Neighbor's Chained Dog Attacks Kindergartner
www.thehawkeye.com
By CRAIG T. NEISES
September 4, 2004, OQUAWKA, Ill. — A Union Elementary School kindergartner was mauled Wednesday by a neighbor's dog.
Kaylee Chewning, 5, was treated for bite wounds at Great River Medical Center.
Few firm details of the incident were available Friday.
Henderson County Sheriff Mark Lumbeck said the matter was being handled by the county's animal control officer, Linda Miller, who could not be reached for details of the incident.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the dog — said to be a pit bull — was placed in quarantine and would be destroyed.
The dog's owner, whom Lumbeck could not name because he had not seen the attack report, had apparently acted in accordance with the county's laws governing dog possession.
The 11-month-old dog, Lumbeck said, was chained up — although that is not required — and had all of the required vaccinations.
Sheriff's logs show the dispatcher fielded a call at 4 p.m. Wednesday from the Henderson County Rural Health Center in Oquawka, where the girl had been brought by her parents. An ambulance was sent to take her to Great River Medical Center in West Burlington.
No report on her condition was available Friday, hospital spokeswoman Gina Anderson said.
From what he has been told of the incident, Lumbeck said the girl was standing too close to the dog, which grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the ground. Lumbeck said the girl's father, whom he did not name, brought in photos of his daughter's injuries, which show bites "to the head, face, arms and legs and, I believe, also the torso area.
"It looked pretty bad," he said.
Animal control was called after Chewning had been taken to the hospital, Lumbeck said.
Jill Colley, new principal at Union Elementary School, where Chewning started kindergarten just last week, said rather than providing any schoolwide program on dog safety, counseling has been offered to children who are aware of the attack. Specifically, Colley said, that refers to two students who were witnesses.
