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
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.