FLINT, MI — A pit bull attack last week on the city’s east side left an 8-year-old girl with 70 stitches on her face and her mother upset that Genesee County Animal Control declined to take the dog away.
DeNasia Bold was attacked Friday when she was playing with friends in the yard of the dog’s owner.
The dog, which had to be pulled off the girl, was allowed to stay at the owner’s home next door for nearly a week before the owner took it to animal control himself Wedesday to have it euthanized.
Shawn Keskes, 30, told the Flint Journal that he made the decision because he felt he could no longer trust his dog, Bud, and was scared it might happen again.
“I’m not going to have an animal that’s like that,” he said.
But DeNasia’s mother, Christina Dotson, thinks the county should have taken the dog sooner after the attack.
Dotson, 33, said she called Genesee County Animal Control on Monday morning to report Friday’s attack on Winifred Street but said animal control workers didn’t show up until the next day.
Dotson said animal control told her they would not remove or euthanize the dog.
“They should have been out here immediately,” Dotson said. “For them not to (take the dog away) is just crazy.”
Stepheni Lazar, chief officer of Genesee County Animal Control, said her department ordered the dog to be quarantined and said it is up to the owner on what to do with the dog.
A judge or the owner are the only ones with authority to take the dog away, Lazar said.
“At this time that is all we can do,” Lazar said.
DeNasia was playing with the neighbor’s kids in the neighbor’s yard when the dog, which was running around in the yard, jumped on her and started biting her, according to Dotson.
Keskes who was in the yard, quickly went to DeNasia’s aid, she said.
Dotson was inside when she heard screaming and went out to look.
“She was holding a bag over her face and as soon as she pulled it down, it was horrible,” Dotson said.
DeNasia had gashes on her mouth and between her eye and nose.
She was taken first to a local hospital, then transported to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor for treatment.
Keskes on Wednesday was apologetic about the attack.
“I still feel bad about it,” he said. “I have to look at her every day. I say sorry every time I can but I know that’s not going to change anything.”
(Flint Journal - July 27, 2011)
