Dog bite leaves man with pile of hospital bills, rabies shots

COLORADO -- After suffering a dog bite in the Walmart parking lot in early June, a Salida man is now stuck with a pile of medical bills for a series of rabies shots.
 
Rory Petherick was biking from the Monarch Spur Trail onto the east side of the parking lot June 6. Petherick said he bikes that route daily as he volunteers at the community center.

But on this ride he called out to a woman on the path to let her know he was approaching on his bike.
While he was passing her and her leashed dog, the dog bit his leg, he said. The dog was a dachshund, and Petherick ended up with four open wounds as a result, he said.

He asked if the dog had its rabies shots, but he said the woman only shrugged and walked away.
When he went to the emergency room, Salida police officers took his statement and documented his wound. But when officers went to look for the dog and owner, they had already left the area.

With no indication of whose dog it might have been and no way to confirm if the dog was rabid, Petherick, who doesn’t have medical insurance, is stuck with the bills for a series of rabies shots that total more than $9,000.

Salida Police Chief Terry Clark confirmed Petherick’s story and that the dog and owner could not be located or identified after the incident. Clark said officers checked back in the area throughout the day, but there was no sign of the them.

The rabies shots are a necessary precaution when you don’t know the history of the dog, he said.

Clark recommended being aware of your surroundings, especially when approaching a strange animal. Even a good dog can be spooked when surprised by a stranger coming up behind it, he said.

The owner said she was staying in a recreational vehicle in the Walmart parking lot, Petherick said.
But when he went to Walmart management, they told him there was no way to monitor the RVs.

Ron Ertl, the Salida Walmart store manager, said he could not comment on the incident or how the store manages the recreational vehicles in its lot.

(Mountain Mail Newspaper - June 26, 2015)