TENNESSEE -- A toddler remains in critical condition at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, after he was attacked by his neighbor’s pit bull outside their home on Carrington.
Sunday afternoon, a brown and black pit bull wags his tail for our cameras. The owners of the pit say, he looks and acts just like another pit they own. That pit’s name is Cannibal.
“ He just a cool dog, he always lying around.” Said Cannibal’s owner, Reggie Johnson.
But Cannibal isn’t locked up on his chain at home. He’s at animal control, quarantined after he mauled their next door neighbor, a two-year old little boy.
“ What did he look like yesterday?” asked News Channel 3.
“ Indescribable” said Cannibal’s other owner, Latorrie Freeman.
“He wasn’t recognizable.” Said Johnson.
Johnson and Freeman tell News Channel 3, the skin on the toddler’s face was ripped off and they could see his bones.
“ The whole time his dad was hollering, his breath was getting short his eyes were rolling into the back of his head . We kept talking to him, I kept saying ‘let me see your eyes man, stay with us’, and then he would start breathing normal .” recalled Freeman.
Johnson says, the toddler walked around to their backyard Saturday when the attack happened. He believes, the child was alone in the backyard taunting Cannibal with a stick for up to 45 minutes.
It wasn’t until a neighbor came outside to check his satellite dish that anyone knew something was wrong.
This isn’t the first time the child has tried to play with Johnson and Freeman’s dogs. We’re told two weeks ago, he cracked open a crate of pit bull puppies.
“ I don’t know where his parents be at.” Said Johnson.
Now these neighbors are home, hoping the child survives and Cannibal isn’t put to sleep.
“ It hurts me to see any child hurt. But me and him was close to the little kids, because they are always around playing with us.” Expressed Freeman.
“I love my dog like he is my son, but that was a two-year old baby.” Said Johnson.
There isn’t any word if charges will be filed.
Johnson says, he was told, if the toddler lives, he will be able to pick up Cannibal at Animal Control Services. If the child dies, Cannibal will be put to sleep.
(WREG - June 10, 2012)
