By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com
In the third reported dog bite of the month, a 4-year-old Mineral Wells girl went to the hospital Friday night with bite marks to her face.
According to officials, police were called to Palo Pinto General Hospital at 10:28 p.m. Friday in reference to a dog bite to a child. The incident reportedly occurred at a residence in the 700 block of S.W. 3rd Street at the residence of the child’s mother’s boyfriend. When reportedly retrieving a brush from inside the home, the girl was bit by a pit bull.
The child’s grandmother, Cathy Glover, said the child was doing better Tuesday afternoon.
“She’s scared of big dogs … She won’t go near them,” Glover said of her granddaughter. She said the child loved animals.
With 15 stitches in her face, the 4-year-old had bite wounds by her tear duct, in the middle of her nose, in a nostril and on her lip, Glover said. “The one on her nostril won’t heal [over]. The one by her eye, the doctor said should not be visible [when healed].”
Police officials said that the mother of the child didn’t want to make a police report at the time. When Child Protective Services were notified Monday, the child and her older brother were placed in the grandmother’s custody.
A police report was filed on Monday and animal control officers quarantined the dog at 1:30 p.m. the same day.
Mineral Wells Police Capt. Mike McAllester explained the dog wasn’t picked up on the day of the bite as officers were called to the hospital, not the home where it allegedly occurred.
When officers went to the residence, “the owner said the rabies tag was out of date,” he said. The animal was subsequently quarantined for 10 days and a citation issued for the lack of current rabies registration.
Animal Control Officer Mike Mansfield explained the animal, although on its property, was picked up due to the lack of a current rabies vaccination. He noted that the dog’s owner would get the animal back after the mandatory quarantine for rabies, if the dog remains healthy.
“Once they leave the house [which includes a fenced yard or area they are tied up] and bite somebody, they are quarantined, current rabies shot or not,” Mansfield said.
Another recent dog bite involved a miniature pincher that was tied to a fence, he said. Although the dog was reportedly on its own property when it bit the neighbor, Mansfield said the dog was quarantined because it didn’t have its current rabies shot.
