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Steelers’ Son Hospitalized After Dog Attack

The young son of Steelers linebacker James Harrison is hospitalized after the family’s pet pit bull bit him when he started crying; but Harrison told KDKA’s John Shumway that his little boy will be just fine. 

The incident happened at Harrison’s Franklin Park home last night. 

According to a woman staying in Harrison’s home, the incident started when Harrison’s girlfriend removed the dog from a kennel so it could go outside. 

The woman said she then took the dog out along with the toddler. They had been petting the animal when the boy started crying, which reportedly provoked the dog. 

The animal bit the toddler’s leg before his mother intervened by jumping on him and shielding her son. 

The witness says the dog nipped at the boy’s mother – biting her several times before she managed to get the child to her. According to the woman, she ran towards the house and was able to get to the other side of a fence. The dog, however, did bite her on the leg in the process. 

Animal control was called to the scene and the dog was put into quarantine for 10 days. 

The Steelers say that the situation is a personal, family matter for Harrison; however, the team did release a statement today. 

“We are aware of this unfortunate situation. We express our concern for his family and hope that everyone involved makes a complete recovery,” according to Burt Lauten of the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Meanwhile, the boy’s mother was treated at the hospital and released this morning, while the other woman was also treated and released. 

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Cougar attacks pregnant pit bull on Vancouver Island

 

 

CANWEST NEWS SERVICEMAY 21, 2009COMMENTS (5)

 

 

PORT ALBERNI, B.C. — A Vancouver Island resident drove off a cougar that attacked his dog on a trail near his home on Wednesday night.

Lance Glover was walking his pit bull, Sasha, when he encountered the animal lying in wait.

“I was talking on the phone, and I looked down and saw the cougar sitting beside the trail,” Glover said. “It jumped out and grabbed her, so I kicked at it and yelled at it, and it backed off. It came back twice. It wasn’t scared.”

During the exchange, the big cat grabbed a hold of Sasha’s rear, but Glover was able to kick it away. The American pit bull is pregnant, just a few weeks from giving birth. Glover believes the cougar is either very hungry or has simply become too habituated to people.

“I’m six-four and my dog weighs 70 pounds,” he said. “It didn’t even run away — it just walked. It’s definitely not scared of people.”

At the top of the trail, RCMP constables Jay Patovierta and Dawson McWade waited, shotguns at the ready, for a conservation officer to arrive.

It is believed to be the same cougar that menaced the same neighbourhood last month. Since that time, area residents have lost a number of cats, likely to the cougar. At that time, conservation officer Mike Newton advised that the big cat would be declared dangerous if it attacked a dog on a leash.

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Pitbull Attacks 6-year old Girl

A six-year old Lavista girl is recovering at home after a dog attack. The bite was so severe — skin was torn from her shoulder.

Aliyah Balquier appeared in good spirits. Her bandaged left arm and the missing dog next door are the obvious reminders of the day before.

“Aliyah was climbing up here and she went up to get the ball,” says her sister, Maya who is 9.

The children were playing with a plastic ball when it landed on the other side of the neighbor’s chainlink fence. Aliyah went to get it. When she leaned across the limp fence, the dog bit her.

The family says the dog’s owners were grilling when it happened and they had to repeatedly punch the dog just to get him to let go of Aliyah.

The dog took a chunk the size of a quarter from her arm. Even after doctor’s stiched up the wound, you could see the teeth marks around it.

The neighbor dog is now locked up at the Nebraska Humane Society.

The pit bull named Sticks is in quarantine. A judge will decide what will happen to him.

Because Sticks showed violent and aggressive behavior to the girl — his owner has been ticketed for harboring a dangerous animal.

Mark Langan with the Nebraska Humane Society says, “We really stress to dog owners try to keep control of your dog. If your dog becomes agitated when people come along the fenceline — monitor the situation to prevent the dog from jumping up and biting people and scaring people.”

Aliyah is on anti-biotics — waiting to see if rabies shots will be needed. The pitbull wasn’t up on its vaccinations.

