KANSAS -- Two individuals were reported to have been bitten by a dog last Saturday evening at Elm Creek Lake southwest of Fort Scott.
According to a report from the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office, Gary Wiggans, of Fort Scott, was playing catch with his 8-year-old son in the northeast corner of Elm Creek Lake about 5:30 p.m. when the youngster was bitten by the family dog, an American bull dog, that had been with the pair.
"The child bent down to get the ball and his own dog bit him," Bourbon County Sheriff Ron Gray said.
Wiggans took the young boy to the emergency room at Mercy Hospital, where a sheriff's deputy was dispatched after being contacted about the incident. Gray said Wiggans "advised the officer he would put the dog down."
As the deputy left the hospital to go check the animal, another call came in that the same dog had bitten another person in the lake area, Gray said.
"The officer made contact with the subject bitten on the arm," Gray said. "He was a witness, I guess, because he said he was bitten by the same dog."
According to the sheriff's report, the second individual, Danny Schweikhardt, of Fort Scott, was bitten while trying to [rescue] his dog, a golden retriever, [which was also attacked by the American Bulldog]. Schweikhardt used a weapon to fend off the bull dog that had attacked him and his own dog.
"The owner of the second dog used a knife and the officer observed that the dog had several wounds in it," Gray said. "It was an aggressive dog walking towards people, bleeding heavily, with labored breathing ... it fell down and the officer, out of compassion and because it might attack somebody else, put the dog down."
Gray said no arrests were made or fines handed out as the American Bulldog is legal to own and does not violate the county ordinance regarding the keeping of vicious dogs.
Various breeds of the American Bulldog are sometimes confused with pit bulls and other similar dog breeds, Gray said. He said the American Bulldog breed is not among the breeds identified as violations in the county law.
Gray said the county resolution is similar to the city's code, which regulates vicious dogs or other animals such as pit bulls, which are defined by statute as the bull terrier breeds, the Staffordshire bull terrier, the American pit bull terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier, or "any dog of mixed breed or other breeds than above listed which breed or mixed breed is known as pit bulls, pit bull dogs or pit bull terriers, or any dog which has the appearance and characteristics of being predominantly of the breeds of any of the mentioned breeds, or a combination of any of these breeds," the law states.
Gray said he is not sure why the dog spontaneously bit the young boy, who sustained scratches on his back and was bitten on the buttocks. He said the incident is an unusual one, and not one commonly seen by the sheriff's office.
"It's the first one I've ever heard of," Gray said.
(Fort Scott Tribune - Apr 17, 2013)
