He was taken to the ground by three pit bulls last month outside a friend’s house, and the attack sparked a fight whether the city of Vancouver should ban the breed.
“They are all like, ‘Are you OK?’ Ponomarev says about his classmates. “’I heard your ear got ripped off.’ And I’m like, ‘Ah, no, it’s right there,’” he says pointing to his right ear.
The wound and how it happed was nasty, however.
“When he (dog owner) opened the door, the dogs, they see me, so they started running out because he wasn’t able to close the door fast enough and hard enough. So they ran out and started chasing me,” Ponomarev says. “They were probably about two feet away from me, and I saw them like open their mouths, and I was like, ‘not good.’”
He covered his face and throat from their gnashing teeth in the fetal position and prayed the dogs’ owner would save him.
“Just thinking, ‘Am I going to die or not. …’ Just when I felt my friend’s stepdad’s hand grab me, I was like, ‘Finally’ … I just felt happy.”
He says he felt like he was going to lose his ear and he saw blood everywhere. He was also bitten on his arms, legs and side. He says he hasn’t had any nightmares.
Though he’s not sure whether he’s in favor of banning pit bulls, he is taking pride his ordeal is sparking debate on both sides.
The dogs that attacked him were euthanized.
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| One of the pit bull that attacked Joey |
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| The pit bull owner's house |
The Vancouver City Council has scheduled a workshop Aug. 8 to look at its vicious dog laws and talk about the idea of banning the breed like nine other Washington cities.
(KATU - June 10, 2011)
