Posted on 03/30/2010 10:59:54 AM PDT by Chet 99
Pit bull attacks child 2nd time
Animal Control will euthanize dog this time
By Baylie Evans bevans@wyomingnews.com
CHEYENNE -- A 10-year-old boy is home recovering from surgery after a neighbor's pit bull attacked him and bit his leg last week.
This is the second time the dog has attacked the child in the last year.
Last Thursday, William Wyatt Kunert was on his family's porch at 599 E. Fifth St., in south Cheyenne, getting ready to ride his bike with some other neighborhood kids. His 2-year-old brother, Jordan Martinez, was beside him at the doorway.
That's when the neighbor's pit bull, which lived two doors down the street, "jumped its 4-foot fence and came straight at my son," Wyatt Kunert's mother, Lindsay Kunert, said.
Wyatt pushed his brother out of the way and tried to slam the screen door closed, she said. But he closed the door on the dog, with its head and shoulders inside the home.
The dog got hold of Wyatt left thigh from behind, dragged him outside and started shaking his leg violently, she said. She grabbed the dog's collar and tried to get the dog to let go of her son, but couldn't.
"I was just screaming," she said.
The owners of the dog then ran over to help and punched the dog in the head until it let go, she said. It took about three or four minutes before it finally let go.
As soon as she realized how bad her son's injury was, she called 911.
"(The wound) was the size of my fist, and I could see bone," she said.
Wyatt Kunert was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and then to surgery to repair his muscle fibers and stitch him up.
He was released Friday afternoon. Doctors told Lindsay Kunert that her son should recover fully within about a month, but he will always have a scar.
The owners of the dog have surrendered it, and it is currently at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter under observation to be sure it doesn't have rabies.
Around the same time last year, the same dog attacked Wyatt as he was walking his bike home from school.
That time, the dog bit his face around his eyes and cheeks, causing him to need several stitches and leaving scars.
"Animal Control was called at that time," Lindsay Kunert said.
Court records show the dog's owner, Duane Padilla, was cited the first time, in April 2009, for keeping a vicious animal. He paid the fine and never went to court.
Lindsay Kunert said she didn't pursue a lawsuit because she hoped her neighbors would make good on promises to pay her for her lost wages. They didn't, she said.
This time, Padilla and a co-owner of the dog have been cited for keeping a vicious animal and for not having proper vaccinations for the dog.
Lindsay Kunert said a lot could have been done to prevent the second attack. She said she feels Animal Control failed to follow up after the first attack, which allowed a dangerous dog to live in a neighborhood.
Whether an animal is impounded after it bites someone is left up to the discretion of the Animal Control officer who responds.
In this case, the officer issued a ticket after the dog attacked Wyatt the first time, but did not impound the dog or follow up on whether it had been properly vaccinated.
It is still unknown whether the dog was properly vaccinated at that time, said Rick Collard, the executive director of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter.
"Based on what I can see ... we did what we were supposed to do," Collard said of the first attack.
It is certain, he added, that the dog was not vaccinated when it bit Wyatt last week.
Now, because the owners surrendered the dog, it's up to Animal Control to decide what to do with it. The shelter doesn't adopt out vicious dogs, so it will be euthanized, Collard said.
Padilla expressed regret about what he called an "unfortunate accident" when visited at his home on Monday.
"I'd rather get hit by a car myself than have that kid go through that," he said.
There was a 4-foot chain link fence around the property and two "beware of dog" signs posted. Several small bicycles were in the yard.
There was another pit bull on the property, but Collard said that is not a concern for Animal Control.
"That (other) one didn't do anything," he said. "Dogs aren't any different than people. Certain dogs will do certain things, and other dogs won't."
Lindsay Kunert said she plans to get a lawyer this time.
"We may never see a dime, but it's just the principle of it," she said. "I'm going to make it my mission to try to make some changes to laws in town."
Lindsay Kunert said a lot could have been done to prevent the second attack.
Like Kunert filing a lawsuit as she should have in response to the first incident. Pit bull owners should be sued until they give up these wild dogs, make it too expensive to own them. Civil penalty for any pit bull off its leash should be $20,000 first offense.
This dog should have been put down the first time.
My daughter was bit by a black lab... one of the gentlest dogs there is.... daughter was 5.... the dog was about 6 months old... still a pup. We were all right there, talking, while she sat on the ground petting the puppy. All of a sudden it lunged at her face and bit her. She got 14 stitches in her lips. She had a mark on her neck and one on her forehead, but not bad enough to need stitches. It was over in seconds.
We don’t know if the dog had a sore spot that she touched, or what....
the Dr. did a fantastic job... you cannot see scars at all unless she points them out.
My brother in Law kept the dog in quarentine, as the law instructed, for 10 days, then he put him down. He said he couldn’t take the chance that the dog would bite again. It was sad, but he did what he had to do.
This dog should not have had the chance to attack again. I shudder to think what damage he could have done to the little brother, had he gotten ahold of him.
Give it a rest. That is rediculas.
Also the owner needs to be put down. Doesn’t give two sh1ts about what he’s allowed to happen to his neighbors that he’s directly responsible for.
LOL in my previous post I used the code phrase dog lover instead of "moron." Yep everyone knows that dogs are rational logical magical creatures, not animals at all, but just little furry humans and that they would NEVER attack, maim, mutilate or kill anything unless they were "provoked."
They are ver sweet.
That reminds of the parents who think their children would never attack or kill anyone.
Best with mam tom (or so I'm told)
Probably rode his bike back and forth gettin him mad. Kids used to do that to my dog, and then wondered why he bit them.
Oh, now, many of them are ver sweet.
They’re not wild - they’re OVER bred, if anything.
Same attitude, but I think pit bull owners are even more obtuse. People that own these things are dangerous idiots. Put down the dog and put the owner in jail for the same amount of time had the owner directly attacked the victim and done the same damage.
Suing is mostly a waste for these people because they usually have no assets and if it weren't for food stamps (debit cards now) to subsidize their lifestyles, then they would be able to afford dog food. Their pickup trucks are usually one payment from the repo man, and any spare cash they have the spend on beer, lotto tickets, cigarettes, and occasionally a self indulgent vacation.
What about the fack that the owner has another one o dem tings dere in de fense. He say it don bit like that other one, him, but how do you know?
2nd time?? Why would any parent allow a pit bull to live after biting your child in the face?? That dog should have been shot and killed on the spot.
As in way too many of them. One pit bull left in the world should be sufficient to cure the overbreeding problem.
My thoughts as well. I get so tired of this same story over and over.....and then the pitbull apologists coming in and saying “any dog can be made mean”...”the animal was probably provoked. When was the last time you read an article about a golden retriever killing/mauling a kid?
Another repetitive story I’m really tired of is the 40 year old guy who meets an underage girl on the internet and they set up a rendevouz....and, of course, the “girl” is an FBI agent. Don’t live next to pitbulls (especially if you have kids) and don’t set up meetings with underage girls on the internet...that way I won’t have to keep reading these same stories over and over again.
So is your spelling. lol
WHAT??? You mean that there aren't a bunch of horny 13 year old girls looking for sex on the internet? I'm totally disillusioned.
On a more serious note, if you don't want to move and a pit bull person moves in next door, there aren't many alternatives. arsenic, but then they'll know who did it. Same holds true for 12ga even more so. ice pick in the gut might work if you do it at night, but we're back to someone knowing what you did. The penalties in GA are much worse for killing a dog than for letting your dog attack someone.
Spelling is not the subject at hand...but nice try to change the subject. Very liberal of you.
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