UNITED KINGDOM -- A 4-year-old Limerick boy was flown by medical helicopter to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children after he was bit by a 4-year-old male Rottweiler Friday evening, police confirmed.
Limerick Sgt. Ed Ciaciak said Limerick Township Police were dispatched to the report of a dog bite in the unit block of Sacco Road at 5:52 p.m.
“The mother of the 4-year-old had the wound already wrapped with a towel,” Ciaciak said. Trappe EMS responded and transported the boy to the landing zone, and he was flown by MedEVac to St. Christopher’s with wounds to his leg and arm.
Ciaciak said the Rottweiler belonged to a neighbor of the boy’s family.
“From what everybody on the scene was telling us, the mother of the 4-year-old and the dog owner were conversing on the street,” and the dog owner had the Rottweiler and another dog on leashes. The boy rode his bicycle up to where the dog was and “the Rottweiler bit the 4-year-old on the leg, dragged him off the bicycle and proceeded to bite his arm,” Ciaciak continued.
He noted the Rottweiler was “unprovoked and just snapped.”
Ciaciak said the owner of the Rottweiler jumped in and attempted to get the dog away from the boy and she suffered an injury to her hand as well.
Ciaciak said police contacted their animal control officer and he came out and took custody of the dog, which the dog owners gave voluntarily. The dog will be quarantined for 10 days and then euthanized, Ciaciak said.
Police noted the Rottweiler bit a mail carrier in March, resulting in a puncture wound to the mail carrier, who was subsequently transported by Trappe EMS to Pottstown Memorial Medical Center for treatment.
Ciaciak said the dog owner voluntarily giving up the dog allows officials to bypass the process of going through the courts to have a judge rule on whether the dog is dangerous. If a dog is deemed dangerous, the owners must follow very strict guidelines for how they keep the dog, including purchasing $50,000 worth of insurance of such a dog, having the dog muzzled a majority of the time and keeping the dog penned up.
[Why didn't they do this the FIRST time the dog attacked/bit someone?]
Those sorts of criteria for a dangerous dog greatly affect that dog’s quality of life, Ciaciak noted.
As of Friday evening, the mother of the 4-year-old child told police her son was in stable condition at the hospital.
Police said the Rottweiler was licensed and up-to-date on his shots.
(The Reporter Online - May 19, 2012)
