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Jan 8, 2008 9:45 am US/Eastern
9-Year-Old Girl Recovers After Pit Bull Attack
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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A pit bull attacks a young girl in Northeast Baltimore.
A nine-year-old girl was admitted to John Hopkins Pediatric Monday night after being attacked by a pit bull in her Northeast Baltimore neighborhood.
Mary Bubala reports the grandmother of that girl literally beat the attacking dog off of her granddaughter.
It happened in the 800 block of Bonapart Avenue where witnesses say 9-year-old Cierra Thomas was walking with friends when the pit bull chased them onto a porch.
"The dog was loose, and it came running down the street. So we ran on the porch and then the dog just came where we was," said Cierra's friend Brittney Coleman.
"Then the dog just run up the steps just dragging her arm around," said another of Cierra's friends.
"I just grabbed anything I could grab and I just ran over to this address over here, and I saw the dog attacking her. And he was attacking her on her neck, and he had her by her arm," said Cierra's grandmother Barbara Banks.
In her hand was a bottle and a wooden or metal stick.
"I had to hit him a lot. You know, I had to do what I had to do. He was, she was crying, and he was attacking her. Blood was all dripping and coming from her arm and all that," said Banks.
Animal control officers found the dog a few doors away from Banks' rowhouse.
He offered no resistance as his listless body was taken away.
Neighbors say the dog didn't belong to anyone who lives in the area. They say it's been running loose for about two weeks.
The pit bull is believed to be responsible for the deaths of several cats and turning over trash cans for food.
Neighbors believe he was abandoned by a group of men who train pit bulls for fighting a few blocks away.
They believe Cierra's grandmother did the right thing.
"I would have preferred for him to end up at the SPCA or something as opposed to somebody getting viciously mauled out here and then the dog ending up on its death bed. That's not fair to the dog nor the little girl," said neighbor Robert Johnson.
Neighbors say they've called animal control officers several times to get rid of the dog.
A spokesperson for Animal Control was not available to comment.
Cierra is reportedly in good condition.
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