The boy was taken to Timmins and District Hospital for treatment by a local contractor who was nearby when the attack took place outside a home on Lalonde Street, near Don Bosco elementary school.
Nine-year-old Noah Rimmer suffered puncture wounds and bite wounds to his face, his right arm, both hands, both legs, his right foot and his right ankle. He needed twenty stitches.
The attack has left the boy with bad dreams and his dad, Jeff Rimmer, is hoping the animal is destroyed once the quarantine ends. Rimmer said he was told the quarantine was ordered to ensure the animal does not have rabies.
A spokesperson at the Timmins Humane Society office on Mahoney Road confirmed this.
“The dog is not here. But whenever an animal does bite somebody, they do have to be quarantined as ordered by the Porcupine Health Unit,” said the Timmins Humane Society animal control office.
So where is the dog, asked The Timmins Times.
“It must be still with the owners, I'm guessing,” said the female spokesperson who declined to give her name to The Timmins Times over the telephone. The dog was described as a mixed breed, smaller than a Labrador Retriever.
What concerns Rimmer is that the decision to destroy the animal is optional. He has been told that it is possible the animal may be allowed to live.
“It all depends on the circumstance. Unfortunately, I can't speak for this dog in particular, because like I said this is confidential. This is determined by the animal control officer,” said the female spokesperson at the Timmins Humane Society.
Rimmer is not happy with that scenario because he believes the dog is a threat to other children in the neighbourhood. Rimmer said he is not blatantly seeking to have the animal killed, but he is worried because the animal had bitten the owner's child shortly before it attacked Noah.
“Well yeah, I mean it attacked my son. It attacked their son just before that. We're hearing from a friend of ours that it bit another child last year. That wasn't reported, but it's going to be now ,” said Rimmer, who added he has four children altogether and he now worries for their safety.
Young Noah described the attack in his own words in a report submitted to local authorities, said his father Jeff Rimmer. According to Noah, he and his friend has been playing in the neighbourhood and returned to the friends home. Marley, the dog, was inside the house. One of the children opened the front door and the dog ran out.
“Marley rushed outside and tackled me from behind, knocked me to the ground and started biting and scratching everywhere (wrist arms thigh and legs). I tried to kick him away as he was biting my leg. I was yelling and squirming calling for help, but he kept on biting me. He grabbed a hold of my ankle and was biting it. He wouldn’t stop. I tried to kick him off from the ground but he caught my toe and started to pull me shaking his head,” said Noah.
Rimmer said his son Noah is coping with the attack, but said it could have been worse, had it not been for a local contractor, Eric Doucette who was nearby. The boy said the dog stopped biting him when Doucette drove up in his truck and got out of the vehicle.
Rimmer said Doucette picked up the bleeding boy, put him in the truck and rushed him to the hospital. Doucette stayed with Noah until his parents arrived.
“We are so very thankful that he stopped and helped as he did,” said Rimmer who added that Doucette “is a hero in our eyes”.
Rimmer added that he felt terrible when he himself arrived at the hospital to see his son bleeding and crying. Rimmer said is was “a heart-wrenching experience," for him and his wife.
“It's a parent's worst nightmare kind of thing, because I wasn't there to stop the attack,” Rimmer said.
Rimmer said Noah is getting better day by day, but added it was obviously a traumatic event.
“The lasting effects will remain for some time as he now suffers nightmares and is understandably fearful of dogs and emotional.
Rimmer said he bears no ill will toward the owners of the dog, but said he is hoping they will make the decision “that is the right thing to do.”
(Timminstimes.com - July 22, 2013)
