Washington: Pit bull mauled man in a car, then jumped out car's open window to continue attack

PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON -- A man is recovering from a brutal dog attack in Pierce County.

Pierce County Sheriff deputies said the victim had several deep bite marks on his face, arms, and legs.

The department said on Wednesday, a deputy responded to a 911 call reporting a dog attack in progress in the 15500 block of 119th Ave. Ct. E. in Puyallup's South Hill neighborhood.

When the deputy arrived on scene, deputies said the victim was on the ground covered in blood and neighbors, like Jon Zemanek, were trying to help the victim.

Zemanek said he heard screams for help and ran outside thinking it was his dog thatwas loose, but he saw the pit bull attacking the man by his front yard and he didn't hesitate to help.

"The first thing I could think of was to grab his jaw and try to pull,” said Zemanek.

Zemanek still has the punctures from the pit bull's teeth sinking into his fingers.

He tried to pry the dog's jaw off a man's arm before grabbing a metal pry bar.

“Lot of shaking myself,” said Zemanek. “I couldn’t believe I did what I did."

Deputies said the victim and a woman had been "playfully" arguing in a car when the dog lunged at the man and bit him in the face.

They pulled over by Zemanek’s yard, the man ran out but the dog went after him.

At one point neighbors said they helped the woman get the dog back into her car, but it jumped out of an open window, ran after the man again, caught him and began mauling him a second time.

"There was a lot of blood, there was a lot of blood all over,” said Zemanek.

A responding deputy finally fired shots at the dog, killing it after it let go then started circling the man, ready to attack again.

Neighbors said the whole situation was so frantic and uncontrollable; they don't think there was any other way to stop the dog.

“I never like to see an animal get put down unless it absolutely has too,” said Zemanek.

(KOMO News - May 4, 2018)

Georgia: Lawsuit filed against Rosa Garcia after her Pit Bulls nearly tore off this man's leg

GEORGIA -- The owner of a pair of pit bulls that attacked three people in the Five Forks Trickum Road area near Lawrenceville earlier this month is now facing a lawsuit from one of the victims.

Personal injury law firm Zagoria Law announced Thursday that it filed the lawsuit against Rosa Garcia on behalf of Zhongkai Mao, 77. The suit says Mao was attacked because Garcia did not keep the dogs restrained so they wouldn’t leave her property.

The attack left Mao with deep wounds on his leg and his family previously told the Daily Post that he, at one point, faced the possibility of having his leg amputated.

“Mr. Mao is suffering severely and, according to doctors, will possibly need years of rehabilitation,” attorney Brooks Neely said in a statement. “At Zagoria Law, our priority in every dog bite case is to ensure that dog owners are held responsible for the actions of their pets when those actions cause injury to others.”

The filing of the lawsuit came as Mao began vacuum therapy on his leg. His son-in-law, Robert Davis, posted an update on a GoFundMe page Tuesday, in which he said Mao began the therapy at the hospital this week.

“If successful, he will continue long term vacuum treatment at home, which according to the social worker he will be on his own to pay for,” Davis wrote in the update. “After several weeks of treatment, skin grafts may be necessary.”

Mao’s family has been raising funds for his recovery through their GoFundMe page. He immigrated to Georgia from China earlier this year, and did not have a job or insurance to help cover his medical costs. So far, $4,255 has been raised, with a goal to raise $300,000.

In his update, Davis said the family is limited to going after Garcia’s homeowners insurance liability coverage and they expect that will be split between Mao and the other two victims in the attack.

Zagoria officials said they were not aware of any lawsuits being filed yet by the other victims.

The dogs attacked a 16-year old girl near the intersection of Five Forks Trickum Road and Emerald Forest Court on April 2. After a passerby pulled her into their car to get her away from the pit bulls, the dogs attacked Mao.

His leg was bleeding uncontrollably afterward and a tourniquet had to be applied, according to a Gwinnett Animal Welfare and Enforcement report.

The dogs then wandered into a neighborhood and severely attacked another man in his backyard.

All three victims had to be taken to local hospitals. The Animal Welfare and Enforcement report also said a car crashed on Five Forks Trickum because of the attack on the first victim.

Garcia surrendered the dogs to Animal Welfare and Enforcement officers once they discovered who the pit bulls belonged to. County officials said the dogs were later euthanized and their bodies were sent off to a lab for rabies tests, which came back negative.

(Gwinnett Daily Post - Apr 12, 2018)

Earlier:

• Georgia: Pit Bulls maul 16 year-old girl, a man in his backyard and a 77-year-old man who may lose his leg

New York: Girl, 7, mauled by Pit Bull that belongs to a "family member's friend"

NEW YORK -- The fate of a pit bull that attacked a 7-year-old girl in her Bellport home Wednesday will be decided after the Brookhaven Animal Shelter keeps it for 10 days, a town spokesman said.

