Five-year-old Saskatoon boy suffers head injury in dog attack
Warning: this story contains a graphic image of an injury.
A Saskatoon couple says they felt ignored by police after their five-year-old foster son was attacked by a dog outside the Meadowgreen Confectionary on March 22.
“He was walking to school with his foster dad and his nine-year-old brother and some guy was in the store and just letting his dog run around the parking lot, and it attacked,” said the boy’s mother, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her son’s identity.
“It almost ripped his whole scalp off the top of his head.”
When the father moved to pry the dog’s jaws open, he says the owner jumped in and tried to wrestle him away from the dog.
A passerby pulled up in a van and offered to take them to the hospital. On the way, they saw the police speaking to the dog owner, he says.
When they pulled over to talk to the police, they were told to wait while they got the dog home, he says. Instead, they drove to the emergency room.
It took over 50 stitches to close the wound on the boy’s scalp, the parents said. The nurse told his father that it was centimetres away from puncturing the skull. Source: Facebook
The mother was upset the police didn’t show more concern for her injured child.
CTV News reached out to the Saskatoon Police Service and they confirmed police responded to a report of a dog attack around 8:40 a.m. on March 22 around Avenue W South and 18th Street West.
Police said they located the dog and its owner, and that officers asked the parent to leave the scene because the dog was becoming aggressive toward them.
“While officers were speaking to the owner, a woman in a vehicle pulled up and began shouting at all parties. She stated that it was that dog that attacked her child before the officers asked her to remove herself from the area as the dog was becoming aggressive towards her.”
The victim’s parent filed a police report, and the incident is now being investigated by Saskatoon animal control, police said.
It took over 50 stitches to close the wound on the boy’s scalp, the parents said. The nurse told his father that it was centimetres away from puncturing the skull.
They say it was irresponsible of the owner to leave the dog outside unrestrained. The boy’s foster mother thinks the dog may have to be euthanized.
“We will be taking them to court if they don’t euthanize them ... he’s going to go after another kid.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.