At the very least — her sisters are watching out for her.

“I told her it’s going to be ok and don’t be scared,” saya Maya.

The girl’s mother says the dog’s owner came over and apologized Wednesday night. He also carried Aliyah to her porch.

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Father hospitalized for injuries from son’s pitbull attacks in Kentwood

by John Agar | The Grand Rapids Press

Tuesday May 19, 2009, 3:42 PM

KENTWOOD — Floyd “Al” Griffin, one of three people attacked by his son’s pit bulls, is hospitalized after he developed an infection from wounds to his hand.

Meanwhile, the dogs are under quarantine for 10 days by Kent County Animal Control.

RELATED STORYUnleashed blog: Owner bitten by pitbulls while living in Jeep with dogs gets ‘In the Doghouse’ award

 

Griffin, 53, was admitted to Metro Health Hospital on Monday after being examined by a hand surgeon. He could be released on Wednesday.

“This was a serious injury,” his wife, Kay Griffin, said.

The father was bringing a can of gasoline to his son, Chris Griffin, 29, who had been living in his Jeep Grand Cherokee with five pit bulls, when one of the dogs attacked him outside of a Kentwood apartment complex. The dogs also attacked Chris Griffin and his friend, Jacqueline Potts, 20.

All were taken by ambulance to a local hospital after the attack.

The father told The Press shortly after the attack that the dogs needed room to roam, and shouldn’t have been kept in the sport-utility vehicle.

He is in good condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

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Man Says Pit Bulls Attacked Him Twice In City Park

Posted: 4:26 pm EDT May 18, 2009Updated: 5:54 pm EDT May 18, 2009

ATLANTA – Animal control officials in Atlanta spent Monday trying to locate two very large pit bulls that a southwest Atlanta man said attacked him twice in a city park. The man said after he complained about the first attack, the owner let the dogs bite him again. 

After the man was attacked in the park, he walked two blocks and found some men to help him get an ambulance. While he was being helped, he said he saw the dogs and their owner getting away as police were arriving. 

Herbert Martin was working on his car on Ira Street when the victim walked up and asked someone to call 911. He was bleeding. 

“(He was bleeding) very badly, both arms. (It) seemed like he had a bit to the face. (It) tore his pants,” said Martin. 

As Martin called 911, the man told him he’d been in Pittman Park two blocks away when two pit bulls being walked by a woman attacked him. 

JEFF DORE: Man Says Dogs Attacked Him Twice At Park 

“And they attacked him. And she got the dogs off of him but then when he complained, he said, ‘You know you shouldn’t let those dogs do that to people,’ and she just let them go again on him. Like on purpose, is what he said,” said Martin. 

The victim described the dogs’ owner and her car to Martin and neighbor R.W. Smith. 

“He pointed to her,” said Smith. 

The victim pointed to a woman who lived on that block and who keeps two very large pit bulls chained on the porch of a vacant house across the street, according to Martin and Smith. 

Martin said when he sees the dogs, he “walks on the other side of the street.” 

Animal control cruised the neighborhood and left a message for the owner, but by then she had put the dogs in her car and left. 

Witnesses described the car as a 1998 or 1999 gold Grand Am with a temporary tag. 

The victim was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital to be treated. There is no word on his condition.

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3 hospitalized after 5
pit bulls attack

Police say couple had been living in
Jeep

Updated: Sunday, 17 May 2009, 8:56 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 17 May 2009, 11:23 AM EDT

KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) – Three people were hospitalized Sunday morning after being attacked by five of their own pit bulls.

It happened around 9 a.m. in the 4300 block of Forest Way Drive, near East Paris and 36th Street.

The owners of the dogs, 29-year-old Christopher Griffin and 20-year-old Jacqueline Potts, had been visiting friends living in the Eastland apartment complex on Saturday night when they ran out of gas as they were leaving. They decided to spend the night in their Jeep Grand Cherokee with the dogs.

Police say the couple had been living in the Jeep.

