Dog killed after biting toddler in face
Staff writer
A family dog has been euthanized after it bit a 16-month-old Ramona girl in the face last week.
A deputy was dispatchedMarch 18 to the location of the dog, a home in the 300 block of N. E St. but the child already had been taken to St. Luke Hospital, Marion, by Tampa ambulance before deputies arrived, Undersheriff Larry Starkey said.
The bite was reported, as required, to Marion police by St. Luke Hospital, and the girl was transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for further treatment.
Her injuries were serious enough to require hospitalization and involved damage around one eye, including a tear duct, Starkey said.
The dog, described as a medium-sized mixed breed, was euthanized at Hillsboro Animal Clinic after the incident.
It was taken there by its owner, Starkey said. It is not known what the dog was mixed with.
Details about what led to the bite are not available, and no statement was obtained from the family at the time, Starkey said.
No charges or citations are being considered because the dog belonged to the family.
Marion County sees roughly six to eight dog bites each year, Starkey said, noting that many involve household pets.
“This was a household dog,” Starkey said. “The child and the dog lived in the same house. You just have to be real careful with babies or toddlers and dogs.”
An update on the child’s condition beyond the initial injury was not available Tuesday.