“She was outside playing and the pit bill got next to my niece and almost bit her nose off,” uncle Jonathan Evans said.
McAllister was hospitalized at Southern Ohio Medical Center and the hospital contacted the Portsmouth Health Department, which began an investigation.
A incident report described the dog as a black and white pit bull and listed the dog’s owner as Joe Collins.
“We are still trying to locate the owner and find out what he did with the dog; we are getting conflicting stories,” said Andy Gedeon, director of Environmental Health at the Health Department.
Evans said the family has had a run-in with the dog before.
“Two months ago the same dog bit my other niece, Skiler McAllister,” Evans said.
According to the Health Department, the suspected dog has no confirmed history of previous bites.
Portsmouth City Council passed a vicious dog ordinance in May that would regulate dogs such as this.
The ordinance defines “vicious dogs” as having a habit of biting at children or other people, or that has a propensity, tendency or disposition to attack, cause injury or otherwise endanger the safety of people or other animals. If the owner does not comply with the stipulations of the ordinance the owner is subject to a misdemeanor charge, the severity of which depends on the number of violations the owner incurs.
“Unless it’s something severe, on the first offense we will give the owner a copy of the ordinance and educate them on how you are supposed to confine your dog. If we find it not confined that way again we could possibility issue a citation,” Gedeon said.
(Portsmouth Daily Times - June 7, 2012)
