Tanya Beadles, 38, was working her shift Feb. 14 at Sumner Spay Neuter Alliance, when an American bulldog was brought in to be neutered by Sumner County Animal Control, which owns and shares the same building. The organization on Union School Road provides low-cost sterilization services for cats and dogs.
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| Tanya Beadles returned to work at the Sumner Spay Neuter Alliance after being bitten by an American bulldog several times on Valentine's Day |
Beadles said she was with a veterinarian, an animal control officer, an inmate assigned to animal control, and a Volunteer State Community College student technician when the attack occurred.
The vet had just finished checking the dog’s heart rate.
“I had my hand on his collar and had gone to squat down to restrain him so he could get his pre-med and he just lashed out and grabbed hold of my chin,” Beadles said.
As she was rising up, the bulldog was still holding onto her mouth.
“Everyone knew not to pull him, so the animal control officer and the technician both pried his mouth open and got him off me,” Beadles said. “My first thought is that he was going for my throat, but I had turned quick enough to keep that from happening.”
As the dog dropped to the floor, Beadles kicked it to keep it from coming at her again, and the others also tried to shove the dog away. The animal lunged at her again, this time getting its teeth into her side, near the rib cage area. The jail inmate was finally able to grab the dog using a leash and removed it from the room.
Animal control immediately took Beadles to the hospital where she received 20 stitches to the chin and jaw area for two separate lacerations. The wounds to her side are still healing.
“There’s six puncture wounds there but they left them open to drain and there’s a lot of bruising in the area,” Beadles said.
After returning to work Feb. 15, employees noticed Beadles’ wounds had worsened.
“On Friday, she came into work and the girls noticed her throat was so very swollen and red and she went back to the hospital where she was kept overnight and treated for an infection,” said the organization’s director, June McMahon.
McMahon said the dog was turned over to animal control after a homeowner’s association’s “pressured” the owner to give up the dog “because of aggression” but there were no official reports made.
The incident “was not a bite, it was an attack,” she said.
“I’m sure that with what (Animal Control) had witnessed, it should have been enough for them to know that dog was not a good candidate for adoption,” she said. “You just kind of know these things.”
Sergeant says dog was 'spooked'
Sumner County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Sean Ryan said the dog was surrendered to Animal Control by its owner from Goodlettsville due to the owner’s home insurance carrier not allowing the dog at the residence. Ryan said there was no documentation of aggression by the dog on file with the city of Goodlettsville when it came to Animal Control.
Ryan said only one incident occurred while the dog was under the county’s supervision: the dog was spooked when another dog came around the corner suddenly. The two animals briefly scuffled, but neither dog was injured, he said.
[What he means to say is that the victim dog was attacked. They did not "scuffle"]
“He was just the kind of dog that if spooked, he was going to jump,” Ryan said, adding that prior to the recent attack, none of the dogs kept at Animal Control had ever bitten a person. “I think (the recent incident) was just the fact they were holding it and restraining it – many of those dogs freak out during that because they don’t know what is going on.”
Ryan said his agency takes animals to Sumner Spay Neuter Alliance several times a week and said he had witnessed staff there nearly being bitten on numerous occasions. It was just something that came along with the job, he said.
The policy for aggressive dogs at the county animal control facility is strict, but will now be reinforced following the bulldog attack, Ryan said.
“My stand on it is if the animal shows any kind of aggression whatsoever, we don’t adopt them out – it’s too big of a liability for the Sheriff’s Office,” he said, adding he would look into other changes, such as possibly muzzling dogs taken outside the facility, for extra precaution.
Ryan said the bulldog was immediately euthanized after the incident and by protocol, was tested for rabies.
Beadles said she felt sorry for the dog, but was glad it would not be in a position to hurt anyone else.
“Dogs like that should not even be thought of to be put on the adoption floor,” she said. “I told one of the girls that I’m glad it happened to me. If not, God forbid, it could have been a child and a child might not have made it.”
(The Tennesseean - Feb 21, 2013)
