The dog was inside, but the door was open. [Looks like they use a baby gate to keep the pit bull inside.]
"He barked, she screamed and he lunged out the door," says neighbor, Donna Almazan.
"She actually had puncture wounds and bite marks on her right arm, her stomach and her right upper thigh," says Cleveland Police Spokeswoman Evie West.
Almazan tried to explain to Channel 3 what happened. She does not own the dog, but she does own Pit bulls, including Mack's mom.
"We don't try to raise these dogs to be mean," Almazan says. "You want to come up and see mine?"
Almazan took Channel 3 inside her apartment to meet her three Pit bulls and showed us how close they were by putting a biscuit in her mouth and inviting the dogs to "gently" take it from her.
She blames the neighbor across the street for the attack. She claims he beat Mack with a fly swatter.
"He would not have bitten the little girl if it hadn't been for him," says Almazan.
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| This is the pit bull that attacked the child |
Channel 3 tried to talk to him, but for lack of better words, he wants no dog in this fight.
"If this situation happens again they will take the dog," says West.
However, Almazan and the dog's owner say they're already taking care of it.
"I'm trying to get Mack out of here where his life can be saved," Almazan says.
Almazan says the little girl was at the apartments with her grandparents who own the property. They tell Channel 3 she's doing much better and came home from the hospital Monday night.
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| The dog breeder |
"We're going to do the right thing by that baby and by Mack," Almazan says. "If we can't get him into Dog Town or Caesar's, we're going to put him to sleep. But, please don't think Mack was an evil dog, or raised to be that way cause it ain't so."
Mack is under quarantine. Animal control officers will continue to check on the dog for the next week before deciding if he can stay with his owner.
(WRCB - April 3, 2012)