According to Suffolk police the child was seriously injured after the dog attacked her shortly after 5 p.m. and had to be fended off with a shovel.

The girl’s mother and a man dog-sitting the male dog were also injured when they tried to stop the attack, police said.

Police said the victim was playing with the dog in her Bieselin Road home when she was bitten on her right arm, causing several lacerations.

When the mother tried to get the dog off her daughter, the dog bit the woman on her hand, police said.

Then the man hit the pit bull over the head with the shovel, police said, but he was bitten on the hand before the dog ran out to the yard.

The child, seriously wounded, and her mother, who had non-life-threatening injuries, were airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, while the man was taken to a hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries to his hand, police said.

Police emergency service officers put the dog in a cage and the Brookhaven Town dog warden took it to the town animal shelter, police said.

No official information was available Thursday about the latest condition of the girl and the others injured.

Town spokesman Jack Krieger said the pit bull was being kept on a 10-day “bite hold” for safekeeping and that after that several options can be considered.

Krieger said that if the shelter decides the dog is “too violent” then it can decide to put the animal down or keep it.

If the dog is not determined to be a danger and the owner does not claim it, then the shelter has the same options of putting it down or keeping it, Krieger said.

Krieger said that if the owner wants the dog back after the 10 days but the shelter believes it’s still dangerous, then the town would have to make a court bid to put the animal down.

A person who answered the phone at the house Thursday identified himself as the owner’s son and would not give his name.

The dog belongs to “a family member’s friend,” he said. He would not reveal the names of the friend any of the injured.

When asked how the girl is doing, he said, “She’s projected to make a full recovery.”

(Newsday - April 12, 2018)

Georgia: Pit Bulls maul 16 year-old girl, a man in his backyard and a 77-year-old man who may lose his leg

GEORGIA -- Xiaohong Davis was searching frantically for her father Monday when she got the call telling her that he was in the hospital and had been severely injured after he was attacked by a pair of pit bulls earlier in the day.

Zhong Kai Mao, 77, had been at Ronald Reagan Park and was walking home afterward. When he didn’t arrive home, his daughter went to the park but couldn’t find him. Mao immigrated to the U.S. from China two months ago and speaks little English.

Davis began to panic.

“I was waiting for him for dinner and I couldn’t find him,” Davis said. “So after I found out where he went, we looked all over, all over and then got the call from the emergency room so you can imagine what kind of a shock that is.”

Mao was one of three people attacked by pit bulls on or near Five Forks Trickum Road in unincorporated Lawrenceville on Monday. The dogs had escaped from the home of their owners and began roaming the area.

A Gwinnett County Animal Welfare and Enforcement officer wrote in a report that Mao’s left calf was bleeding uncontrollably after the attack. A police officer had to apply a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, the report said.

“When he was brought in (to Gwinnett Medical Center’s emergency room), he was in critical condition,” his daughter said. “He’s been in ICU for a few days.”

On Wednesday, Mao began having heart issues and doctors had to do a cardioversion on him to get his heartbeat back to a normal rhythm.

Now Mao faces an uncertain future. He has large gaping wounds on his leg with muscle and other internal tissue visible. The wounds are so large, in fact, that doctors told his family he will need skin grafts once it’s possible to safely do the procedure.

In the meantime, doctors and family members have to wait and see what will happen. His leg may still have to be amputated. Initially, doctors told the family that amputation would be needed, but they then began trying to see if that could be avoided.

“They’re still observing and trying to treat the wounds to make sure they’re not infected because if they get infected, then they’ll still have to cut that leg off,” Davis said.

One issue complicating matters is that because Mao only recently immigrated to the U.S., he doesn’t a job to provide income or insurance to cover medical costs. Family members have set up a GoFundMe account so they can raise $300,000 to help pay for his medical expenses.

The GoFundMe page is located at www.gofundme.com/elderly-man-critically-injured.

The severity of the attack has Mao’s family upset over the fact that the dogs were able to escape from their owners’ home and attack people.

In addition to Mao, the dogs also attacked a 16-year-old girl who was also walking along Five Forks Trickum Road. After they attacked Mao, they headed up Rosa Drive and attacked another man who was in his backyard.

The family that owned the dogs surrendered them to the county’s Animal Welfare and Enforcement Division, which had the dogs euthanized and sent to a state lab for rabies testing. The dogs tested negative for rabies.

