The Humane Society of Louisiana’s Larry Maxwell says he was in Lakeview Wednesday checking a complaint that the pit bull had no water or shade, “It was actually nothing. It had food, water, adequate shelter. She had everything.”
When he met pit bull owner Robin Faber at the front gate, the dog broke away from a chain and attacked the investigator.
Faber said the attack was sudden, “The dog busts loose and I’m standing here and the man is standing there and she got through me.”
“It jumped up,” recalls Maxwell. “Hit my chest with both paws. I put my arm up. He bit a chunk out of my arm.”
Faber says she tried to control the pit bull, “She started kicking but I grabbed her and when I was pushing her back, she bit me.”
“Bit my leg once,” says Maxwell. “It came back and bit it again. If I would have had a firearm I wouldn't have had time to draw it.”
The pit bull is now quarantined for ten days at Lakeview Veterinary Hospital to determine if she has rabies.
Faber says her son rescued the dog from an abusive owner two years ago, “Yes, all our dogs out rescued. I was just worried about the man and I felt so bad and I was crying. I didn’t know what to do.”
Maxwell says he's not pressing charges.
[Um, this is a bad idea. The dog 'broke' its chain and attacked someone who was simply standing there. This dog, AT THE VERY LEAST, needs to be deemed potentially dangerous. This woman needs to understand that this dog has the capability to kill someone and has already shown that it has no problem going on the attack.]
However, as the state’s Chief Animal Cruelty Investigator he will rewrite protocol so all animal investigators keep a baton and mace ready, “It’s much better to stick a baton in a charging dog’s mouth than your hand or your arm.”
He says if after ten days the pit bull is diagnosed healthy and disease free, she will be returned to its owner.
(WGNO - Oct 13, 2011)
