[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish boy mauled by pit bull

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish boy mauled by pit bull
By The Times-Picayune 
April 30, 2010, 5:09PM
An Arabi child was mauled by a pit bull Thursday night, authorities said.

The 5-year-old boy was bitten in the face and required 32 stitches, the St.
Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office said.

The owner of the dog was cited by parish government for allowing the dog, a
7-month-old male, to run free, the Sheriff's Office said. The owner, Rosalie
Aguilar, 47, signed the dog over to the parish's animal shelter.

The dog will be quarantined for 10 days, then euthanized because it would be
deemed vicious and non-adoptable due to the unprovoked attack, the Sheriff's
Office said in a news release.

A boy, who was bitten while he was playing in his family's driveway, was
treated at Tulane Medical Center after the 6:30 p.m. incident in the 2200
block of Mehle Avenue, the Sheriff's Office said. The news release said the
boy will likely require plastic surgery after receiving a deep laceration to
his left cheek and three puncture wounds to the face.

After the incident, Aguilar told deputies and animal control officers she
didn't know where the dog was, the Sheriff's Office said. But on Friday,
after being told the child could have to undergo rabies shots, Aguilar told
authorities were where the dog was being kept. 

Aguilar's children were playing on the slab of a razed house next to the
victim's house and the pit bull was running around, according to a Sheriff's
Office report. The victim walked onto his family's driveway and was attacked
by the dog. The boy's godfather punched the dog to get him off the boy, the
police report said.