WYOMING -- After a vicious attack, a Cheyenne woman is hospitalized after being bit by a pit bull Wednesday morning.
Pit bulls have a reputation of being aggressive, but in his 40 years of working with animals Rick Collard says he'd never seen anything like this.
"I have not known of a case directly that I've somewhat been involved with that has actually had a broken arm or leg from a bite," said Rick Collard, Cheyenne Animal Shelter.
When Collard heard a woman's leg had been broken he asked law enforcement at the scene how they already knew before going to the hospital.
"How do we know the leg was broken, was it x-rayed? They said no, it was a compound fracture. So the bone had pierced the skin," Collard said.
When Animal Control went to take the dog away, owners already had it muzzled.
"That tells us something right there. Most people don't have muzzles in their homes with their dogs unless they know it's already aggressive in some way," Collard said.
The owners turned the dog over to Animal Control willingly. It is now the possession of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter where it will be held in quarantine.
"Because it was a bite, it's held for 10 days under a bite quarantine. At the end of that time a decision is made on what will happen to it," Collard said.
The shelter does not adopt out animals that bite. The pit bull's best hope would to be transferred to a rehab or rescue group, but the severity of the attack will make it tougher to find a group willing to take it.
"It's likely that this dog will be euthanized. It's likely that we won't find a place that would be interested in taking this dog," Collard said.
Although there is no way fool proof way to prevent a dog from attacking there is a way to significantly reduce the risk.
"Up to 97% of the time it will be an intact male dog. It's just the way it is. That's why one of the many reasons we push for neutering of animals and this is an intact male dog," Collard said.
(KGWN - Dec 22, 2011)
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