Deputy Police Chief John Mousseau said Wednesday that the girl, who has not been identified, was attacked around 5 p.m. while sledding near her family's home along Highway 407 just south of Pine Ridge.
He would not release details of the incident, but said his department was "devoting every resource available to locate the responsible pack." They had not found it as of Wednesday evening.
Police Chief Ron Duke told the Rapid City Journal that the girl's death has renewed concerns about packs of dogs moving unrestrained in every district of the reservation. Duke was urging parents to not leave their children outdoors unsupervised until this particular pack was located.
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| photo: Williamsville Wellness |
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| Pine Ridge Reservation in SW South Dakota is one of the poorest places in America photo: America Tonight/Wesaam Al-Badry |
But Mousseau, while acknowledging "we have a large dog population," said it wasn't entirely accurate to say there is an issue with packs of dogs roaming and terrorizing people across the reservation.
"It's just this one incident," he said. "We've had a few calls where someone has been bitten by a dog while walking, but nothing of this magnitude."
The tribe passed legislation several years ago called Braden's Law after a young boy was attacked by pit bulls, Mousseau said. The law banned Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers and pit bulls completely from the reservation, he said, "and any time we come across a dog like that, law enforcement will take and destroy the dog."
He did note an incident last winter where a pack of dogs attacked two female residents, then went after a police officer. "We tracked down and ended up destroying four of them," he said.
Witnesses Tuesday were unsure of the breed of dogs that attacked the girl, or how many there were, Mousseau said.
At Red Cloud Elementary, where the 8-year-old girl was a third grader, "it's been definitely difficult," said Chris Ives, interim director of communications for the Red Cloud system.
"Our superintendent told someone else today that there's just a lot of grieving going on, a lot of tears today," Ives said. "It's just a shocking thing."
Counselors from Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary, Red Cloud High School, the Little Wound and Pine Ridge school systems, and Catholic Social Services all came Wednesday to Red Cloud Elementary to help grieving students and staff, Ives said.
"They did meet with a lot of people," he said.
Mousseau said law enforcement was doing its best to ensure the safety of the community, but reiterated that he believed Tuesday's incident was an isolated one.
"We've got dogs running all over, but I wouldn't say they're all a threat," he said. "You don't know what's in a dog's mind and what provokes them."
(Sioux Falls Argus Leader - Nov 19, 2014)
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