The attacking dog lunged at Foxy, her Chihuahua, in an off-leash area. When Ferrigan intervened to rescue Foxy, she was bit in her right arm. She pried the dog’s jaws open, then required the intervention of other park users to flee to safety, witnesses said.
The incident, which is being investigated by the county’s Animal Services Bureau, never should have happened, said Ferrigan, whose family has been using Alston Park almost daily since the 1980s when it was still an orchard with cows.
The pit bull was being walked off-leash by a woman who had four other pit bulls off leash, she said. The other woman, who did not leave her name, told Ferrigan she had just rescued the pit bull.
“If you just rescued him, how do you know he’s trustworthy?,” Ferrigan said afterward, reflecting on the incident.
Ferrigan, 63 and the mother of four grown children, said she knows there is an inherent risk to being in an off-leash dog park. “I accept that risk that a dog may exhibit bad behavior and bite me,” she said.
However, she cannot accept the woman’s leaving the scene without giving her the comfort of knowing her dogs were vaccinated.
“I think also that she was irresponsible to be only one person with five dogs. Of course, if something happened, she could not control all five at one.”
Ferrigan said she decided to come forward to tell her story in part out of concern for others. What would have happened if the pit bull had attacked a child?, she asked.
Ferrigan said that if had she not pried the pit bull’s jaws open and scooped up Foxy, her Chihuahua would have been killed. Instead, Foxy was not injured.
Ferrigan praised the good Samaritans who helped her as she tried to escape the pit bulls by rushing into a fenced-off area for dogs near the trail. She was treated that day for the bite at Queen of the Valley Medical Center. The hospital reported the mid-afternoon incident to Animal Control Services.
Danyel Solon, one of the people who assisted Ferrigan on Nov. 28, agreed that the unknown woman should not have been walking alone with five off-leash dogs. “It was scary,” he said of the attack.
The Animal Services Bureau has looked for the woman at the park, said Napa County Sheriff’s Capt. Doug Pike. So far, no one has come forward, Pike said Wednesday. “We’re still looking for assistance,” he said.
Including the incident involving Ferrigan, there have been two reported dog bites at the park this year, Pike said.
Meanwhile, Ferrigan has resumed her peaceful walks at the park with Foxy and Josie.
The Sheriff’s Office said the woman who was walking the five dogs was driving a silver hatchback with numerous bumper stickers on the vehicle’s rear bumper. Anyone with information should call 707-253-4451 to speak with Animal Services Bureau.
(Napa Valley Register - Dec 11, 2014)
“I accept that risk that a dog may exhibit bad behavior and bite me,” she said.
ReplyDeleteWRONG THINKING! we should be DEMANDING that these ugly things with fighting in their DNA be BANNED from dog parks.