Vicious Dog Attack Near White Swan


Sep 3, 2007 www.kndo.com

WHITE SWAN, Yakima - A two year old girl who lives near White Swan is airlifted to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center. This after being viciously attacked by her dog. Three more of her family members were treated at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

The mother, grandfather, a two year old and three year old girl were all injured.

Staff at hospital say the two year old girl is in stable condition and had emergency plastic surgery for lacerations to her scalp.

It happened on 9051 Evans Road just North of White Swan after the dog, a rotweiller mix, got loose from being chained up.

A Yakima County Sheriff's Deputy came to the house to help the family. The dog then came towards the deputy aggressivly, who then shot and killed it with her hand gun.

Another deputy at the scene says, these are situations he fears.

"I can tell you, 12 years of doing this job I'm more afraid of dogs than people. People I can relate to and talk down. Dogs, who knows," says Deputy Bill Splawn.

The rest of the family was released from the hospital. The grandfather suffered a broken arm, the others were treated for cuts and bites.

Deputy Splawn says he killed another dog on the property. The family asked him to do so since that dog had been aggresive towards the children also.

 

Dog attack sends four family members to hospital


Sep 3, 2007 at 11:19 AM PDT
Story Updated: Sep 3, 2007 at 9:31 PM PDT
By Associated Press
www.komotv.com

WHITE SWAN, Wash. (AP) - Four members of a family required hospital treatment after being attacked by a dog after it broke loose from its chain in their yard, the Yakima County sheriff's office said.

A sheriff's deputy shot and killed the dog after it approached her when she answered a call for help Sunday morning at the family's home on the Yakama Indian Reservation north of White Swan.

Two of the victims were girls ages 2 and 3. The youngest was sent to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for stitches from a plastic surgeon. The other girl, her mother and a grandfather were treated at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital for bite wounds, a nursing supervisor said.

The sheriff's office said in a news release that one of the family's dogs, which appeared to be a Rottweiler mix, broke loose from its chain and attacked one of the children in the yard. When the mother tried to save the girl, the dog attacked her, too.

The dog followed them inside where it attacked the grandfather and the sister.

"The dog got off the chain and just freaked out," said Tana Girard, a Yakima County animal control officer who picked up the dog after the deputy shot it.

Girard said she will test the dog for rabies.

 

Rabies test results on dog that attacked White Swan family expected today


Associated Press - September 5, 2007

WHITE SWAN, Wash. (AP) - Health officials say rabies test results are expected on a dog that attacked a White Swan family are expected today. The pet Rottweiler broke free from its chain and attacked two little girls, the 27-year-old mother of 1 and the 57-year-old grandfather of 1 of the children on Sunday. The most seriously injured girl, the 2-year-old daughter of a Yakama tribal police officer, is in satisfactory condition Tuesday night at a hospital in Seattle.

Yakima County sheriff's deputies say the adults tried to fend off the attacking dog with an ax, but the animal was stopped only when a deputy shot it to death. Deputies say a second dog that remained on a chain was shot and killed by the deputy at the grandfather's request.

He said it had tried to attack 1 of the children. The dog that attacked has been tested for rabies, and a specialist with the Yakima Health District says results should be available today.

Details emerge in White Swan dog attack


By PHIL FEROLITO
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

The 2-year-old daughter of a Yakama Tribal Police officer was in satisfactory condition Tuesday night at a hospital in Seattle after being viciously attacked by a pet dog.

The girl was with her mother and 3-year-old sister visiting her grandfather Sunday morning in the 9000 block of Evans Road near White Swan when his Rottweiler mix broke from its chain and attacked her.

The girl's mother was also attacked after trying to protect her, and the dog followed both of them into the house, where it attacked the girl's 3-year-old sister and grandfather.

Authorities are withholding the victims' names until the investigation is complete, said Yakima County Sheriff's Lt. Max James. But he identified the father of the two girls as a Yakama Tribal Police officer.

He was not at the grandfather's home at the time of the attack.

While the 2-year-old girl remains hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she received treatment from a plastic surgeon, her sister, 27-year-old mother and grandfather, 57, were all treated and released from Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

Details released by the Yakima County Sheriff's Office, which responded to the family's call for help at 9:13 a.m. Sunday, described a gruesome scene.

After the dog followed the mother and young girl into the house, family members tried using an ax to fend off the animal. But it was a sheriff's deputy who finally put it down with a bullet, killing the dog at the back door of the house as it lunged at her.

According to the sheriff's report, all four victims were covered with blood when the first deputy arrived, and the mother was about to faint.
Her two other children were at the house during the time of the attack, but weren't injured, deputies said.

One of the mother's arms was broken after the dog tore into it. The grandfather also received several bites to his arms, and the 3-year-old girl needed stitches for the bites on her back, deputies said.

A second dog that was chained on the property was also shot and killed by the deputy at the request of the grandfather, who said it tried to attack one of the children, deputies said.

The children's father, who is the grandfather's son, lives nearby and also responded to the call. He found his two daughters and ex-wife bloodied by the marauding dog, deputies said.

The incident happened on tribal land, where tribal authorities have jurisdiction over most cases, but the father asked sheriff's deputies to investigate the matter, according to deputies.

The dog is being tested for rabies, and results should be available sometime today, said a specialist with the Yakima Health District.

 

Yakima Humane Society Speaks Out About Dog Attack in White Swan


Sep 8, 2007 06:13 PM
www.kndo.com

YAKIMA, Wash - What would cause a dog to attack its owners?
A family is still recovering after their rotweiller sent them to the hospital last weekend.

According to the Yakima County Sheriff's Office, the dog was tied up to a chain and got loose.

"The main reason it probably attacked is because it probably had been chained up for so long it wasn't being socialized with people, it has all that pent up energy and unfortunately it attacked," says Vaughn Merry of the Yakima Humane Society.

The dog that attacked on Sunday was a rotweiller mix, some may consider that breed to be more aggressive than others.

"It doesn't matter what kind of breed, every dog has the potential to be dangerous," explains Vaughn.

The staff at the Humane Society say keeping dogs tied up and away from human contact can make them mean. They give pet owners simple tips to keep their dogs friendly.

"Take your pets to petsmart, petco, take them to the park as long as they interact with other people and animals," says Vaughn.