A 24-year-old woman was bitten by a black and white pit bull outside of Woodstock’s Pizza on April 8.
The woman was later sent to the hospital due to the severity of the wounds she sustained from the encounter. The dog is still at large.
The incident occurred between 2 and 2:30 p.m. when the woman approached the pit bull tied up outside the restaurant.
“A lot of people will leave their dog unattended sometimes and run into a store and it’s not that long a period of time,” said Yolo County Animal Control Officer Sergeant Mike Nevis. “… People have the right to do that as long as [the dog] has shelter, water and things of that nature.”
The confrontation happened outside of Woodstock’s Pizza, but it was not made known to the employees of Woodstock’s nor general manager Dee Clark.
“Nothing was reported to me,” Clark said, “but as a person I would definitely help someone in need.”
The dog’s owner did not break any of the Davis leash laws, but Nevis said if the owner had knowledge of the incident, he could be cited for failure to report a bite.
“If we witnessed a dog attack, I would just get on my cell phone, like I hope anybody would,” Clark said.
If the dog is not found and tested to be negative for rabies, the woman will have to undergo treatment.
“If we would have known ahead of time that the dog was tethered at that address, we could have contained the dog and at least found out if the dog had a rabies vaccination or not,” Nevis said.
Although rabies is not curable, there is a powerful post-bite treatment process that victims may undergo immediately after first contact. The treatment encompasses one dose of rabies immune globulin and five doses of rabies vaccine over a 28-day period.
According to a poll done by Woodland’s Daily Democrat and verified by national statistics, there were 84 dog bites reported between July 1 and Sept. 28, 2010. Of those reported cases, 17 involved pit bulls.
“It’s not just in Davis, it happens everywhere,” Nevis said. “Unfortunately when somebody gets bit, they may not report it. The details of the woman’s injuries were not filed in the police report, but according to Nevis, “there may have been facial lacerations.”
Once the dog is located, it will be put in 10-day quarantine while it is being tested for rabies and its registration with the city of Davis is verified. According to Yolo County policy, all dogs must have up-to-date registration.
If the dog is not registered with the city of Davis or if the registration has expired, the owner is required to pay a $15 fine. If it is apparent that the dog is a threat to society, it will be euthanized.
DYLAN AARON can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
