COVINGTON, Ga. — A 9-month-old baby is in critical condition at an Atlanta hospital after she was attacked by two raccoons while sleeping in her crib in the same room as her mother.

Authorities say they are investigating how the raccoons got inside the home and whether the family was keeping the animals as pets.

Newton County Sheriff’s Lt. Tyrone Oliver says authorities arrived about 4 a.m. on Wednesday after the mother called 911 to say the baby had been attacked. She was bitten severely on her head and on other parts of her body.

Oliver says the raccoons were outside the family’s house when deputies arrived, and that one was aggressive and fatally shot by a deputy. The other raccoon was given to animal control to be tested for rabies.

via Raccoons attack Georgia baby in her crib.

ACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A newborn baby is dead after being attacked by a pit bull in a Jacksonville home.

The newborn died at a hospital. Authorities have not released the baby’s name.

Department of Children and Families spokesman John Harrell says the state agency and police are investigating whether the baby was being supervised and whether the dog previously showed aggressive behavior.

City animal control officials say the young dog has been euthanized.

In a separate case Monday night, Manatee County deputies fatally shot a pit bull that charged them after attacking a 5-year-old boy in Bradenton. Authorities say the boy tried to climb a tree to get away but the dog bit into his arm and tried to pull him down.

Neither the boy’s name nor condition were released.

via Fla. newborn dies after pit bull attack at home – Florida AP – MiamiHerald.com.

An elderly Vincent woman is in critical condition after she fell outside her home Monday, was mauled by a wild dog or coyote, and not found until 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks said the woman’s small dog was found attacked and killed outside the home at 2250 Moody Ridge Road, Vincent.

The homeowner, Julia Stevens, 75, was transported by Little Hocking Volunteer Fire Department squad to Camden Clark Memorial Hospital after she was found by a home-health aide.

“It appears her health concerns are more from exposure than from any of the bite marks,” Mincks said.

An officer’s report indicates the woman had bites on her lower left leg and her upper body. Police believe she may have fallen from her mobility scooter when it became stuck in a rut outside her home.

Mincks said the woman likely spent the entire night outside in the cold and rainy weather. The temperature early Tuesday dipped down to 41 degrees.

Washington County Dog Warden Steve Strahler said deputies are expected to follow up with Stevens to learn more about the incident, which will help him determine what his role will be.

“My understanding is that she was unconscious and unable to tell anyone exactly what happened,” Strahler said. “If we are able to determine it was a coyote, we’ll contact (Ohio Department of Natural Resources) and assist them in trapping it.”

Strahler said there have been no reports of dogs at large in the area of the attack.

“We had a few a while back, but those have all been taken care of,” he said.

Strahler said he asked officers to describe the bite marks.

“It sounds like a coyote,” he said. “The measurement between the canines (teeth) was about an inch, and anything an inch or smaller is usually a coyote. Dogs are usually an inch-and-a-half to two-inches (apart).”

The police report did not indicate the breed of the dog that was killed.

“I wasn’t out there, but my understanding is that it was a small dog,” Strahler said.

via Woman in critical condition after wild animal attack – MariettaTimes.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Ohio, Community Information – The Marietta Times.

Williamsburg, MO (KSDK) — Even if there are a few scrapes between them, John Reynolds insist his dogs are friendly. All 17 of them. All pit bulls.

“They were like best buddies,” Reynolds says of his father the 84 year old Rev. John Reynolds and one of the pit bulls. “My dad would sit there and feed him off his spoon. They slept together.”

Reynolds says no one knew his dogs’ nature more than his father who owned the home and property where John raises the dogs.

Which makes what he found on Wednesday night, October 13th, even harder to understand.

“I could see that he’d been attacked by something,” Reynolds recalls.

He came home that night and found his father on the ground in the pen with severe bite marks. He did not survive the attack.

The sheriff’s department says the dogs were on the loose but, with the exception of one dog who was wounded, showed few signs of an attack given the severity of Rev. Reynolds’ injuries.

“They think that my dad might have been out here and they might have been playing or rough-housing and it got out of control,” Reynolds says of his conversations with investigators. “But I just can’t, I don’t believe it.”

He admits it’s only speculation, but Reynolds believes stray dogs or possibly even a mountain lion may have attacked his father and his pit bulls.

While extremely rare, the Sheriff says deputies have taken reports on, and had sightings of, mountain lions in Callaway County. The official report on Rev. Reynolds’ death only says his injuries were consistent with an animal attack.

“I know that there [are] a lot of people out there that are dead set against pit bulls and I’m sure they’re going to try to use this to get their point across,” says Reynolds, defending his dogs. “I know he wouldn’t like it,” he says of his late father.

