Posted on 05/03/2018 2:07:55 PM PDT by Norski
CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. - A 4-year-old Caldwell County girl was attacked inside her home by the family pet Wednesday.
Family members said they had just recently adopted the dog from the humane society in Catawba County.
Justina Turner, the child's mother, said she and her daughter were in the living room of her home south of Lenoir when the 3-year-old 60-pound dog suddenly attacked the child, biting her face. She said the dog bit down so hard on her daughter that she wasn't sure at first how she was going to get the animal off her.
Turner said the dog nearly ripped her daughter's right eye out, and the girl had to get several stitches around her eye.
"I was in such shock,” Turner said. “I didn't know what was going on. Once I got the dog away from my daughter and saw the blood, it was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in my life."
The dog is in quarantine for 10 days to be checked for rabies at the Caldwell County Animal Shelter.
Turner said she didn’t know the dog posed a threat because it seemed friendly when she adopted it.
"They really didn't tell us much about the dog,” Turner said. “They just told us to pick out a dog and to take it to the play yard to play with it. The dog seemed kid-friendly."
The humane society handles all adoptions in Catawba County from the intake to temperament screening prior to adoption.
"They're around these animals every day,” said Paris Wright, a visitor at the Catawba County Humane Society. “They see their temperament. They see how they carry themselves. So, I figured that's what they would be able to give me insight and they did."
Humane society officials said an adopted dog can act differently once it's in a home and around children.
Turner said people need to be careful adopting older dogs.
"I just want him out of the house,” she said.
The Catawba County Humane Society adopts more than 1,000 dogs each year and has not had an issue like this.
The dog had been in the human society for more than two months prior to being adopted.
Been dogless since Easter ‘17.
Pit bulls haven’t got much of a neck to break. And, yes, they are superstrong. The best you can hope for in this case is to hold the head, thumbs in the eyes, and call for help.
Update:
After I posted this story two days ago, I had second thoughts because the child’s injuries were less extensive than others similar. As it turns out, there is a “story behind the story here”, and here is the article about it, if you wish to see it.
Four-year-old nearly lost eye to pit bull rehomed by the Humane Society of Catawba County
LENOIR, North Carolina––Responding to a week of intensive pit bull adoption promotion by the Humane Society of Catawba County, mother of two toddlers . . . http://www.animals24-7.org/2018/05/05/how-a-shelter-blackjacked-adopters-with-the-nanny-dog-myth/ (excerpted)
Thanks for the update. Still sounds like some folks at the shelter need some time in jail to reflect on their actions.
And this is why, kiddies, I play a very important game with my dogs.
I take toys, food and pet during feeding so they get accustomed to who owns them.
Otherwise someone gets hurt and I kill a dog...which I would never want to do...
Thanks for the update
Just a darned shame that folks at the humane society are so clueless. Glad the girl will be ok
I heard the one on the Manhattan train bit someone that hit its’ owner. Bad idea.
Had a neighbor girl with scars worse than that from sticking her head in a doghouse. She used to walk up to my pit in the car all the time. Because of her height, she had to get close, and startle the dog. Parents were idiots, too.
Also, a woman in town reached into a friends truck to hug her, and her Great Dane took her lips off.
Sorry the wound wasn’t worse.
As far as your own experience maybe if your dog would have mauled the girl to death the parents would have learned a lesson.
I couldn’t read the whole article...so much deceit involved. Glad the kid survived.
The kid’s mom in this story is a moron. As for my dog, the window was kept high enough to be almost idiot proof. I say almost, because I was once on top of a two story building and looked down to check on my dog. He was ‘t laying down sleeping, but was sitting up. Some dude in his twenties walked by, stopped, and went over and shoved his arm into the car to pet my dog. And my dog let him. That’s why I kept the door locked. He was such a pretty dog, and I didn’t want him to be stolen.
Well, possibly, yes. Feedback on what to do about this problem is part of why I am posting these. Thank you.
I understand why you would not want to read the whole article. It is not only disturbing, it is a systematic deception on the part of a very large number of persons and entities, all of whom appear to be making or receiving large sums of money to perpetuate these horrific practices.
“I heard the one on the Manhattan train bit someone that hit its’ owner. Bad idea.”
I assume you also saw the national news reports regarding this man who, when the police found him, (as usual, he had taken his dog and left the scene, running from any consequences) was then arrested for threatening to kill his (female) neighbor with the same pit bull. That, too, was national news.
Yeah, stupid owners, again. Google Rottweiler mailings or Great Dane mailings. Me and my pit went duck hunting.
Political correctness gone awry as usual.
Oh, never mind.
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