A college student walking on the streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts was attacked on Friday night by three pit bulls.
Witnesses to the scene said that they heard a scream, and saw the dogs attacking the victim. One of the witnesses, Jose Goncalves, said “I tried to make a move, but the dog was chasing me, I came back.”
The victim, a 22-year-old student at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, was walking on Robeson Street when three dogs that got out of their home approached him. Neighbors saw the dogs leave their home, about a block away, and just run up and down the streets.
When they saw the student, the dogs viciously jumped on him and start to bite him all over his body, witnesses said. He tried to get away and hide behind some nearby bushes, but the dogs didn’t let him. Other people at the scene tried to help him, but it was nearby drivers who startled and chased the dogs away by honking their cars.
The student suffered serious multiple bites on his face, arms, and legs. His injuries were so bad, WHDH reported, that he will require reconstructive surgery on his face. He was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital for treatment.
Two of the dogs were captured in the meantime by Animal Control. The whereabouts of the third pit bull are not yet known. We hope Animal Control will find it soon before it attacks another human being.
According to the Boston Herald news report, the dogs belonged to a 19-year-old girl and her mother. The city’s animal control officer, Manny Maciel, said the dogs belonged to Jasmine Lopes, who lives with her boyfriend, Justin Andrade in Mansfield. Her boyfriend owns the third dog, Maciel said. Neither Andrade nor the dog, a white pit bull-boxer mix with a little brown spot on it, last seen in the area of State and Linden streets. have been located – Maciel thinks Andrade fled with the dog.
According to Maciel, Lopes and Andrade left their dogs at her mother’s house at Hazard Street on Friday while they were at a nearby market. In the meantime the dogs got loose and attacked the student. Lopes and Andrade learned of the attack and ran back to find the dogs and the victim.
The dogs’ owners may face charges in connection with the attacks, but this still remains unclear, WHDH reports.
According to Maciel, “This is very irresponsible ownership.” In an interview with South Coast Today, Mayor Scott W. Lang said the attack was “needless and completely preventable.”
Pit bulls are notorious for their tendency to attack. These animals will lock their jaws on their victims, causing severe injury. They have also been known to maul people to death.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in 2000 a study on dog bite-related fatalities (DBRF) that covered the years 1979–1998. The study found that a third of all reported deaths caused by dog bites involved pit-bull-type dogs. There were 238 people killed by dogs over the 24-year period, of which “pit bull terrier” or mixes were responsible for killing 76 people.
In 2009 alone there were 30 dog-bite-related deaths in the US, 10 of them caused by pit bull attacks.
This dog attack occurred only a day after a 13-year-old girl, Frances Burke-Bevis, was attacked by a German shepherd K-9 in Concord, NH. Another recent dog attack happened at the end of June when a 5-year-old Lakeville child was attacked by his babysitter’s dog, which ripped off the side of the little boy’s face. The boy was saved from the dog by his babysitter who also suffered in the attack.
We urge all dog owners to be extra careful with their dogs. Dogs make wonderful pets, but they still have their animal insticts and can jump on people when provoked or irritated, causing a world of hurt to children, adults, and even their own owners.
