The man, in his 70s, had just gotten off of a bus and was walking toward the Hemet Valley Mall on Thursday morning when a group of pit bulls came running out of a yard in his direction, Animal Control Supervisor Daryl Hitchcock said.
The man fell and one of the dogs bit him repeatedly while the others ran around the general area before being scurried away back into their yard, Hitchcock said.
A passer-by, Jeri Berglund, said she saw the attack and stopped her car to help while screaming for the dogs to stop. Berglund eventually put the man in her car and drove him to Hemet Valley Medical Center, where he was treated.
“He kept saying he was going to die and pass out,” Berglund said. “He couldn’t even get out of the car when I got there.”
Hitchcock didn’t have specific information about the condition of the man, whose name was not released, but he said the man would be OK.
“All in all, for an elderly gentleman, he did really good,” Hitchcock said. “I have a feeling it would have been a lot different if all the dogs out there had chewed on him. He was lucky.”
When officers from the Ramona Humane Society, which provides animal control for the city, arrived at the dog owner’s house at Western and Latham avenues, they found seven pit bulls, Hitchcock said. Hemet Municipal Code allows for up to three dogs per residence.
Hitchcock said the dog that bit the man was taken and will be kept in quarantine for 10 days. After that, authorities will decide whether to euthanize it.
Hitchcock said the department also will address the fact that there are too many dogs on the property.
He said the owners had recently gotten the dog and were “very eager” to give it up.
[They were "very eager" to give up the attack dog. Well, of course, they were! But were they "very eager" to get rid of their other six pit bulls??]
Authorities are investigating whether to cite the owners for anything related to the attack, Hitchcock said.
(Press Enterprise - June 14, 2012)