The investigation is ongoing, but the Sheriff says there won’t be any charges since the property owner has passed away. The dogs won’t be seized because the county doesn’t have the resources to handle that

via Rev. John Reynolds found dead with severe bite marks | ksdk.com | St. Louis, MO.

Kendra Rutter was attacked by a mountain lion when she pulled off a rural road to check on a car problem. The attack happened on County Road 51 in Divide.Posted: 10:13 PM Oct 18, 2010Reporter: Rick MontanezEmail Address: rmontanez@kktv.com PLAY VIDEO: Teen Attacked By Mountain LionStory 0 CommentsFont Size: Kendra Rutter was attacked by a mountain lion when she pulled off a rural road to check on a car problem. The attack happened on County Road 51 in Divide.

The aggressive cat attacked from behind. “I didnt think Id make it out with my life,” Rutter said.Cuts on her shoulder and leg, along with torn, blood-stained jeans are raw reminders of how close Rutter came to being killed.She says the mountain lion was just a few feet tall, coming up to her knees. “Its a wild animal, I was in his territory, in my opinion,” Rutter said.She was coming home from babysitting just after 1 a.m. Sunday, she pulled off the road because she thought she had a flat. When she got out to check her tire the cat pounced out of the shadows.”I turned and jumped and I got a paw in my shoulder,” Rutter said.The mountain lion knocked the teen into the street. As the cat paced back and forth, she had no other choice than to fight back.

So, she kicked the mountain lion in the head.”My knee still kinda hurts,” Rutter said. “Im pretty sure it was right behind the jaw, I waited til he was close enough to me so I wouldnt miss.”The cat ran off and Rutter got in her car and raced home. She told 11 News fighting back was pure instinct. “Its what you learn from growing up here, the animals were here first,” she said.The Division of Wildlife said this was just a minor attack. The DOW has set a trap to catch the mountain lion. If caught, it will have to be put down since it attacked a human.The DOW recommends fighting back if you encounter a mountain lion.Over the past decade there have been five people attacked and injured by a mountain lion.

via 11 Exclusive: Teen Attacked By Mountain Lion.

Tampa, FL — Jacob Hyatt, 8, was playing outside his home this afternoon when he was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake.

The boy says he was bitten by the snake when he moved a rock to grab a rope that was hanging in the tree. He was transported by ground to University Community Hospital where he is listed in good condition.

University Community Hospital tells us that Jacob is their 8th patient this year that is being treated for a snake bite. Last year, the hospital set a record by treating 15 patients.

Jacob is expected to be released later this evening.

via 8-year-old bitten by pygmy rattlesnake | Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota | WTSP.com 10 News.

Orion Township — An Orion Township man walking with his beagle in the woods behind his home was bitten by an Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, Michigan’s only venomous snake.

Sgt. Mark Buffa of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said the bite happened around 6:45 p.m. The man was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

“He was treated by an anti-venom we received from the Detroit Zoo, and released,” said hospital spokeswoman Karen LeDuc.

Buffa said the beagle was bitten first and when the man “came up to investigate, he got bit.”

The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake is found in a variety of wetlands and woods throughout the Lower Peninsula. It is the only Michigan snake with segmented rattles on the end of its tail and elliptical (“cat like”) vertical pupils in the eyes. The neck is narrow, contrasting with the wide head and body and the head appears triangular in shape, according to www.tamssunshinehouse.com’s page on Michigan snakes. It usually feeds on small rodents and frogs.

The incident Friday marks the second rattlesnake attack in a month. A dog was bitten by a rattlesnake in late September and also was treated by the anti-venom from the Detroit Zoo.

via Oakland County man, dog bitten by rattlesnake | detnews.com | The Detroit News.

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio – A warning for local pet owners. A woman was bitten by a coyote while the wild animal tried to attack her dog.

“It felt like screws going into my foot, if you just hammered screws, then it pulled it down, and I was screaming,” described Laura Bebsz.

Bebsz says about three weeks ago, she was bitten by a coyote on the back deck of her Strongsville home.

“The animal comes up and I’m like…what is that?” she said.

Among other medical problems, Bebsz has a broken foot and must use a wheelchair. Bebsz says about 10:30 on a Saturday evening, she rolled outside to let out her puppy named “P-J”, a Shar Pei mix.

“It came for the dog and I went ‘oh my God,’” she said.

Laura says she first thought the animal was a dog, but realized it was a coyote and tried to protect P-J.

