According to a press release issued by the Gallipolis Police Department, officers were dispatched to 49 Spruce Street at approximately 9:48 p.m. for a canine assault. Patrolman Andrew Holcomb responded to the scene within a minute of receiving the call. He reportedly witnessed the girl being attacked by two pit bull dogs and was forced to shoot both dogs in order to free the girl. Both canines died shortly thereafter.
Gallia County EMS was immediately called to the scene and the girl was transported to the Holzer Medical Center Emergency Room, where she was stabilized. She was later transferred to Children’s Hospital in Columbus for treatment of “several severe injuries,” according to the GPD.
“Patrolman Holcomb’s actions prevented further injury to the girl and most likely saved her life and are to be highly commended,” said GPD Chief Clinton Patterson. “I hate to think what else could have happened if he was not able to stop the dogs.”
The GPD is conducting an investigation into this matter and they say that charges are expected in the near future. No names have been released at this time.
Gallia County sheriff’s deputies also responded to the scene along with Gallia County Animal Control.
Patterson thanked the other agencies involved in this incident for their help.
I have a german shepherd/ pit bull mix and he is afraid of his own shadow. One day while on a walk, a beagle jumped and growled at him and our dog jumped back in fear! People are the problem, not the breed! The nature of a pit bull is that they are loving, loyal companions that want people and kids around. They can't help it that they are amazingly strong and idiots take advantage of that!!!
Then I googled the most aggressive dogs do you know it is the smaller breed of dogs that are the most aggressive.Chow Chows, The Papillon, Old English Sheepdogs, Chihuahuas, Toy Poodles, Dachshunds. So yeah a pit bull does have the number 1 spot for attacks. I feel very sorry for this girl and i do hope that she does recover. The biggest problem is there are laws about owning a pit which require you to have license, insurance and a very big kennel to keep them in and if these people werent doing the laws then they really need to be punished severely. Those dogs could have killed that child and then they would have really been alot more serious trouble. It is sad that a kid cant go outside or walk down a street without having to worry a dog(s) is going to attack.
N.C. pit bulls that killed Labrador in custody again
Posted to: News North Carolina
Two pit bulls got inside the fence of Mark and Diane Kent’s Kitty Hawk home Monday and entered a dog door. The Kents’ Labrador, Jazz, a cancer survivor, was found dead inside.
By Catherine Kozak
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 25, 2009
KITTY HAWK, N.C.
The two pit bulls that got into a fenced yard and killed a pet dog that lived at the residence have been picked up and impounded by the Dare County Animal Shelter.
The dogs, a 1-1/2-year-old neutered male and a 4-year-old spayed female, were relinquished by owner Nikki Canady Friday afternoon after District Attorney Frank Parrish was granted a motion to seize the animals and hold them until a court hearing on March 24.
Canady had been cited with a leash law violation by Kitty Hawk police after the attack Monday, and the dogs were taken to the shelter. Canady paid the shelter $25 per dog on Wednesday and took the dogs back home.
Reached earlier Friday at her job at Dreamcatcher Soundside Tattoo Studio in Harbinger, Canady, a tattoo artist, said she felt very bad about what her dogs did.
"I was almost convinced to put them to sleep, but just like that family, those dogs are like my children," she said.
"I'm really sorry. I know what they did is very cruel. But I just can't give up on them."
Shelter director Denise Lambiotte said on Thursday that under the local ordinance, she did not have the power to hold the dogs.
The county health department has declared the dogs potentially dangerous as defined in the state statute. That law, however, does not include a provision to seize the animals.
Concern for the safety of children and dogs in the residential neighborhood prompted the police department to ask the district attorney for help, said Kitty Hawk police Chief David Ward.
Ward said the dogs were taken Friday afternoon without incident.
Mark and Diane Kent, who live several houses away from Canady, fenced their yard and had an entrance to a ground-floor room for their two dogs. Their 7-year-old Labrador, Jazz, was found lying motionless in the room she had apparently run to while trying to escape the attack.
Mark Kent said in an interview Thursday that he had rushed home after his neighbor called his wife, telling her about seeing a pit bull covered with blood in the Kent s' yard. The neighbor had scooped up their bichon frise, Zack, from behind the fence before he was harmed.
Kent said he looked through the glass upper part of the dog door and saw blood everywhere and the pit bulls next to Jazz's body. Jazz was a cancer survivor
"The two dogs were sitting there, just as happy as can be," he said. "She was very obviously dead. Needless to say, I was shaken. She didn't have a chance against them."
On her MySpace page, Canady, who according to the page is 22, has posted photographs of the dogs and herself posing affectionately with them, calling them "my babies."
Canady said the dogs had never been aggressive and were not acting mean or different in any way since the attack.
"If they were, I would put them to sleep," she said. "I even have a 2-year-old niece that lives with me and they're her best friend."