POTTSVILLE, PA -- An 8-year-old Pottsville boy was bitten by a pit bull Thursday night, one day after a family pet mauled a 13-year-old city girl and injured her two sisters.
According to Pottsville police, officers were called to the 500 block of East Market Street for a report of two pit bulls fighting in the street near Jackson and Market streets.
Police said the 16-year-old owner of the dogs came to the scene to secure them. Upon further investigation, officers learned the owner's 8-year-old brother was bitten by the dogs a few minutes earlier.
The younger boy said the dogs began fighting with each other in the house and that he was bitten as he tried to separate them, police said. The boy tried to leave the home but the dogs followed and continued to fight in the street.
Police said the boy was transported by ambulance to Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street and treated for multiple bite wounds to his right arm.
City police called Hillside SPCA to check the animals and a shelter worker recommended immediate treatment for one of the dogs whose ear was torn in two. Police said the owner chose not to seek treatment for the dog.
Officers did not see identification tags on the dogs and the owner was not able to provide paperwork proving the animals were up to date with shots, including rabies shots. The incident has been turned over to Frank Spleen, Pottsville health and animal control officer.
Police said this was not the first incident of the animals fighting. A witness reported seeing the dogs fight weekly, police said.
Police Capt. Ronald Moser said the owner could be cited, but that Spleen would follow up with an investigation.
On Wednesday, a family pit bull attacked three children in the 300 block of Fleet Street. The oldest child was flown by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest while the younger children, both under the age of 10, where taken to a local hospital with less severe wounds.
The dog was owned by the children's parents, Justin and Nicole Eaddy, 302 Fleet St., who were not home at the time of the attack, according to police.
The dog was shot and killed by a city police officer.
Spleen said Friday that rabies tests were negative for the pit bull involved in Wednesday's attack. Authorities have not released the victims' names or conditions.
(Republican Herald - June 25, 2011)
