Toddler Mauled by Dog After Wandering Away From Home
http://tennessean.com
By HOLLY EDWARDS
November 18, 1004, WOODBURY, TENNESSEE--An 18-month-old Woodbury, Tenn., girl was seriously injured yesterday when she wandered away from her home and was mauled by a pit bull chained at a nearby home, Cannon County Sheriff's Deputy Doc Smith said.
The child, Breel Thomas, was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and was undergoing surgery late yesterday evening, Smith said.
Hospital spokesman Jerry Jones said the girl was in critical but stable condition last night. Breel's family was at the hospital but did not want to talk about the incident, he said.
The toddler was attacked after her mother, Laura Stock, left her home at 957 Manustown Road early yesterday afternoon and left Breel in the care of her boyfriend, Jeffrey Thomas, Smith said.
Thomas, who was intoxicated, didn't watch the toddler and Breel walked away from the mobile home to a neighbor's yard, where a female pit bull with puppies was chained, he said.
After she was attacked, the child lay near the dogs for about a half-hour until her mother came home and found her, Smith said.
''The dog mangled her pretty bad,'' said Smith, who responded to the attack just before 1 p.m. ''The mom found her by the pit bulls as she went into the trailer. She grabbed her and ran to the main road, and someone else called for help. As I got there, the child was kind of lifeless.''
The dog's owner had not been determined last night. The mother dog was quarantined at a local veterinarian's office.
''The dog was chained up, but there was no supervision over the child,'' Smith said. ''No one was watching her.''
He said the Sheriff's Department is investigating and that no charges have been filed.
