One little girl's scalp and ears were gone. Other children have suffered head injuries, damage to their tracheas, and critical face wounds. And there are the children who don't survive.
In 2009, 29 children were admitted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for treatment of serious injuries due to dog attacks, according to a pediatric surgeon. Those children represent the most severely injured. Dozens of others arrive at hospital emergency rooms for treatment for dog bites.
"Unfortunately, a lot of times, it's the family dog or the neighbors' dog," Dr. Mark Wulkan told the AJC. "People get this false sense of security."
The death of a 5-day-old Rockdale newborn by the family's pit bull heightens the need for people to use extreme caution with having certain dog breeds near children.
"There's no place for pit bulls or rottweilers around children," said Wulkan, Children's Healthcare surgeon in chief and an associate professor at Emory.
Every year, 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs, and about 20 percent of the victims require medical care, according to the Centers for Disease Control. On average, 16 people die every year in the United States following dog attacks, according to CDC data. That number is on the rise in recent years.
Atlanta-area dogs have made the news several times in recent weeks following attacks.
Earlier this month, a Cobb County 7-year-old girl suffered a severe leg injury when she was attacked by a mixed-breed bulldog on her way home from school. A 26-year-old man came to her aid and fought the dog off of the child, according to police. The dog's owner was later cited, and the dog was put down.
Tuesday morning, two pit bulls chased an elderly Marietta woman in an apartment complex. The woman sustained minor injuries. The dogs were later caught and the owner was cited.
As far as children are concerned, Wulkan said pit bulls and rottweilers in particular are responsible for the most severe injuries.
"With German shepherds, they bite you and then that's it," he said. "Pit bulls and rottweilers, once they go, they're going for the kill."
Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, did an in-depth analysis of dog injuries by breed based on 24 years of data.
According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74 percent of attacks and 68 percent of the attacks upon children. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question.
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