Woman in pit bull attack feared for her life

WISCONSIN -- The woman attacked by a pit bull near downtown Wausau as she walked her dog says the pit bull grabbed her arm and pulled her down to the ground and during the attack she feared for her life.

“I thought the damn dog was going to kill me,” Cindy Ryder said Friday. “I grabbed the collar but it was too late. My dog was already dying.”

The incident took place about 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the 900 block of Washington Street as Ryder, 56, walked her six-year-old Chihuahua, Bartok, on a leash, police said.

The female pit bull came running out of a home and went after the smaller dog, police said. The cream-colored Chihuahua was killed in the attack.

Wausau Police Chief Jeff Hardel said Ryder suffered numerous abrasions, bites, punctures and cuts as she tried to rescue the smaller dog and ended up on the ground with the pit bull.

“It was a pretty vicious attack. One of the worst I have seen,” Hardel said. “There were two witnesses to the attack who said it was a vicious, terrible, terrible attack.”

Hardel said the father of the pit bull's owner heard the commotion and rushed to pull the dog off Ryder and took it inside a home.

Police have no records of any other incidents involving the pit bull, Hardel said.

The dog is being quarantined at the Marathon County Humane Society for 10 days, Hardel said. If the 32-year-old owner doesn't euthanize the dog, she will have to remove it from the city as a vicious animal, the police chief said.

The owner of the dog tells FOX55 News@9 her pet is not mean but does not like other dogs.

The woman got city citations for letting a dog run loose, failure to obtain a license and failure to obtain rabies vaccination, Hardel said.

Ryder said she was on her way to a friend's house to show off some new outfits she had for Bartok.

“He was wearing a new collar too,” she said. “We were just walking along the sidewalk and all of a sudden that dog bolted out. The only thing that is going to help anybody is when they get rid of those dogs.”

Ryder said she has four stitches in one ear, “punctures all the way up my arm” and is in shock about the incident.

“I am just upset about my dog,” she said," fighting back tears during a telephone interview. “That's all I had. For six years, we were very close.”

(MyFoxWausau - June 20, 2014)

Earlier:

• Pit bull injures woman, kills small dog in Wausau