MICHIGAN -- A 7-year-old girl was in critical condition Friday after two dogs her family was fostering brutally attacked her Thursday evening.
The girl opened a gate to let the dogs out of a pen in which they were being kept on her family's property in the 3200 block of North Hickory Ridge Road in Oakland County's Highland Township.
As soon as the dog got out, they knocked the girl to the ground and began to viciously attack her, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. The dogs bit the girl's neck and shredded her winter coat during the attack.
The girl had deep bite wounds to her neck causing breathing difficulties.
The girl's 6-year-old brother saw the attack unfold and ran back to the house to alert their mother. She was able to stop the attack and get the dogs back into the pen, but suffered a deep bite wound on her right upper arm.
Paramedics rushed the girl to an area hospital before she was airlifted to Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She remained in critical but stable condition Friday with an injury to her trachea.
The sheriff's office said doctors believe the girl will recover.
Oakland County Animal Control took custody of one dog involved in the attack — which shows signs of being a wolf hybrid, but the other escaped under a fence and is still on the loose. Officers set up a trap on the property to try to capture it.
The family had a total of seven dogs on the property, according to the sheriff's office. They regularly take in rescue dogs. The two dogs involved in the attack came from a Humane Society facility in Pennsylvania.
The girl's parents signed over two other dogs that were not involved in the attack, but that they were fostering leaving just one dog in their possession.
Ron Shankin, supervisor at Oakland County Animal Control, said live traps had been set out to capture the other dog which had attacked the girl, which was described by its owner as possibly a shepherd-husky mix with white fur. He isn't sure how the dog will react to people.
"Is this going to be the kind of dog that if approached it will run away? We don't know. It's not from here...who knows where it will go."
Shankin said the Oakland County Sheriff's Office sent a helicopter in the area Friday, Dec. 1, to search for signs of the dog.
The dog in custody was assessed by a veterinarian. Based on its physical features, body size, length, coat, facial markings, and the howling sound it makes, the dog shows signs of being a wolf hybrid, Shankin said.
"We are looking at doing a DNA test on the dog we have here," he said, adding that ownership of wolf hybrids is illegal in Michigan.
"You can't own a wolf hybrid in Michigan as of 2000. If you owned one before the law took effect you were grandfathered in."
Shankin won't know if the dog in custody is a wolf hybrid until after DNA tests are completed.
"Just mere possession may be a problem. I don't know the consequences at this point. It would be something the prosecutors would have to review."
The other two dogs that were not involved in the attack will be evaluated and assessed.
(abc12 - Dec 1, 2017)
