MICHIGAN -- A 69-year-old Milford woman was critically injured and nearly lost her right hand after her dog attacked her at her home on East Commerce Street Aug. 31.
A neighbor stabbed the pet, an American Bulldog, to death as it clamped down on the woman’s wrist refusing to let go, Milford police said.
The attack occurred as the woman was tending to injuries the bulldog sustained in an earlier altercation with her other dog, a mastiff. While the woman cleaned the bulldog’s wounds the dog turned on her, biting her in the arms, legs and hand.
The woman’s 7-year-old grandson reportedly witnessed the attack, along with a playmate who lives nearby. The playmate left the home in tears and relayed the incident to her father, who armed himself with a knife and came to the woman’s rescue.
According to reports, he stabbed the bulldog nine times and sliced it along its spine, but it wouldn’t release its bite. When police arrived, the woman was lying in a large pool of blood in her laundry room and the neighbor was holding onto the dog’s leg.
Police were able to drag the dog outside where it soon died.
The woman was transported to Botsford Hospital’s Trauma Center in critical condition. Reports state doctors initially thought her hand would have to be amputated. According to the woman’s daughter-in-law, however, they were able to save her hand.
The daughter-in-law said Tuesday the woman had been caring for the dogs for the past three years.
The mastiff has since been placed in another home. At press time, the injured woman remained hospitalized.
The neighbor who came to the woman’s rescue couldn’t be reached for comment.
(Observer & Eccentric - Sept 6, 2011)