On Sunday morning, Griffin contacted his father, Floyd Griffin, who said he would bring gas. When he showed up, the dogs started fighting in the vehicle, and one escaped and attacked Floyd Griffin.

“He actually had me on the ground over here, he had me on the ground, he had my foot actually, he was actually whipping me back and forth,” Floyd Griffin said at the scene. “All over the pavement. You can see my blood over there on the side.”

Christopher Griffin and and Potts tried to prevent the dogs from fighting, but were hurt.

“As (Floyd Griffin) approached the car to put gas into the car, the dogs got into a fight,” said Sgt. Douglas Wegener of the Kentwood Police Department. “The boyfriend and girlfriend got into a fight, and the dogs turned on them and attacked them.”

Christopher Griffin suffered a bite to his right hand, and had large puncture wounds across his three middle fingers. His middle finger lost feeling. He also was bitten on the wrist, and his left bicep had a 5-inch puncture wound.

Potts was more seriously injured. Her right wrist and and hand were bloody and bitten. Her wrist was fractured in the attack.

The dog that attacked Floyd Griffin did damage as well. His right forearm was bitten and he suffered a puncture wound about 4 inches long.

Although none of the injuries were life threatening, Christopher Griffin and Potts were taken to the hospital by ambulance. Floyd Griffin drove himself to receive medical attention.

Four of the pit bulls were controlled by the owners when police arrived, but one, Sweet Pea, ran away. The dog later came back and was taken by animal control.

The dogs will stay in quarantine for at least the next 10 days. Whether the dogs will be put to sleep is up to Kent County animal control.

Before he went to the hospital, Floyd Griffin said this attack might have been avoidable.

“I’ve warned (Christopher Griffin) about this before, and they came out and came around the corner and jumped up and attacked me,” he said. “In fact, I’m ready to go over to emergency. It’s probably gonna need some stitches.”

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Officer Nearly Loses Thumb in Pit Bull Attack

KTLA News

May 15, 2009

Pit Bull (KTLA-TV)

 

BELL GARDENS – An animal control officer had half her thumb severed in an attack by two pit bulls in Bell Gardens.

Officer Martha Muro was conducting a follow-up visit on a sanitation complaint at a home on Live Oak Street Thursday when the attack occurred, according to Captain Aaron Reyes of the Southeast Area Animal ControlAuthority.

As the 26-year-old officer spoke to the homeowner, two pitt bulls escaped through a hole in a chain-link gate and went after her.

Muro tried to escape but one of the dogs, a male, latched onto her baton and wrestled her to the ground.

The dog went after Muro’s face and neck and bit her, Reyes said. When the owner approached, Muro was able to break free and a neighbor called for help.

About half of the officer’s thumb was torn off.

The male pit bull was later euthanized, Reyes said.

The other dog, a female, was under observation.

Muro was hospitalized and doctors were trying to determine whether a recovered portion of her thumb could be re-attached, Reyes said.

The attack is under investigation.

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Two injured in dog attack

A Culpeper woman is credited with saving the life of her 3-year-old grandson after two pit bulls attacked them Wednesday morning.

http://media.gatewayva.com/cse/slideshow/pitbullattack/index.htm

According to county officials and neighbors, the attack happened southeast of town in the 21000 block of Mount Pony Road around 10:30 a.m.

Animal Control Director Jamie Bennett said the boy and the woman were walking near their home when the dogs attacked.

According to Star-Exponent correspondent Greg VanNostrand, the child received severe wounds to his head and scalp, forcing workers on the scene to apply a large white bandage. The woman suffered bite wounds below the waist.

Separate helicopters transported both to the hospital.

VanNostrand also reported that an emergency worker on the scene told the grandmother that her actions “saved the 3-year-old’s life.”

Authorities identified the woman only as Mrs. Keith Powers; the boy’s name was not known.

Neither the victims nor family members could be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, and authorities did not have further information on their identities.

