Canada pit bull attack: 'There was blood everywhere'

CANADA -- Police shot and killed two dogs after what one witness described as a “scary, traumatic” attack on a man and a woman Saturday morning in the city’s east end.

The animals were loose in the Orléans area bordered by 10th Line Road, Tompkins Avenue, Des Epinettes Avenue and Duford Road when the attack happened around 11:15 a.m, police said.

Patrol officers arrived at the scene and put the animals down, said Acting Sgt. Wayne Wilson. “Because of the aggressive nature of the dogs, they had to be shot. They were still being aggressive when officers arrived.”

Police said they looked to be pit bull-type dogs, but that breed had not yet been confirmed.

Paramedics said a woman, 25, and a man, 66, were involved in the attack. The woman suffered severe lacerations to both her upper arms, as well as her head, face, back and buttocks.

The man, who attempted to help the woman during the attack, had lacerations to his left knee. Both were transported to hospital in stable condition.

Tina Lavoie-Deschamps was in bed in her home on Lamoureux Avenue when she heard screaming coming from outside.

“I ran out and made it to the trees,” said Lavoie-Dechamps, pointing to a row of pine trees between the street and the front yard of her and her neighbors’ townhouses. “And I realized I can’t help her because it’s two huge pit bulls — they were big.”

Over the next four or five minutes, the dogs “would not let go” of the woman, said Lavoie-Deschamps, describing the ferocity of the attack. “They were just attacking her — she was on the ground and there was blood everywhere. It was bad,” she said.

During the attack, several passing motorists stopped at the scene and started blowing their horns in an effort to distract the dogs, she added. “A couple of minutes later, an older guy came with a shovel, so the dog went to go and attack him but he hit him in the head so then the dog ran away … so (the woman being attacked) had time to get in a car.”

 

Lavoie-Deschamps, has only lived in the neighborhood for a month now and said she is “terrified” to let her three children play outside. “They keep on wanting to go outside and I won’t allow them.”

Danielle Watcher was driving in her car near where the attack happened on Lamoureux Drive and Des Epinettes Avenue, when she heard screaming.

“The dogs were almost dragging the girl. They kept pulling her down and pulling her down,” she said. “I was trying to stomp my feet, honk my horn, just doing anything to create commotion and scare the dogs off and nothing was working. These dogs were definitely in a state of survival mode or something, where they were just attacking this person.”

After the man with the shovel intervened, the dogs ran across the street, where they were eventually barricaded by police cars. She did not see an owner.

“It was really scary, traumatic,” she said.

One of the dogs was shot in the driveway of a home along Duvernay Drive – about a five-minute walk from where the attack happened. Rachelle Fisher lives next door to the Duvernay Drive home where the first dog was killed. She said she heard the gunshots at around 11:45 a.m.

She credited for inclement weather for keeping kids inside. “There are a lot of kids who play hockey out on the street, so thank God the rain came at the right time.”

 

Workers cleaning up the blood from the attack

The city’s bylaw services and the Ottawa police will be carrying out an investigation, said Sgt. Wilson.

The owner of the dog had not yet been identified.

SECOND OTTAWA PIT BULL ATTACK IN THREE WEEKS
This is the second reported dog attack in nearly three weeks in Ottawa. A woman’s arm was mauled by a pit bull-type dog owned by her daughter on July 23. Ottawa bylaw officers confiscated the male dog and euthanized him several days later.

(Ottawa Sun - Aug 13, 2016)