The brown and white-spotted pit bull attacked her from behind, knocked her down, bit her on the buttocks and was going for her face. It emerged from under a mobile home without a bark. The mail carrier, an animal lover who herself once owned a pit bull, is hurt and enduring painful rabies shots.
She never approached the dog—or the owner’s home.
As for the pit bull that attacked her, it is being held by Tangipahoa Animal Control in Hammond.
The pit bull’s future is unclear. It could return home, maybe with a fine for its owner. Tangipahoa Sheriff Daniel Edwards says the parish has no restrictions about this type of dog. He addressed the problem when a Hammond girl was attacked by a vicious pit bull earlier this spring.
The mail carrier who was attacked says that a vicious animal may not be taken away from its owner and/or euthanized unless it has four complaints filed about it. She knows there is at least one complaint—hers.
The proposed vicious dog law for the city of Amite is strict, requiring warning signs, adequate pens/fencing, liability insurance, fines and penalties and restrictions against using dogs for fighting.
“I am very concerned about the dog ordinance. I hope it gets passed,” she said July 25.
This is her story. She asked that her name not be printed for reasons relating to her job and privacy. The Amite Tangi Digest confirmed her circumstance.
Here is how the attack happened:
“I was across the street from the house. I delivered the mail there to the mailbox: 710 Church St. I was walking to deliver mail to another house.”
“I never saw the dog coming,” she says.
“The dog jumped, knocked me to the ground. He bit me on the buttocks. I was on my back. I pushed the dog back, put my hands up. He was going after my face,” she said. “I was rolling around on the ground.” A pit bull, brown with white spots. If the dog has a name, she doesn’t know it.
That is unusual because she knows most of the 650 residents and business people on her central Amite delivery route. She knows their children and many of their pets.
“Her growled once. He was biting me. It was unprovoked.”
“He never barked. He was silent. He came from under the house,” she said. A white mobile home.
“I didn’t go to the house or the yard,” she said. She had stepped out of her delivery vehicle, parked across the street at 709 Church St., and walked about 20 feet to the 710 mailbox, also at the street. “I went to the box on the road. I was not in his territory.”
“I had to get shots for tetanus, rabies. I am still on antibiotics for a week.” The bite in a photo looks to be about six inches long. She got no stitches. “Rabies shots are painful. The actual injury hurt worse.”
Will she support the proposed Amite vicious animal ordinance?
“Absolutely.”
“People should be responsible for their animals to make sure they are kept in a safe place,” she says.
“I walk quieter now. I am afraid to touch my own dogs. As far as my job, it makes it more difficult,” she says. “It’s slowing me down a bit, beside my injury. Any little noises, I get real jumpy.”
(Tangilena.com - July 28, 2012)
