Georgia animal shelter employee attacked by pit bull mix

GEORGIA -- A DeKalb County Animal Shelter employee is recovering after a pit bull mix attacked her in the office.
 
 Channel 2’s Craig Lucie went to the shelter Tuesday afternoon and they showed him the surprising way the dog got loose.

 

“It jumped out of the collar and over the gate. The employee was walking by, and she fell and the dog got out of the collar, jumped the gate and attacked her arm,” said Karen Hirsh of Lifeline Animal Project.
 
 Shelter employees say for some reason, after the employee fell, the dog snapped.
 

 

 

“I think it took a couple of employees and an employee took a bucket of water and splashed it on the dog and it just snapped out of it like nothing had happened,” Hirsch said.
 
 The pit mix named Waldo had been at the shelter for about three months and after spending time in a cage in the back, employees moved him up to the front to become an “office dog.”

Office dogs are common at animal shelters and Hirsch said the pit mix wasn’t being kept in the front due to overcrowding. She did say they currently have around 300 dogs.
 
“It was built in the 1950s to hold about 150 so with two in a run we can easily house them,” Hirsch said.

 

The employee who was attacked declined our interview request, and was released from the hospital Monday after a surgery requiring multiple stitches.
 
“She is doing well. She is at home, and she is on the mend. Her arm is going to be used again. She can use her hand and arm and she was in good spirits yesterday … she was in shock, and she was really sad that the dog was put down,” Hirsch said.
 
The shelter’s director said the dog didn’t have a history of aggression and that they have never had an incident like this.

(WSB Atlanta - July 15, 2015)