Posted on 04/03/2010 7:45:13 PM PDT by solosmoke
CONCORD — She didn't expect the dog to bite her. It was a yellow Labrador, after all — and it was on a leash.
The 10-year-old was just riding her bike with a friend on the Contra Costa Canal Trail, staying close to the apartment complex from which her friend's stepfather could watch them from the balcony.
None of that mattered when the Labrador lunged, without warning. A week and a half later, the gauze on Priscilla Robles's left leg hides the bite marks, the chunk missing from her thigh, the dead skin from the surgeon's failed first attempt at repairing the wound.
Priscilla got an immediate apology from the dog's owner, but that was it — he left. No offer to help, no 911 call.
Priscilla's smile hides her pain, her frustration. She can't play during recess; she sits on the sidelines in her youth soccer league. And her leg hurts too much for her to ride her bike. Dog bites aren't unusual — thus far this year, 232 people have reported being bitten by dogs in Contra Costa County, said Lt. Abe Gamez of the county's Animal Services department. In 2009 there were 1,200 reported bites.
But most bites are not nearly as severe as Priscilla's, he said. Hers was bad enough that Animal Services officers returned to the scene to see if they could find the chunk of flesh the dog tore from Priscilla's leg, Michelle Robles said. Priscilla is pushing forward. She returned to the plastic surgeon on Friday; her leg has been hurting more since the skin they stitched over the wound died, she said. Her mother said Friday that if the dog was not found soon, Priscilla would need to get a painful series of rabies shots.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
“Hopefully the owner comes forward. I just had rabies shots, and they are very painful, and the needle is huge. Not pleasant.”
Is it still that bad? I had to have them when I was a kid...
Dangerous Labrador on the loose..
In another age, you could apologize and pay the doctor bill.
These days, you’ll have to mortgage your house to get a lawyer, and then lose your house in the settlement.
You’re right, he should come forward, but I can imagine the calculation he’s making.
This would seem to be much the same thing as hit and run in a vehicle.
Poor kid.
Legally, it is.
Even if he “comes forward” *now* he’s in for a world of hurt...and rightly so.
What a miserable bastard.
Somebody should alert Chet99 to the vicious Labrador.
“Is it still that bad? I had to have them when I was a kid...”
Thankfully, they don’t administer the shots in the stomach anymore, but directly into the puncture wound. Since I had several bites, I had to have several shots, not only in each wound, but in both arms and both cheeks....very unpleasant.
I had to have several shots, not only in each wound, but in both arms and both cheeks....”
Ouch...when you say both cheeks...are we talking north or south?
South, unfortunately....so, painful and humiliating, as if being attacked by the dogs (and the cat I was trying to save) wasn’t enough. I would do it again, though. The poor cat wouldn’t have stood a chance against those dogs, as she was being tugged at from both ends when I found her.
Glad you came out of it OK...and good for you...that’s hard to do, jumping into something like that.
Not likely. Yellow lab, Contra Costa park - you're talking a well-off Bay Area liberal. The owner would easily have watched the girl bleed to death and then gone home to some arugula salad and a nice chardonnay while ranting about how cruel socially irresponsible conservatives are.
And if you caught him on video, he's look you straight in the eye and claim it wasn't him - and if you produced the wallet he dropped, he'd pass a lie detector test while denying it again - and then file a suit against you for harassment before he left for his yoga meditation on the power of truth.
Bay Area liberals are demons.
Thank you. I would do it again if I had to, but I did manage to find a suitable stun-gun at a gun show today, so next time, perhaps a little more caution and a high-voltage deterrant will land me in slightly better condition.
Waste of time. The cat probably deserved it.
Eh.
Boy, do you have an agenda.
As a cat owner, I thank you for stepping into the fray to rescue a feline victim. Many would say that you were foolish to risk your well being for an animal, but I am not among them. However, I am very sorry for the pain you had to endure as a result of your heroics and I hope that you have not suffered any lingering problems as a result.
Thank you for the kind words. Foolish? Probably correct, lol, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. Now I am better-equipped, so hopefully things will turn out better next time.
It is a little frustrating dealing with our local AC, though. I called them the day it happened and they told me it would probably be several days before someone could come out. Then they called back after they got the report from the Doctor, saying they needed the information about the dogs ASAP! They didn’t even know I had already made a report. I wonder where the first one went....thank God the law put some fire under their butts, or they probably never would have bothered with it.
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