Girl bit by pitbull while trick-or-treating
Last Updated: November 1, 2010 8:52pm
CALGARY - Before trick-or-treating 10-year-old Aishlyn Fairweather had a chance to taste any Halloween candy, a neighbour’s pit bull sank its teeth into her.
Dressed as a zombie, Fairweather said she was meeting with friends outside her home on Covehaven Gardens N.E. just before collecting treats when she was attacked by what initially seemed like a phantom pit bull.
“All of a sudden, I feel a hard pain rushing through my hand and up into my arm -- I didn’t know what was happening,” said Fairweather, adding she was on the sidewalk with two other girls near the dog’s home.
“I’m bleeding, I look behind me and there’s a dog...everybody started screaming.”
The girl said the dog bit her twice on the right hand before an off-duty firefighter neighbour scared off the animal.
Her mom, Doris, said the dog has been a problem for neighbours in the past and apparently ran out of an open garage door and attacked.
“It’s a good thing a baby didn’t get bitten -- fortunately, Aishlyn’s a tall girl,” said the mom.
“It’s sad pet owners aren’t more responsible.”
She said the pit bull’s owners grabbed their dog and drove off immediately after the incident without checking on the damage their pet had caused.
Fairweather said when she went to purchase some painkillers for her daughter at a nearby pharmacy, she was surprised to encounter one of the dog’s owners there.
“I said ‘Your dog bit my daughter,’” she said, adding the woman apologized and offered to pay for the medicine.
Aishlyn suffered minor cuts to her hand.
Last year, the girl was sidelined from trick-or-treating by a bout of H1N1 flu and was unable to go to a single door on Sunday, said her mom.
“She was so excited to go out and then this happens,” she said.
Two-year-old pit bull Titan broke through a barrier and lunged toward a reporter who’d just been allowed into its owner’s home on Monday.
But a couple who share the house with Titan -- who didn’t want to be named -- insisted the dog was not aggressive and was probably “spooked” by trick-or-treaters.
The man said he’d keep Titan on a leash between the house and the car from now on.
City animal control boss Bill Bruce said the dog in question was a licensed pit bull whose owners are facing charges and a likely $250 fine.
“If the dog has bitten before, there’ll be a hearing,” said Bruce, adding that could lead to the animal being destroyed.
He said most aggressive dogs’ behaviour is a reflection of their owners.
“It’s very unnatural behaviour for a pit bull or any dog,” he said.
Both Aishlyn and her mother say they’d like to see the dog put down.
“She doesn’t want to see any more kids get hurt,” said Doris.
bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca
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A $250 fine? Wow, Bill, that's some serious punishment. And a newsflash - aggression isn't unnatural in fighting dogs. Idiot.
lucky little girl. this could have been much worse with all of the weirdness around halloween.
ReplyDeleteBruce: “It’s very unnatural behaviour for a pit bull or any dog,” he said.
ReplyDeleteThis statement alone is reason to sack this idiot. It shows that he has such zero knowledge of pit-bull type dog behavior and other issues that he's not qualified for the job he's receiving pay for.
A pit bull's natural behavior is to attack upon life and death suddenly and without provocation. This is an indisputable scientific fact. If Bill doesn't want to acknowledge this, there's something wrong with him (depressed IQ? CORRUPTION?).
This Bill Bruce is a joke -- but hey, pit-bull imbeciles and whores have more or less taken over all the humane societies and animal control departments.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need BSL, ya know. All we need to do is unforgivingly and promptly put down any dog that does this to a human (or other dog for that matter).
Of course, the pit bull freaks wouldn't agree, cos they know we'd be putting down 99% pit bulls and almost no other dogs.