Although it is not clear to which hospital the victims were taken, neighbor Patty Hennage, who lives nearby on Blackjack Road, said the helicopters appeared to be headed south toward U.Va Medical Center in Charlottesville.

Hennage, a 16-year resident of the area, said the presence of helicopters alerted her that something bad had probably happened. Like many others nearby, she decided to investigate.

“I watched them load one person on the yellow helicopter, and it took off in the direction of (Charlottesville),” she said. “Then they loaded a second person onto the red helicopter.”

Hennage said she saw sheriff’s deputies at another nearby residence, but isn’t sure if any pit bulls live there.

Another neighbor, Amanda Kreitz, said she had recently contacted animal control with complaints about roaming pit bulls, but was unsure if animal control officers had investigated or if the dogs were directly linked to Wednesday’s attack.

“We called (animal control) Monday and Tuesday, and we were here the last three or four days,” she said, adding that she doesn’t think she would have missed their presence.

Kreitz’s mother, Elaine Dodson, also lives nearby. She said Powers lives about 3½ miles from U.S. 522 and that she believes the victims were about a mile away from their home.

“Her and her grandson, they walk every morning,” Dodson said.

Major Russell Lane of the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office said the county’s animal control officers are in charge of the investigation and that deputies were on scene to offer assistance.

Sheriff Jim Branch added that since the incident falls within the scope of animal control’s duties, his agency is not heading the investigation. Branch added that the Sheriff’s Office is ready to assist if necessary.

Bennett said an animal control officer was the first person on the scene after emergency personnel were summoned. When he arrived, Bennett said, the officer reported that he was able to catch the dogs and place them in his vehicle without incident.

Animal control officers carry handguns, but typically use less lethal tools like batons and catch poles — essentially a long stick with a noose at one end — for routine contact with animals.

Other than lacking identification, Bennett said the dogs, which are unneutered males that appear to be between two and three years old, appear healthy.

In accordance with the law, Bennett said the dogs will be quarantined for 10 days. Then, they’ll be held for 12 days. If the dogs remain unclaimed, they will be euthanized.

If someone attempts to claim the dogs, Bennett said, the county will take the matter to court.

A less severe category for problem animals — a dangerous dog — also exists. In that case, Bennett said, owners are required to register the animal with officials and they must also take out an insurance policy and ensure the dog wears special identification.

The county employs about a dozen animal-control employees. They are responsible for responding to and investigating animal-related complaints and operating the county shelter.
Other incidents

In February, Culpeper police officers shot and killed a seven-year-old male pit bull after the dog behaved aggressively and tried to attack neighbors and officers near a residence on Hill Street.

Following an investigation, the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing, with Chief Scott Barlow saying they acted “within policy and within the scope of their authority.”

In that instance, Barlow said it appeared the animal got loose after someone accidentally left a door ajar. The dog’s owner was not charged, and no serious injuries were reported in that case.

In April, Rappahannock County authorities reported that an 11-year-old girl was hospitalized with bites to her face, neck, arms and legs after a pit bull attacked her at a friend’s house. After being removed from the scene, that dog was later put to sleep.

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Boy, grandmother mauled by pit bulls

3-year-old boy, grandmother flown to hospital after being mauled by dogs in Culpeper

BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

 

A 3-year-old Culpeper boy and his grandmother were airlifted to the University of Virginia Medical Center yesterday after they were attacked by two roaming pit bulls.

Hospital officials would not release any information on the child’s condition, but Culpeper Animal Control Director Jamie Bennett and a spokesman for the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office said the boy suffered severe bites to his lip and the back of his head.

The grandmother, 47, suffered bites to her leg and arm, according to Bennett and the Sheriff’s Office. Neither victim’s wounds were considered life-threatening, officials said.

The incident occurred about 10:30 a.m. According to Bennett, the grandmother and child were taking their daily walk in the 21000 block of Mount Pony Road near their home.

Bennett said she did not know how the attack began.

The two male pit bulls were still on the scene when animal-control officers and sheriff’s deputies arrived. Bennett said that both animals were taken into custody without incident.

