Tennessee: Young girl mauled by family's pit bull now recovering at home

TENNESSEE -- For the first time a West Tennessee family who fought to save one of their own, a 7-year-old almost killed in a vicious dog attack, speaks out.

After weeks in the hospital she is home now, scarred from head to toe, but alive and healing.

Joslyn Cortez was attacked late last month by a pit bull her family had recently taken in. Her injuries were so severe she spent the last 17 days in critical condition at a Nashville hospital.

 

“She’s a fighter,” Joslyns mom Rozanna said. “But I think we’re all fighters after this.”

The attack left Joslyn severely scarred, cut and bruised but she pulled through.

“It took big chunks out of her leg and her back and it crushed her ribs,” Rozanna said.

It was a vicious attack none of them expected.

“Who knows what causes dogs to snap like that because he was such a gentle dog,” Rozanna said. “He would sit, he would roll and he would even shake your hand.”

It happened during a simple game of Frisbee in the family’s backyard. The dog had recently become part of the family after he was found wandering their road. But in a matter of seconds, that perspective changed.

I'd like to know how long they had owned this dog...

“I heard a horrible scream,” Rozanna said. “Which I knew instantly it was that because the dog hasn’t been here that long.”

The dog had chased Joslyn down a wooded path and began mauling her on the ground.

“I felt like his jaws were impossible to get off of her,” Rozanna said. “I felt like she was a target.”

But within seconds, Joslyn’s mother jumped between the two and her brother smashed the dog on the head, putting themselves in danger to save her. And it is that fight for each other that not only got them through that attack but will get them through the road ahead.

“I said it may have been a horror story during the whole ordeal and it still has some up and downs but it’s a very happy ending,” Rozanna said. “I’m just grateful that we’re all here together.”

The dog that attacked Joslyn was later shot and killed by animal control officer. There is still no word on who the owners may have been.

Joslyn still has a very long road to recovery, including months of physical therapy, but she is up and walking around. For ways to help the Cortez family go to the Seen on 7 section.

(WBBJ - May 11, 2016)