CUMBERLAND, MD -- A 6-year-old South End girl suffered severe facial trauma Monday when she walked onto a neighbor’s porch and was attacked by an unattended pit bull, Cumberland Police said.
The child, who was not identified by police, was rushed to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center by a Cumberland Fire Department Ambulance following the incident that occurred at about 10:30 a.m. in the 400 block of Arch Street, police said.
No information was available as to the extent of the child’s injuries or medical condition.
The dog was seized by Allegany County Animal Control officers and was euthanized shortly after the incident, according to police.
The dog’s owner, Victor Wayne Safchuck, 34, was cited with misdemeanor municipal infractions of permitting a vicious dog to be unconfined, permitting a vicious animal to to unleashed and failure to display signs warning of a vicious dog, police said.
Cumberland Police had not been called to the residence previously for any complains involving the dog that was involved in the incident.
The incident remains under investigation by the Allegany County Animal Shelter, according to Dick DeVore, Allegany County’s acting director of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
(Cumberland Times-News - July 6, 2011)