“I feel that this should be equivalent to assault with a deadly weapon and they should be prosecuted as such,” said Robert Davis, who is Xiaohong’s husband and Mao’s son-in-law. “It’s just that bad. If you take one look at my father-in-law’s leg, he’ll be lucky if he can walk on that leg again, and if he does, it’s going to require a lot of treatment and a lot of expense.

“Think about what you’re doing to somebody else’s life when you let these dogs get loose.”

Meanwhile, Mao’s daughter said she doesn’t consider pit bulls to be safe enough to be owned as pets. She said Georgia should pass a law addressing pit bull ownership. Other states have similar breed-specific laws, she said.

“I want to really, really advocate that Georgia pass the same law, like those other states, so that people cannot own this type of dog,” she said.

(gwinnettdailypost - April 5, 2018)

North Carolina: Mother, young son mauled on Easter Sunday. Pit Bull won't stop when beaten with tree trimmers; only relents when repeatedly stabbed

LEE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA -- A local mother and her young son are recovering at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill after being attacked by a dog in Sanford on Easter Sunday.

The attack happened while they were visiting family in the 4000 block of Lee Avenue in Sanford this weekend.

The community is rallying around Tiffany Griffis and her 2-year-old son Cameron Moore to help care for her other three children while she recovers.

Griffis's cousin, Destiny Godfrey, was there when it happened.

She said the dog went for the 2-year-old first. Griffis was able to lift him above her head, but the dog then started going for her legs.

Godfrey said they were dropping off a plate of food to her when a nearby dog escaped from a neighbor's yard.

The bottom of the neighbor's chain-linked fence was unsecured.

The battle to stop the attack was a desperate one according to Godfrey, who tried to stop the dog by hitting him with garden shears.

When that didn't work she moved to more extreme measures.

"The next thing I thought was 'God, what do I do,'" she said, "And it's like I heard this voice in my head telling me 'stab him, stab him,' and I grabbed the biggest knife I could see, and I just started stabbing him."

Godfrey said while Cameron is expected to be released from the hospital today, after a bite to his left thigh, Griffis' injuries are much more extensive.

Her fingertips and both legs were mauled. Griffis and Cameron were airlifted to UNC Hospitals following the attack.

Godfrey said that while Griffis' surgery for her legs went well, it's unclear what the road ahead may bring.

Godfrey said she worries about what this could mean for her cousin, a single mother supporting four children.

At first, I thought with so many young children and being referred to as a "single mother", she is a widow. But it seems she has a fiance who (based on their Facebook posts) appears to be the father of her three youngest children. 

Maybe I'm getting old and grumpy, but whatever happened to people getting married before they start having children?? Yes, what happened to her and her little boy is horrific and she will definitely need donations for her long-term medical care that isn't covered by insurance, but the father of her three children - who she is not married to - is the one who should be buying diapers and clothing for his children. 

Note: I've been making at effort at blurring out the faces of children when I locate and post their parents' social media photos in relation to an article, but since the article didn't blur the faces of these children, I didn't either.

According to Lee County Animal Control, they are holding the dog for a 10 day observation period. The dog is set to be euthanized afterward.

Same photo on both of their FB pages

*  *  *  *  *  *

NORTH CAROLINA -- Crystal Underwood Burris is with Tiffany Griffis. Posted on Facebook April 1, 2018 ·

Pray warriors need serious prayer. They were attacked by pit bull. She is having surgery to save her leg and the baby was bit in vital areas .....please pray!

(WTVD - April 2, 2018)

Links:

• Tiffany Griffis Facebook
• Cory Moore Facebook

Maine: Greater Androscoggin Humane Society knowingly put a vicious Pit Bull on the adoption floor and let someone leave the shelter with the dog. It immediately mauled a Yorkie to death and broke the hand of its owner who tried to save it

LEWISTON, MAINE -- A Lewiston family's dog was mauled to death by a pit bull that was up for adoption at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society.

Dee Santos says she and her children are devastated over the brutal death of their beloved Yorkshire Terrier named Rocco.

"He was like family,” Santos said. “Everybody loved him, my neighbors, everybody that used to come to my house."

Santos says her 17-year-old daughter suffered a mental breakdown after witnessing the death of the family dog and being bitten, which broke her hand.

A friend of the teen had gone to the shelter and "borrowed" the Pit Bull.

The shelter apparently lets people take adoptable dogs for a walk, but the shelter claims they told the girl's friend to avoid other animals while walking the Pit Bull.

If the shelter knew it was animal aggressive, why would they even try to adopt it out??? Yeah we know. To either keep their euthanasia numbers down or they simply don't care that vicious, animal aggressive dogs attack and kill other animals.

