ILLINOIS -- St. Charles police are investigating a report that an unleashed dog savagely mauled a much larger Newfoundland on Tuesday night, and residents of the East Side neighborhood where the attack occurred fear the animal still may be on the loose.
Eric Forst of St. Charles, in an email late Tuesday to St. Charles Patch, described the attack, which he said occurred across from a playground at Ohio and 3rd avenues, as traumatic. He said the owner of the offending animal fled the scene afterward, “and for all we know the dog could still be on the loose.”
"We're a little concerned that there is a violent pit bull running around our neighborhood, and that the attack occurred so close to a park,” Forst wrote. “This could have been much, much worse.”
St. Charles police said they have begun their investigation of the incident.
The attack occurred about 6:30 p.m. as Forst and his wife were heading east on Ohio.
“... We noticed a woman screaming and knocked over on the north corner of the intersection. We then noticed a younger-looking pit bull with no tags or leash running away from the scene,” Forst wrote.
The couple approached the woman, who said her dog, a large breed of working dog known as a Newfoundland, had been attacked. “The dog was bleeding profusely (literally pouring like a faucet) and the owner was really shaken up.”
Forst said he ran a few block to grab medical supplies and bring back a vehicle. He credited his wife and some neighbors with helping the dog.
“She stabilized the dog's leg and wound and stopped the bleeding while keeping it from going into shock,” he wrote. “Several neighbors also pitched in and tended to the owner and her dog while I ran home to grab medical supplies and get my car to transport the dog” to a veterinarian.
Forst said some neighbors and witnesses told him that the owner, and older woman, was visibly shaken by the attack. She spoke limited English, he added.
”They said she apologized and mentioned that she lived nearby (she pointed east) but then just took off in her grayish/white Dodge Charger.”
In a subsequent email late Thursday, Forst wrote that he had been in contact again with the owners of the Newfoundland, who said their dog survived but had suffered “some pretty major bite/puncture wounds.”
His neighbors, his wife and Forst agreed that the incident could have proven far worse, particularly given its proximity to a park.
“... This could have been a true tragedy had the dog not been a 100-pound Newfoundland, or if children had been involved,” he wrote.
(Geneva Patch - May 29, 2013)
