TENNESSEE -- A Pit Bull will likely be put down, after attacking a woman and her adult daughter.
The women say the dog was a member of their family.
The daughter, 19-year-old Carrie Cole, was bitten on her forearms. Her injuries are minor compared to her mother's.
Meg Cole underwent surgery at Erlanger after surviving serious injuries to her hands, arms, and legs.
Screams from the Cole's Russel Street home could be heard several doors down.
Neighbors describe seeing Meg Cole stumble out of the home, bleeding and scared.
"It was a large gash that I could see in her arm, where you could see into the tendons and the deep tissue in her arm. It was pretty graphic," says Marwan Moughrabi.
Cole's dog, "K.O.", is being blamed for the attack that rattled even the McKamey officer on scene.
"He has not been an officer with us very long, but he was pretty shaken, the bites are pretty bad," says McKamey Director Karen Walsh.
Eyewitness News was there Sunday as Meg Cole and her 19-year-old daughter Carrie were taken by ambulance to Erlanger.
From her hospital room Monday, Meg Cole told Eyewitness News why she believes K.O. attacked.
She says she and her daughter were arguing and the dog bit Carrie, and then took off down the street.
Meg says she found K.O. at a gas station a few street over and walked him home.
When she raised her voice, she says, he turned on her.
Meg suspects the dog's previous owners may have abused him, but she says until now, K.O. had never shown signs of aggression.
"The dog may go its entire life and never do something like this again, but you really can't take that chance. If it were a toddler that was in the middle of, or if the dog had turned its attention to, it could be dead," says Walsh.
McKamey Director Karen Walsh says K.O. cannot be re-homed or adopted and will likely be euthanized.
She says it has nothing to do with his breed, but that the risk of another attack is just too high.
"We don't have this dog in custody because it's a Pit Bull, we have this dog in custody because of the damage it did to its owners," says Walsh.
McKamey officers call the Coles responsible owners.
Their dog will be held for 10 days, before being euthanized.
As for Meg Cole, she does not have health insurance, so medical bills will be paid out of pocket.
Her daughter, Carrie, is insured.
(WRCB - Feb 8, 2011)
