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May 15, 2008 5:22 pm US/Central
Toddler Critical After Fort Worth Pit Bull Attack
Animal Control Euthanizes Dogs
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Two North Texas pit bulls have been put to sleep after mauling a Fort Worth toddler and another relative.
The toddler, 2-year-old Kayla Owens, is in critical condition at Cook Children's Medical Center after being attacked in a relative's home in the Redwood Estates Mobile Home Park in southeast Fort Worth Wednesday night.
The child was visiting her relative, 25-year-old Crystal Crawford, when the attack happened. Crawford, who was bitten severely on her hands, arms and legs, is in serious condition.
Neighbors said they heard screams and dogs barking from the mobile home in the 5100 block of DeSoto Court.
"The dogs have never come into our system," said Animal Control Supervisor Keane Menefee. "We've never met with the owners concerning their dogs, but they were not currently vaccinated or licensed."
Neighbor Lynn Alexander saw Crawford pulling the dogs out of the mobile home and said, "I was scared to death. I was about ready to grab my gun and shoot the dogs myself." So far, there is no indication about what may have prompted the attack, but animal control officers say any potentially dangerous breed of dogs can suddenly snap. Thursday the owners gave up custody of the dogs to Fort Worth Animal Control and they were euthanized.
"When you've got a dog that's naturally territorial and sees something that they look at as being just another animal, like them, bad things can happen," says Menefee. "And whenever you have a pit bull, or any large breed dog, those bad things can be really bad things."
Wednesday night the manager of the mobile home park told CBS 11 News that the Crawfords would be evicted because they had dogs that were potentially dangerous on the property. The manager says that';s a violation of the mobile home park's rules.
But Thursday afternoon the manager said he had a change of heart, saying the family is already going through enough and the dogs are dead.
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