“To look at these two dogs now you would never suspect that they could be aggressive,” Bennett said.

He said a woman in the Mount Pony area had called Monday and reported seeing two pit bulls running loose in the area the day before, but thought they were lost pets. The caller made no mention of aggressive behavior, Bennett said.

An animal-control officer drove through the area Monday afternoon, but did not see the animals, Bennett said.

The two dogs will be quarantined for 10 days, held for 48 additional hours and then euthanized if no one claims them, he said.

If the dogs’ owner can be found, the Animal Control Department will ask a judge to declare the dogs vicious and they will then probably be destroyed.

As far as possible charges against the owner, Bennett said, “There are no state codes [that were broken] as far as Animal Control is concerned.”

Bennett added that the dogs’ ears were not cropped, as they would be if they were used for fighting.

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Boy recovers from dog attack in Warren, receives 275 stitches

Published: Thu, May 14, 2009 @ 12:05 a.m.

By Ed Runyan

A fellow fifth-grader threw shoes at the dogs to help fight them off.

WARREN — The 10-year-old boy badly injured when three dogs attacked him early Tuesday in his neighbor’s front yard on Merriweather Street Northwest received hundreds of stitches in his head and leg, but is recovering at home.

De’Vonte Jackson was allowed to go home Tuesday night and was resting in his living room Wednesday afternoon.

He said one of the dogs attacked and bit his head, while the other two bit his leg. He has about 200 stitches in his head; about 75 in his leg.

He had little else to say about the vicious attack, only: “Why’d it have to be me?”

He also said he was not looking forward to possibly getting rabies shots. His mother, Tamara Jackson, said De’Vonte had received a tetanus shot but no rabies shots — yet.

Jackson said De’Vonte is likely to spend a couple weeks in a wheelchair because of the leg injury but might return to school as early as next week. He’s a fifth-grader at McGuffey Elementary.

No tests have been done so far to determine whether any ligament or other internal injuries are present, Tamara Jackson said, saying that will be determined in follow-up doctor visits.

De’Vonte was at a neighbor’s house, waiting for a ride to school, when the attack occurred, Jackson said.

When the three dogs began to attack, De’Vonte and Janaya Morgan, a fifth-grade friend, tried to fight them off.

De’Vonte punched and hit the dogs with his hands, while Janaya threw shoes and anything else she could find at the animals, Jackson said.

“I’m really proud of him,” she said of her son. “He was strong. He kept punching them and trying to get them off. If not, it could have been much worse.”

Janaya’s mother drove De’Vonte to his house and picked up Jackson so they could get De’Vonte to the hospital. On the way, a police officer and ambulance met them, and the ambulance took him the rest of the way.

“No 10-year-old should go through that,” Jackson said. “As a parent, that’s the last thing you want to see is your baby dripping in blood.”

It was the second time that morning that dogs attacked on that section of Merriweather. A 21-year-old newspaper carrier received minor injuries to his legs and went to the hospital when dogs attacked him at about 4:45 a.m.

Officers went to Merriweather within 10 minutes of the second attack at 8:22 a.m. and found the three dogs still there and killed them with shotguns.

John Onatz, Warren animal control officer, said it is preferable to catch such dogs rather than kill them, but there was a chance the dogs could have gotten away.

Patrol officers handle the shooting of dogs, Onatz said, because officers have shotguns and he does not. A shotgun is preferable to a pistol because the shotgun usually kills the animal with one shot, Onatz said.

At least one of the three dogs, a mostly black bull mastiff weighing about 110 pounds, had an expensive spiked collar on it, so it probably belonged to someone, Onatz said, but so far no one has come forward to claim ownership of any of the three.

The other dogs were a brindle-colored pit bull mix weighing about 70 pounds and a German shepherd mix weighing about 50 pounds, Onatz said.

Jackson said she hopes anyone who knows who the dogs belonged to will come forward to tell police “because they really need to be held accountable.”

An account for De’Vonte has been established at Huntington Bank to help with medical expenses, Jackson said.