Posted on 01/05/2003 11:26:37 AM PST by knak
Nicole Reisinger rocked her 17-month-old daughter, Ciera, at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center on Thursday afternoon, just days after the York toddler survived an attack by a pit bull, leaving her with broken bones and more than 100 stitches.
“She’s doing real good,” Reisinger said, holding her daughter close after nurses gave the girl medication for the pain. The doctors said that Ciera is recovering so well that she might be able to come home by early next week.
Her family says that Ciera is lucky to be alive.
The attack happened on Sunday night while Reisinger, Ciera and other relatives were visiting a friend at a home on West Princess Street in York. Reisinger declined to name the friend.
Ciera’s aunt, Chauntay Jordan, was watching the child while Reisinger went to the bathroom.
While Jordan was holding Ciera, the little girl wanted down to see the dog. The toddler had been around the dog many times, her mother said, and she liked the dog. The dog often would lick Ciera in the face.
Jordan put Ciera on the floor. The little girl fell, but got back up and started walking. That is when the pit bull lunged at Ciera, grabbing her by the throat.
Jordan screamed that the dog got the baby.
The dog swung Ciera like a rag doll.
“He was whipping her around like she was nothing,” Reisinger said.
The friend repeatedly struck the dog until it let go of the girl. The family then grabbed Ciera and ran out of the house.
“I was screaming. I was like ‘Oh my God.’ I thought she was dead,” Reisinger said.
Ciera made a noise, though, easing their fear. They knew she was alive.
The family hurried Ciera to the trauma unit at York Hospital. Her injuries were so severe that Ciera was flown to the Penn State Hershey Medical Center, where she underwent surgery.
She suffered a broken eye socket, a broken nose and a broken jaw, York Police Detective Laura Beveridge said. Doctors used staples to close up the gash in her neck and more than 100 stitches to sew up the injuries on her face.
Detectives are investigating the attack. No one has claimed ownership of the dog, which is being held at Animal Control and Rescue League in Lower Windsor Township. The dog was expected to be destroyed today, shelter manager Roxanne Smeltzer said.
After the attack on the girl, someone shot the dog. Police don’t know who did that, or why the dog was found by a resident in another part of the city. The city’s animal control officer took it to the shelter. Jordan identified the dog on Thursday.
Because of the delay in finding and identifying the dog, doctors started giving Ciera a series of rabies shots. Even though the dog has been found, doctors still plan to give her the full treatment.
Jordan said she had her 3-month-old baby, Ajinae Sease, at the house too. The dog had been smelling her baby before the attack.
“I feel as though it is my fault because I put (Ciera) down,” Jordan said.
Reisinger said that no one was at fault, including the friend they were visiting.
“Nobody knew that dog was going to do it,” she said. “... It scared him as much as it did us.”
Reisinger said her friend has been checking in to see how her daughter is doing.
Ciera moved into a private room at the medical center on Thursday. Reisinger’s cousin, Jenn, bought Ciera a Pooh and Tigger balloon that said “Get Well Soon.” A nurse brought in a stuffed lion. Teddy bears laid in her crib.
Ciera’s great-grandmother, Nancy Reisinger, said the family prays for the toddler’s recovery every night.
When Ciera returns home, she will get to play in her ball pit — a favorite toy — and with Christmas gifts that remain unassembled.
“It’s sad she’s got to go through all this pain and waiting for the scars to heal,” Nancy Reisinger said.
Someday I hope to name a child after a crappy Oldsmobile.
Most who own them seem to feel like they're some sort of pseudo-macho status symbol.
If you need some vicious f**king dog to make you feel like a tough guy................you aren't.
That said, if someone else wants to own one, and keeps it inside their property, that's their business.
Yes. I was actually surprised to read that striking the dog repeatedly caused it to let go. These dogs are bred to bite and hang on until either they or the animal they bite is dead.
The way to fix aggressive breeds is
1. ONLY BREED high quality dogs that have proven themselves good examples of a breed, temperament is just as important as good hips and clean healthy pedigree!
2. Don't buy dogs from pet stores, who are usually stocked by puppy mills.
3. Don't buy from 'backyard breeders' who have not carefully screened and proven their dogs in competition or working fields.
How sad for a girl to begin her life scarred.
I don't trust these dogs, as I have said before on this forum. They were not bred to be pets, but powerful fighters. They behave true to their breeding more often than apologists would have us believe.
Funny, a lot of folks put a lot more thought into buying a gun or car than they do in buying a really powerful animal.
Sorry, but going by the apparent size of the creature in that picture, it is a 'pooch'.
Dogs tip the scale at 40+ pounds. :)
And apparently left it alive? Nice work. If you're going to dispatch an animal, at least do it right. Nothing like leaving a wounded pit bull wandering around the neighborhood.
Why is the article so tentative about who owned the dog? Was this dog just hanging around the house, an uninvited guest?
"Oh look, hon, a mystery pit bull. Let's give him some leftover pork trimmings, maybe he'll stay and maul our visitors."
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