Pit bull shot after attack

TEXAS --A Eustace-area woman escaped serious injury when she intervened to try to stop a pit bull terrier from injuring her dog.
 
Henderson County Sheriff’s Office dispatch received a call shortly after 8 p.m., Sunday night reporting the attack at a residence on County Road 2803, east of Eustace.

Dep. Wayne Nutt took a report from the complainant, and the case was turned over to HCSO animal control Officer Francisco Gomez for investigation. The complainant, Pat Holman, said the dog was a healthy male, brown with white markings, wearing a red collar.

“I picked my dog out of the little pen we built for her,” Holman said. “It ran at me, and when my dog barked, it went straight in the house for her.”

Holman said she struggled to get the pit bull off of her schnauzer, but the pit bull had a tight grip. She used all of her strength to pin the dog to the floor to keep it from shaking her dog.

“A couple of minutes more, and she would have been dead,” Holman said. “She’s like a family member. That’s why I jumped into it. I put everything I could into it to hold that dog and my dog down, so it couldn’t shake it.”

Holman said besides the biting, she sustained a broken finger in the struggle.

“If it had been a child, it could have been serious,” Holman said. “They’re all muscle and jaw. It shook her so hard. I thought a leg was going to break.” 

At first, Holman’s husband didn’t hear the commotion caused by the struggle with the attacking dog. Her sister went to the bedroom door, and told him about the pit bull. He came out, and fired a shot at the dog.

The pit bull ran out the door and to the corner. Holman’s husband followed, and shot it. The dog had no tags, so its remains were sent away to determine if it had rabies. Holman took her dog to Morton’s Small Animal Clinic for care, including pain medication, antibiotics and ointment.

“It was awful. I can’t even sleep at night,” Holman said. “Every time I close my eyes, I see my dog’s eyes.”

Holman said she hopes something can be done to make pit bull owners aware of the damage a dog can inflict when they turn violent. The Henderson County Animal Control Ordinance states that a dangerous animal must be restrained at all times, and any such animal can be destroyed by a peace officer in the interest of public safety.

The ordinance defines a dangerous animal as “any animal or any species that has, on one previous occasion, made an unprovoked attack, or bitten any person or other animal.”

(Athens Daily Review - ‎Jan 3, 2015‎)