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| Facial wounds on six-year-old attacked by pit bull in Vancouver. The girl required 10 stitches to her leg and another four to her face. Photo provided by girl's mother, who asked not to be named |
Authorities confirm six-year-old girl
bitten in Vancouver, small dog killed in Surrey.
Bill Tieleman’s 24
Hours Vancouver / The Tyee
column
Tuesday
February 17, 2015
By Bill Tieleman
"The pit bull
just snapped and decided to kill my daughter. I didn't know what would have
happened if I wasn't there -- it would have ripped her to pieces."
- Mother of
six-year-old girl attacked by a pit bull in Vancouver on Jan. 1, 2015
A
six-year-old girl was viciously attacked and wounded by a pit bull in
Vancouver's Crab Park on Jan. 1, while a small dog died Feb. 6 in a separate
pit bull attack in Surrey's Holland Park.
24 Hours
Vancouver and The Tyee have spoken to both the girl's mother and the owner of
the severely wounded dog that was euthanized following the Surrey attack.
The two
women contacted me separately after reading my columns
describing other recent pit bull attacks in British Columbia and calling for a
B.C. ban on pit bulls, similar to those in Ontario
and Winnipeg.
Ontario's ban
forbids breeding and import, and requires dogs to be neutered and muzzled in
public.
Both women,
who wish to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, now support a ban. Their
stories have not been previously reported until now in The Tyee and 24 Hours
Vancouver.
The
Vancouver attack was confirmed yesterday by the Vancouver Police Department,
who said that "no criminal offence" occurred and that the
investigation was turned over to the City of Vancouver Animal Control.
24 Hours
Vancouver confirmed the Surrey attack with Surrey's animal control department.
'It was
like a shark'
In an
interview yesterday, the six-year-old's mother said that the attack by an
off-leash pit bull came without warning and resulted in severe bite wounds to
her daughter's face and leg, resulting in a trip to the hospital by ambulance.
The woman
asked not to be identified to protect her daughter's privacy.
The girl's
puncture wounds required 10 stitches to her leg and another four to her face,
her mother said. The girl was traumatized by the unprovoked attack and is now
in therapy, she said.
The
two-year-old pit bull that attacked the girl has not been put down. Instead, it
was returned to its owner with restrictions that it be muzzled and kept
on-leash in public.
"We
were leaving the playground when I looked back and saw the pit bull barreling
towards us," the mother said. "It jumped right on [my daughter] and
knocked her on her back -- it blindsided [her] from the side -- she didn't see
it."
The dog sank
its teeth deep into the young girl's leg, and her mother sprang into action.
"I punched the pit bull in the face -- pure adrenaline -- it was like a
shark, it was insane, like a beast!" the mother said.
The dog's
walker -- not its owner -- immediately helped pry the pit bull off the girl,
but then the dog "lunged and bit [the girl] in the face and clamped
on," the mother said.
The dog's
grip wasn't as tight, and the mother managed to free her screaming daughter as
police and ambulance paramedics arrived to take them to hospital.
The mother,
a beagle owner and dog lover, now believes that pit bulls "should be
banned in B.C. like they are in Ontario."
In another
incident on Feb. 6, a woman named Sandy (last name withheld for privacy) was
walking her Maltese Lhasa Apso dog Cleo in Surrey's Holland Park.
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| Cleo - attacked by pit bull in Holland Park |
"My dog
was on her leash beside me and attacked suddenly without warning by a pit bull
that grabbed Cleo," Sandy told me Sunday.
"The
pit bull's jaws had enough time to do serious internal damage."
After she
and passersby helped rescue Cleo from the unleashed pit bull, she took her
bleeding dog to a veterinarian, but the 16-year-old pet's injuries were so
severe it had to be put down immediately.
Sandy called
police and Surrey Animal Control, who told her they captured a pit bull on the
loose that evening with no tags and it was euthanized last week after no owner
came to claim it.
"I think
it's time to basically ban pit bulls," Sandy said. "I love dogs --
don't get me wrong -- but I really believe in banning. It's the
unpredictability that does it."
Other
attacks on record
The two
incidents are part of a growing list of pit bull attacks in B.C. that mirror
American statistics showing pit bulls to be the most dangerous breed for both
fatalities and violent attacks.
In the U.S.,
advocacy group DogBites.org reports
there were 27 fatal pit bull attacks in 2014 alone -- 64 per cent of the total
fatal dog attacks. There were 25 pit bull fatalities in 2013, which accounted
for 78 per cent of all dog attack deaths that year.
As
previously reported, a 16-day-old baby was viciously attacked
in her own Saanich home by the family's pitt bull-Rottweiler cross in Dec.
2014, suffering serious lacerations that required extensive plastic surgery.
Also in
December, a six-foot five-inches man weighing 250 pounds was mauled
by two pit bulls outside a Langley store, requiring 19 stitches, after he said
"Hi, pups" to the pair. They were tied to a mountain bike, which they
dragged behind them to get at their target.
And in Nov.
2014, a miniature pinscher therapy dog was literally disemboweled
in front of its shocked owner outside a Kitsilano post office by a sudden,
unprovoked attack by another dog.
The six-year-old's
mother read about those attacks before contacting me, and made clear that she
wasn't initially concerned when she entered Crab Park, which has an off-leash
dog park with a playground adjacent. She said there's a sign stating that dogs
must be on a leash within 15 metres of the playground.
"We saw
a pit bull off leash -- I've seen them more often, so I've gotten less afraid
of them," she said. But then came the frightening attack that left her
daughter with multiple stitches and a "face swollen like a
grapefruit."
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| Six-year-old girl's pit bull puncture wounds |
The mother
said her daughter now "doesn't want to walk our dog or go to the park
because she's afraid of the other dogs." She wants the city to either
fence off the kids' playground from the dog park, or remove the playground to
ensure no future attacks take place.
While the
mother said the pit bull's walker -- who told her he was taking care of the dog
while its owner was in Toronto -- was responsible and did all he could to end
the attack, she has consulted a lawyer about potential legal action.
"I
don't think people's dogs should be taken away, but pit bulls should be banned
in B.C. like in Ontario," she said.
Similarly,
Sandy has re-thought her views on pit bulls since her dog Cleo was fatally
attacked.
"Before
this happened to me I thought it was the owners' fault, but I've seen so many
stories now... pit bulls have been bred for centuries to fight and not back
down," she said.
.
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