PENNSYLVANIA -- A boy attacked by a pit bull on Friday will not suffer permanent nerve damage to his face, his father said Saturday.
The boy, 5-year-old Hayden Stoll, was playing on his family's front lawn in Herminie with his 10-year-old sister around 11:30 a.m. when a large pit bull began attacking him.
The girl ran inside the house to tell her father and grandfather: "There's a dog killing Hayden!"
The boy, 5-year-old Hayden Stoll, was playing on his family's front lawn in Herminie with his 10-year-old sister around 11:30 a.m. when a large pit bull began attacking him.
The girl ran inside the house to tell her father and grandfather: "There's a dog killing Hayden!"
The two men rushed outside, stuck their hands into the dog's mouth and struggled for minutes to pry open the dog's jaws, but they were too tightly clamped around the boy's face. Hayden appeared unconscious as the dog shook him violently.
"His eyes were open, and he was just staring," said William Stoll, 77, crying as he recalled the incident. "Both of us were soaked in blood."
The pit bull released Hayden only after his father struck it with a rock.
"It was horrible," the boy's father, William Stoll Jr., 34, said. "I thought I was going to lose him."
"His eyes were open, and he was just staring," said William Stoll, 77, crying as he recalled the incident. "Both of us were soaked in blood."
The pit bull released Hayden only after his father struck it with a rock.
"It was horrible," the boy's father, William Stoll Jr., 34, said. "I thought I was going to lose him."
Paramedics airlifted the boy to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, where he underwent surgery. Doctors initially said that Hayden might lose control of his facial muscles, but on Saturday they reported that he had not suffered permanent nerve damage, the boy's father said.
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| The pit bull that tried to kill little Hayden |
Hayden remains in the hospital, sedated. He will require surgeries over the next 15 years to reconstruct his face, his father said.
Dog-catcher Fred Moran, of Sutersville, captured the pit bull two blocks from the boy's house and is holding it in his kennels. Mr. Moran said the dog does not have a collar but likely is not a stray because it appears well-fed at approximately 80 pounds.
"This dog is actually to me docile," Mr. Moran said, explaining that the pit bull likely mistook the boy for a threat. Although its ears are cropped short like a fighting dog, the pit bull does not bear any scars. It does not appear to be rabid, Mr. Moran said.
Mr. Moran added that a local mailman recognized the dog but could not remember who owns it. If nobody claims the dog in 10 days, it will be put down. Its owner could face prosecution for not controlling it.
(Post Gazette.com - Nov 20, 2011)
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