The owner of the dog that bit a chunk out of Bob Stilz's left hand on Dec. 15 came forward Friday afternoon with proof from his veterinarian that his pit bull had all of its shots in May, including its rabies vaccination.
Jim Ellis said he saw Stilz’ plea on the news Thursday night and wanted to make things right. He
“I’m glad he doesn’t have to go get his shots,’ said Ellis.
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| Bob Stilz and his son had been searching for this man whose dog bit a chunk out of Stilz's left hand on Dec. 15. |
Stilz said he hoped to call Ellis and thank him.
“I mean he could have gone underground and tried to ride this thing out,” Stilz said.
For five days, Stilz was in a frantic search to find Ellis, whose pit bull mix bit him last Sunday around 2:30 p.m.
Stilz rushed to WellStar Douglas to get stitches in his hand. But because Ellis’ pit bull Chancey didn’t have a rabies tag on, Stilz couldn’t confirm if the dog had been vaccinated.
He said after initially getting prices of around $13,000 for the series of four rabies shots, he had found a way to get the shots for about $1,650, and planned to go to the emergency room at WellStar Douglas on Christmas Day for the first one. That would have been at the end of the 10-day window Stilz had to start treatment.
Stilz was at Deer Lick with his tan and white pit bull mix named Ripley and German pointer mix named Bo in the large dog area that afternoon.
Ellis said he brought his Pit Bull Chancey, which he describes as “rambunctious” and his Chihuahua Zoey and went in the small dog area at first because there were no other dogs in there. He said Chancey had never bitten a person before, but that she’s afraid of other dogs.
Both men remember the dogs growling and biting at each other from opposite sides of the fence when they first arrived, but Stilz didn’t think much of it.
Later, Ellis said he put a leash on his pit bull in the holding pen between the big and little dog areas.
While Ellis was putting the leash on his Chihuahua, he said a lady came out of the big dog pen and his pit bull Chancey ran through the open gate into the big dog area where Stilz’s dogs were playing.
Stilz said Ellis’ dog clamped down on the ear of his pit bull Ripley and wouldn’t let go.
Both men tried to get the dogs loose. Stilz said just as Ellis’ pit bull let go, the dog came back one more time and bit down on his hand before letting go for good.
At first, Stilz said he didn’t realize the severity of the injury to his left hand because he was wearing gloves on a cold day.
But as he was walking away, he noticed his hand was bleeding pretty badly. There were two puncture wounds to his little finger and a minor injury to his middle finger.
“That scares the willies out of me because I look in there and I see bone,” Stilz said.
Stilz said Ellis was pretty upset. Stilz asked Ellis if the dog that bit him was up-to-date on its shots and Ellis told him it was. But Stilz noticed Chancey wasn’t wearing her rabies vaccination tag. Ellis said he thought maybe it fell off during the [attack] but that his dog was current on vaccinations.
Stilz said the bleeding was so bad that he wanted to get to the hospital to get the bite taken care of.
Ellis said when Stilz left to go to the hospital, he left, too.
“I didn’t know anything else to do,” said Ellis.
Douglas County Animal Control came to the hospital and told him he had a 10-day window to find the dog or he'd have to get the rabies shots. He said was told the first shot has to be administered at the ER and the other three could be given at a doctor’s office.
Ripley, Stilz’s pit bull, suffered injuries to her ears, but since she’s vaccinated against rabies, he said she’ll be fine.
From Sunday to Friday, Stilz said his son Robert waged a huge media campaign, posting the few pictures they had of Ellis on social media sites like Reddit and Facebook in addition to contacting traditional media outlets.
All along, Stilz said he was just hoping to avoid the inconvenience and expense of having to get the rabies treatments.
“I was all excited about it,” Stilz said of getting the news Friday that Ellis had come forward with the vaccination records. “Just a complete relief that I wasn’t going to have to go through all that. It’s just a huge expense. And all of the frustration... It’s just a huge turn around – a complete weight lifted off us.”
(douglascountysentinel - Dec 20, 2013)
so glad you posted this follow up story. good to know that even the victim was a nutter. i can cease caring, well i will continue to care about the cost to the tax payers.
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