Massachusetts: Pit Bull mix that attacked PetSmart groomer had previously attacked an elderly woman, BREAKING HER ARM - yet Police Chief Peter Wack refused to order the dog euthanized. I smell a lawsuit coming!

MASSACHUSETTS -- Days after a dog groomer at a Cape Cod PetSmart store was mauled by a pit bull mix, the survivor of an earlier attack is speaking out.

Bubba, a pit bull owned by Clifford Gardner, 80, and his wife Edith Gardner, attacked the 22-year-old woman who was grooming him Wednesday at the store in the Hyannis section of Barnstable, Massachusetts. She was hospitalized.

 

 

What's completely infuriating is that this Pit Bull has been menacing, attacking and mauling people and their pets for years. The owners refused to do anything about it, even blaming the victims themselves for being attacked. Neighbors didn't want it in their neighborhood, but didn't have the guts to tell councilmen they wanted it put down. Instead they whined about rehoming and rehabilitation. Animal Control officers refused to do their jobs from the get-go; leaving the vicious dog with the elderly owners because they felt sorry for them. 

It's like a row of dominoes; every single person had a hand in this woman being mauled by this pit bull and should share in the blame.

 

 

In September, Elizabeth Hiatt volunteered to walk the 100-pound Pit Bull for the Gardners [after they convinced her he could only 'lick you to death'], but when Bubba tried to break free and attack another dog, she tried to stop it.

Bubba turned on her.

"He broke both of the arm bones," Hiatt said. "It bit through both of the arm bones."

The road to recovery has not been easy for Hiatt. She attends physical therapy three times a week.

Cliff Gardner and Edith Gardner were ordered to keep the pit bull away from certain areas in Sandwhich. But Wednesday, Cliff Gardner brought Bubba into the Hyannis PetSmart wearing a muzzle, asking for him to be groomed.

The victim says she asked about the muzzle, and that Cliff Gardner said the dog had previously attacked another dog, but was "sweet as can be."

 

Gardner disputes this account.

"When she asked me what he was doing with the muzzle on, I said 'The chief of police requires him to wear the muzzle because he got in a dog fight and he bit a woman," Cliff Gardner claims he said when he spoke to NBC Boston Thursday.

Store policy required the muzzle to be removed. PetSmart says the dog would never have been allowed in for services if they knew of his history.

The groomer sustained severe wounds to her arm, wrist and upper body after being attacked by Gardner's Pit Bull.

Hiatt explained that the attack of PetSmart made her feel "Horror, knowing what she went through, and the fact that they couldn't get Bubba off of her. Horror, because at that point, you don't know whether you're going to live or not."

 

 

While Hiatt has forgiven the owner of the dog [she shouldn't; they're in complete denial], her daughter says this week's attack did not have to happen.

"It's just crazy that it happened again," Regan Sherman said. "What happened to my mom was preventable, but certainly what happened to this young woman at PetSmart, it just shouldn’t have happened."

Brittany Korsh, who tried to pull Bubba off her mother during the Sept. 5 attack on Deep Wood Drive in Forestdale, said via email that she was "heartbroken" for the PetSmart employee, who was airlifted to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston with multiple bite wounds.

"This should never have happened," Korsh wrote.

Barnstable police Sgt. Sean Sweeney identified the PetSmart employee as 22-year-old Sienna Bryden.

"The dog wouldn't let go. She has a long road to recovery," Sweeney said Friday.

SANDWICH POLICE CHIEF PETER WACK COULD HAVE ORDERED THE DOG EUTHANIZED BACK IN OCTOBER, BUT HE REFUSED. WOULD HE HAVE LIKED TO HAVE HIS CHILDREN LIVING NEXT TO THIS VICIOUS DOG? OF COURSE NOT. BUT  IT'S OK FOR YOUR CHILDREN TO BE IN DANGER.

Korsh criticized the Gardners for keeping the dog and Sandwich Police Chief Peter Wack for allowing Bubba to remain at home after he declared the dog dangerous following an Oct. 25 hearing.

Wack ordered Bubba to be muzzled and securely leashed whenever he was outside and off the Cliffords' property.

"Cliff's reckless disregard for the safety of others, as well as Chief Wack's decision to leave Bubba in his care, have resulted in another person being mauled by this animal," Korsh said.

From Animals24-7:

Facebook postings indicate that groomer Sienna Bryden,  of Dennis,  Massachusetts,  has two pit bulls herself,  and has been involved in pit bull advocacy at least since 2011.

Approximately “2 years ago,”  according to Change.org,  Bryden posted a petition “to get my dog Blu allowed back onto Sandy Neck,”  a Cape Cod beach.

Alleged Bryden,  “He got kicked off because he barked and jumped on a park ranger- period.  He did not bite the ranger––and he was on his leash as required by law,”  Bryden claimed.

“I am a responsible animal owner,”  Bryden asserted.  “I work in the pet care field and deal with animals on a regular basis.  I understand the nature of animals.”

You see how she minimizes it? That because the ranger wasn't mauled or bitten, IT'S NO BIG DEAL. Sorry, but that's not how it works. A dog that menaces is just a frightening as a dog that bites. She could not control her Pit Bull which is a requirement when walking it on a leash.

Meanwhile, the long drawn out saga involving Edith and Cliff Gardner, their neighbors and their vicious Pit Bull finally came to an end Friday morning when the dog was finally euthanized.

VIDEO NEWS CLIP:

(NECN - Dec 29, 2017)

Earlier:

• Massachusetts: Sandwich Animal Control Officers John Pimental and Walter Fagnant Jr. are incompetent.
• Massachusetts: Neighbors making excuses and being wishy-washy about vicious Pit Bull. Doesn't anyone have any strength of character anymore? Euthanize this dog now and be done with it
• Massachusetts: Cliff Gardner tells PetSmart groomer his Pit Bull mix is "sweet as can be" so she removed its muzzle. Then it attacked her.