“My first thought was he got hit by a car,” Hernandez said.
What Hernandez saw shocked him.
James was almost naked, save for his underwear, which had been ripped down to his ankles. He had a big gash in the back of his head and cuts everywhere on his body. His thighs were bleeding and one of his ears was almost torn off.
“You could see his skull through his scalp, ear to ear,” Hernandez said.
James had been mauled by two dogs, 3-year-old pit bull-Australian shepherd mixes.
That was Sept. 14, and James is still hospitalized, trying to fend off an infection. He has made progress this week, Hernandez said, and his family is hopeful he can be home by the weekend.
The owner of the dogs, Brant Wildauer, was cited under Corona’s municipal code, accused of violating leash and licensing laws and failing to vaccinate the dogs against rabies, Corona police Sgt. Kim Velasco said. The dogs were put to death.
It was Wildauer who pulled the dogs off James after his search for the animals led him to Nick Circle. Wildauer got James’ address from the boy and summoned James’ father.
Wildauer, who lives nearby on Joseph Canyon Trail, said he believes the dogs tunneled their way out of a dog run on the property in a rural area of the city between Interstate 15 and the Cleveland National Forest. He described the dogs as “sweet and trusting.”
“Had I not witnessed them myself (attacking James), I would not have believed it possible,” Wildauer said.
He said he wants to help the family in any way he can.
BREEDING CONTROLS SOUGHT
James’ family has three dogs: a retriever, an Australian shepherd and a “terrier mutt,” Watson said.
She said something needs to be done to protect people from pit bulls.
Advocates of the breed say they are smart, loyal and good family pets, and that the media have sensationalized their attacks. Detractors say pit bulls are unpredictable, that their attacks cause more harm than those by other breeds and that their owners sometimes don’t train and care for them properly.
“I feel they need to control the breeding,” Watson said.
On Tuesday, Oct. 8, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing to consider requiring pit bulls and pit bull mixes to be sterilized. The ordinance is meant to reduce the number of pit bulls in county shelters, where one in five dogs is a member of the breed.
Officials also hope to prevent future pit bull attacks, a number of which have severely injured Inland residents in 2013 and killed two: a 2-year-old Rialto boy and a 91-year-old Hemet woman.
The ordinance would not apply to pit bulls and their owners residing within incorporated cities, but Watson said it should.
“Something has to be done,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Attacks by pit bulls in 2013
A partial list of attacks by pit bulls and pit mixes in the Inland Empire (a metropolitan area and region of Southern California):
Sept. 23: Samuel Eli Zamudio, 2, of Rialto, is dragged out of his home by a pack of pit bulls and mauled to death.
Sept. 14: James Hernandez, 8, is mauled by two Australian shepherd-pit bull mixes that attacked as he was riding his bike on his Corona street.
Aug. 12: A woman walking her dog is attacked by pit bulls near downtown Riverside and mauled in the face.
May 10: Alex Cuevas, 15, and her dog Cocoa, a 14-month-old Shih Tzu, are mauled while walking in their Corona neighborhood. Alex’s ear is nearly severed and has to be reattached by a surgeon. Cocoa has to have an eye reinserted into its socket.
May 8: A pit bull attacks a sheriff’s deputy and bites a second officer during a foot chase of a burglary suspect in Lake Mathews. The deputies fatally shoot the dog.
April 20: Margarita Negrete, 74, suffers severe head wounds when she is attacked at her Colton home by the family pit bull, which also killed another family dog. The dog later charged police, who shot it dead.
April 8: A 57-year-old woman is bitten and scratched on her hands and her dachshund is killed by two pit bulls in Hemet.
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| RIP Sasha |
March 5: Bruna Secco, 76, is bit and suffers broken ribs in an attack by a pit bull near her San Jacinto mobile home. She is rescued by onlookers who beat the dog with baseball bats.
Feb. 8: Elsie Grace, 91, is mauled to death by two family pit bulls in a Hemet hotel room.
Jan. 17: Waly Nichols, 84, is critically injured by two pit bulls as she walks near her home in Jurupa Valley.
(Press Enterprise - Oct 2, 2013)
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