Louisiana: After being mauled by her pit bull, Kathleen Shaffer says it had attacked her family before but her husband refused to get rid of it

LOUISIANA -- A Dulac woman was severely injured when she was attacked by her pit bull, which she said had previously attacked other family members, including two children.

Kathleen Shaffer, 54, is being treated at Terrebonne General Medical Center with injuries to her left arm, legs, throat and chest.

“The doctor said he couldn't even count the bites on me,” Shaffer said during a hospital interview today.

Bubba, a 70-pound pit bull, is being held at the Terrebonne Parish
Animal Shelter after attacking his owner, Kathleen Shaffer,
 Sunday outside her home in Dulac. -    Chris Heller/Staff

Shaffer said she was picking up trash that had fallen out of her garbage can in her Orange Street home about 5 a.m. Sunday when her 70-pound pit bull, Bubba, attacked her.

The dog dragged her out of her home and into the front yard, she said.

“He took my pants completely off and was gnawing down my legs,” she said. “I tried to keep his mouth open and away from me, but he just kept biting me,” she said.

She managed to get to a garden hose to spray the dog in the face as the attack continued.

“When I sprayed him in the face he just started looking around to start coming at me from the other direction,” she said.

The attack went on for around 45 minutes, Shaffer said.

“I wanted to just give up, thinking that would stop him from biting, but he didn't. But as long as I stayed still he just kept biting,” she said.

Shaffer then tried to distract the dog by calling his attention to something else.

“I said 'get 'em boy' and pointed under the trailer. Once he was under my trailer, I got inside,” she said.

Shaffer said she was able to lure Bubba back into the house using slices of roast beef. She then slammed the door behind him and made her way to her neighbor's house.

Shaffer said she's afraid she won't be able to walk again.

Bubba was taken in by the Shaffer family around eight to 10 years ago, Shaffer said.

In the past couple of years, he has gotten more aggressive and has attacked several family members, including two children, she said.

The previous attacks weren't reported to the Sheriff's Office, she said.

“He went from two different animals, the dog we used to know and changed to another dog,” she said. “I was scared of him, but my husband loves him so we kept him,” she said.

Bubba is being held for 10 days at the Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter while he is screened for rabies, said shelter manager Valerie Robinson. Then he will be euthanized.

“I'd like to see him gone because I don't want anyone else to get bitten like this or to have to go through what I'm going through now,” Shaffer said.

Terrebonne and Lafourche parish councils have both discussed stricter measures against vicious dogs in recent months after a 4-year-old Houma girl was killed in March in what police say was an unprovoked attack by her mother's pit bull mix inside their apartment.

Earlier this month, the Terrebonne Parish Council passed an ordinance that increased penalties for owners of dangerous and vicious dogs.

The Lafourche Parish Council is expected to consider a stricter dog ordinance at an Aug. 12 meeting following a July 6 pit bull attack on a Chackbay resident.

(Daily Comet (blog) - July 29, 2014)