This person immediately took the Pit Bull to his friend's house.

Santos says as soon as the pit bull entered the apartment it went straight for the family's Yorkie tearing the little animal apart.

"Everything happened so fast," Santos said.

They say the harder they tried to pull the two dogs apart, the harder he bit down.

Santos and her children tried to stop the Pit Bull from killing their dog. The Pit Bull then attacked her daughter, breaking the bones in her hand. The dog also attacked her daughter's friend.

"All of my three kids witnessed everything,” Santos said. “And it was brutal. I mean, the way that dog looked like a monster."

Santos said, " I lost my dog, nothing will replace that. Nothing. That's very sad right now. I lost my dog and I have my daughter in the hospital. That's two of the people I love the most."

SHELTER CLAIMS THEY'RE SURPRISED
The humane society director Steven Dostie says he feels "awful" about what happened. He claims the Pit Bull had shown no signs of aggression before the deadly attack.

Dostie said the shelter’s instructions for the dog also included a warning that it shouldn’t be around cats or young children. But, he said, the dog had not been a problem since it arrived at the shelter in February. It was merely “a little rambunctious,” he claimed.

Oh yeah? Then why would you tell people to keep away from other animals and not to take it to the dog park if you didn't know it was aggressive? You all knew this dog was vicious - and yet you were still trying to foist it on people.

The pit bull will be quarantined for ten days to make sure it doesn't have rabies, then will be euthanized.

Santos said she got Rocco, who weighed 4 pounds, from a breeder five years ago. He made himself part of the family, she said.

“We spoiled him big time,” Santos said. “He was like another son for me. He was such a good dog. He was a doll. He was all love.”

(WMTW - March 20, 2018)

New York: Pit Bull runs out of house, attacks mother and then mauls 2-month-old baby trapped in his car seat

NEW YORK -- Police say a two-month-old baby boy and his mother were mauled by a neighbor's pit pull Thursday in Elmont.

Myrlande Alouidor says she was just down the block from a home on 117th Avenue around noon when she heard a scream. It was her friend, crying for her 2-month-old son. Nassau County police say the mother and her child were both mauled by a pit bull as they tried to visit a neighbor.

Detective Lt. Richard LeBrun says when the neighbor opened the door, both of their Pit Bulls ran out of the house. One of the two pit bulls quickly went on the attack, causing seriously lacerations to the mother's legs.

The Pit Bull then began attacking the baby, who was strapped into his car seat that his mother had been carrying.

The infant underwent surgery Thursday night. Newsday says the baby is in the hospital in critical condition with serious injuries to his face and head.

Police say the victims live in the same house as the owner of the pit bulls, but in a separate apartment.

LeBrun says police are working to determine if the pit bulls have a history of violence.

 

 

One neighbor told reporters that the dogs rush at the fence going crazy any time someone walks by. On one occasion, he saw a woman walking the Pit Bulls and he stayed in his car because he was afraid of them and didn't believe the woman could control them if they decided to attack him.

Police say the two dogs were removed from the scene and are now with the Hempstead animal control unit.

No arrests have been made at this point.

 

 

(News12 - March 9, 2018)

Oklahoma: Two young girls attacked by Lab/Pit Bull mix; Animal Control refuses to come out. Now the dog is "gone"

OKLAHOMA -- Starlyn Jennings posted on Facebook March 3, 2018 ·

Dog attacked Eberae and ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL IN MY APARTMENT COMPLEX AND WE STILL HAVENT HEARD FROM ANIMAL DEPARTMENT AND THE POLICE AREN’T COMING OUT. I’m pissed! Both kids attacked in same area!

Amy Jenson News posted on Facebook March 4, 2018 ·

Two girls say they were attacked yesterday afternoon by a dog at their apartment complex. Both have deep gashes on their chest, arms and hands.

The family says they've contacted police, but were told animal control won't come out until Monday.

 

 

Starlyn Jennings posted on Facebook March 4, 2018 ·

I came home to a very thoughtful letter from the owner of the dog. She is a mother of four and assured us the dog was gone. She apologized and asked to pay for the medical bills. Eberae read the letter and said “no mom, she can’t afford it” (Eberae knew the lady and her dog because she has played with her kids) I said “what about she just cover the $150 co pay?” Eberae said, “Can she just pay half?” So I honored Eberaes wishes and this was my reply:

This is Eberaes mom. We appreciate you reaching out to us. Eberae doesn’t want you to pay the whole bill, but if you could pay half of the copay we would be thankful, it was 150, so it would be only $75

No, no, no! This woman needs to turn this dog into Animal control. It needs to be quarantined. And it needs to be euthanized after the observation period.