A 7 year old boy is in Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a result of dog bites following a vicious bit bull attack on Sunday evening. According to the boy’s father, the child’s ear was torn off when he was attacked by three pit bulls. Surgeons at the hospital performed surgery to reattach the young boy’s ear.
“He is doing OK. The doctors at Children’s did a good job. They were able to put his ear back together,” said the boy’s father. “He has a lot of lacerations on him too, but he will be OK.”
Another child and several adults were also attacked. One report indicated that the three dogs involved in the attack belonged to a family member at the home where the child was playing, although the dog owner stated the people who were attacked were “strangers.”
The father of the children stated that his aunt used her body to shield one of the children. “She was bit up a lot you know,” he said. “I was out here fighting, I actually hit that dog with a cinder block and busted that block over his head. The neighbor guy down the street came down and was hitting them with a log. The neighbors around here did a good job trying to help us ge the kids away from the dogs.”
The animals are being held in quarantine at the Franklin County Animal Shelter. The dog owner faces nine criminal charges in connection with the attack, including failure to control a vicious dog and failure to vaccinate for rabies.
Some 4.7 million people in the United States are bitten by dogs every year, with children being the most common victims. It is estimated that every year 800,000 Americans require medical attention for dog bites, nearly half of which are children.
In a previous post, we wrote about the best ways to avoid dog bite injury when confronted by a threatening dog.
The Ohio dog bite injury attorneys at Clark, Perdue & List have represented numerous dog bite victims. If you or your child has been injured by a dog, contact Clark, Perdue & List.