
"I was getting bit and my arm felt numb," Skelton said. "I just felt this gigantic mouth on my arm."
Once freed, he managed to stumble outside and his older brother, who was also visiting the house, helped him to their nearby home and his father rushed the boy to Albuquerque's Presbyterian Hospital.
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| Cosmos' father wants the dog put down |
"It was a big cut, deep into the tissue," said the father, Daniel Skelton. "Every time he moved his fingers, you could see the muscles and tendons in his arm moving."
Nothing inside his arm was severed so the long-term prognosis is favorable, the father said, but the antibiotics that Cosmos was originally prescribed weren't effective so the boy had to return to the hospital last week to be re-examined.
"He's doing OK now," Daniel Skelton said. "Monday was his first day back to school. He was nervous about it getting it bumped though."
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| The pit bull's owner reacts when questioned by a reporter |
Meanwhile, Angus could be returning home after a mandatory 10-day quarantine.
The owners have until 5 p.m. today to pick up the dog, after which it could be adopted out or put down, said police spokesman John Francis.
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| Raised from a pup, this owner cannot explain why her socialized, family dog would suddenly go on the attack |
A Rio Rancho Police report showed the dog had been vaccinated for rabies in December. But neither it, nor any of the other three dogs on the premises, are registered or licensed. The owners have until Thursday to show animal control the proper paperwork.
Daniel Skelton said he's been told by the dog's owners that Angus had attacked one of their own children and also another dog. The owners had originally planned to euthanize the dog, but recently said in a local television broadcast that they planned to keep it. The phone number at the Kraus residence is not accepting phone calls.
Skelton, whose family has three dogs of its own, including a pit bull mix that Cosmos rescued, said he has nothing against the breed.
"We're not anti-dogs and we're not anti pit bulls," he said. "But it goes to the way this dog is. You can't go back and make it a puppy again."
And since the attack occurred inside the home, neither the dog nor its owners will face penalties under city ordinances, Francis said.
That, Skelton says, is wrong. At the very least, he said, the family should be cited for the unlicensed dogs, which carries a $100 fine for each animal.
(Rio Rancho Observer, May 4, 2011)
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UPDATE:
Dog That Bit Boy Will Be Destroyed
A pit bull that tore a chunk out of a Rio Rancho boy’s arm will be euthanized.
Police spokesman John Francis said Friday the owner of the dog that bit 12-year-old Cosmos Skelton voluntarily turned the animal over to police and agreed to euthanization.
The boy’s father, Daniel Skelton, could not be reached for comment.
The attack occurred on April 24, when the dog bit the boy’s right arm and caused wounds that required dozens of stitches.
It happened in the home where the dog lived. Cosmos Skelton had gone there to play with children who lived in the home, something he frequently did, according to his father.
After the attack, Francis said the dog owner agreed to voluntarily quarantine the dog while police conducted an investigation. But she initially told a local TV station she would not have the dog put down.
Francis said police couldn’t force the owner to euthanize the dog because the incident occurred inside the home where the animal lived and didn’t violate city ordinances.
That angered Daniel Skelton, and spurred Rio Rancho dog trainer and behavior specialist Dianne Sullivan of Good Dog Training Center and Doggie Resort in Rio Rancho to say the animal should be euthanized because it might pose a risk to other children.
(Rio Rancho Journal - May 7, 2011)
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