A four-year-old Chatham girl is in hospital after a vicious dog attack in town recently.
Police say the incident happened about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 29 on Southend Cresent, where the girl was playing in her backyard when a neighbour’s American Bulldog got loose and ran down the child.
She suffered deep gashes to her head, police say, and had to be transported by ambulance to hospital.
The girl remains there, recovering from her wounds.
Meanwhile, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has quarantined the dog.
The OSPCA and Chatham-Kent police continue to investigate.
Hoping the little girl is OK….also hoping that the focus isn't on the breed, any dog can attack! Owners need to be held responsible and control their dog! It raises the question on how this pup is being raised?
I'm so sorry to hear this and can imagine the anguish of the little girl's parents. If the OSPCA showed a little more muscle when dealing with loose dogs like the pitbull mix and Golden Retriever that killed my cat in our front yard maybe there would have been a crackdown on marauding, predatory dogs. Hold owners responsible, indeed!
My condolences and best wishes to the girl and her parents. This is exactly why the Dog Owners Liability Act of Ontario was introduced and why it should be endorsed by the OSPCA and the police. What other recourse will the parents have against the real perpetrators of this vicious attack, the dog owners? This is precisely the same type of crime that took place against the Coote's small dog about a month ago, and the killing of our cat that Sheila has commented on and all the other dog attacks that occur either reported or not. The owners of the dogs need to be made to take responsibility for the damage and injuries the their pets inflict upon other peoples children, pets and or property and stern measures need to be handed out to make people understand that they can't let their dogs roam. That's why we have animal control, unfortunately the C-K municipal government has left this up to the inept provincially sponsored Ontario SPCA. They seem to be better at rescuing birds than addressing serious vicious dog attacks with the appropriate measure of authority and enforcement. Their response to this will likely be as limp wristed as all the other examples we have seen in the other mentioned occasions.