“When it came up, it went to grab the puppy ’cause the puppy was here, I was picking him up, so when I went to pick him up, I put my foot up and I think he thought it was my puppy, but it was a foot and it grabbed the foot,” Bebsz explained.

She was able to toss P-J into the house, but as she backed up her wheelchair, it fell over. Laura believes the loud noise scared off the coyote.

“I’m afraid to even go outside,” she said.

Bebsz says there has been a coyote problem in her neighborhood for years. Her husband collected deer and cat bones near their home, believing the animals may be coyote victims.

“You can hear deer out here screaming, they sound just like babies when the coyotes are killing them,” she said.

Laura Bebsz and her dog are fine, although she says she must go through a series of painful rabies shots.

Strongsville animal warden Mike Roth says there are a lot of coyote sightings because the city is surrounded by the Metroparks. Roth says if coyotes are deemed a nuisance, they can hunt and shoot them, only if the location is appropriate.

He says he has little luck in trapping them live and says he does not put out snares because there are too many domestic animals in the city and fears harming or killing someone’s pet.

Roth adds that this is the first coyote attack on a person ever reported in Strongsville.

via Local Woman Attacked By Coyote – WJW.

John Chelminiak, 57, a city council employee in Bellevue, Washington, was mauled by the black bear at the end of the driveway to his holiday home in Lake Wenatchee, Washington.

He had been out walking his dogs when the bear struck.

His wife Lynn Semler called 911 and said: “My husband has been attacked by a bear. He’s at the bottom of the driveway.”

In the background Mr Chelminiak could be heard saying he was dying.

He suffered wounds to the upper part of his body, and underwent surgery in Seattle where he is recovering.

His wife, who ran to help him, said: “I thought at first it was a black dog, and then just a couple strides down I realised it was a bear and John had been yelling bear, bear.”

The female black bear, thought to be about 10-years-old and without cubs, was killed a few hours after the attack.

via Man cried ‘I’m dying’ during black bear attack – Telegraph.

MCMINN COUNTY (WRCB) –  An 85-year old woman is dead Saturday after being mauled by the family pet.  According to police it took bullets from 2 deputies and a neighbor to finally subdue the dog.

“It jumped out of the car and I actually helped her get it back in the car,” says neighbor Brandon Russell, describing an encounter he had with the dog.  “It was a real friendly dog.”

But Saturday at 151 County 492 in McMinn County, a pit-bull that had been part of the family for 9-years attacked and killed.

“I talked to the family members today, and the woman who owns the home,” says Russell.  “I told her I was very sorry about what happened.”

It was the 85-year-old mother of the woman who owns the home that was attacked.  Family members told Channel 3 off camera that she lives at the home.  However, the dog is usually kept outside so the elderly woman was not used to being around the pet.

Family members told police they were working in the yard Saturday morning when the attack happened inside.

“The daughter of the deceased came running out and got a neighbor,”  says detective, Eric Allman, with the McMinn County Sheriff’s Office..  “She gave him a gun and told him to shoot the dog.  All that did was back the dog away a little.”

Family members say they believe noise from construction work to the roof is what caused the dog to become aggressive enough to attack.

“When the first deputy arrived he went inside,” says Allman.  “The dog was still aggressive at that point.  He fired on the dog.”

It took two police officers and many rounds to finally kill the animal.  Russell says when he talked to family members soon after the incident they were beside themselves with grief.

“The daughter said she blames herself but it wasn’t her fault,” the neighbor says.

Police say every effort was made to rescue the 85-year-old, but she had already succumbed to her injuries.

The McMinn County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.  Detective Allman says he doesn’t expect any charges to be filed.

——————————————

MCMINN COUNTY, TN (WRCB)– McMinn County Sheriff’s Officers responded to a tragic incident Saturday morning after an 85-year-old female was killed by a family-owned pit bull.

Police say Mattie Daugherty was killed after her nine-year-old pit bull attacked her inside her home around 11:45. The family told police that the dog would not allow anyone to approach Daugherty and that a neighbor had attempted to shoot it.

Officers Randy Gabrel and Tim Davis entered the home and also fired their weapons several times in attempt to rescue the victim.

Officer Gabrel risked his own safety and was able to remove the victim from the animal, and additional shots were fired by Officer Davis to finally subdue the dog.

Although every effort had been made to rescue the Daugherty, it was apparent that she had already passed away due to her severe wounds.

MCSO officers and detectives secured the scene and investigated the incident. No charges have been filed.

“This is a sad and tragic incident that bears little explanation,” says Sheriff Guy. “It was an unfortunate accident involving an animal that the family had owned for many years and had never had problems with. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they go through this difficult time.”

via McMinn County woman killed in pit bull attack – WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports.