PIT BULL RAPE 2 YEAR OLD BOY
Lockport Police say DNA results show no human involvement in the sexual
assault of a two year old boy July 8th.
Jessica Weinstein: "So this proves that it really can happen?"
Chief Neil Merritt, Lockport Police: "I don't think that there's any doubt
because there's a number of witnesses, because this occurred inside, then
the dog ran out onto the porch."
The mother told Lockport Police that she left her two year old unattended
for a short time and after hearing the baby scream, she ran to see what was
wrong.
When she got in the room, she told Lockport Police the dog, named "Bear",
had sodomized the toddler. The mother screamed, scaring the dog out of the
house, but the dog was still attached to the baby.
One neighbor told 2 On Your Side, she heard the mother screaming "The dog is
raping my baby." Neighbors ran to help, but only one man was able to get the
dog and child apart.
Anastacio Castillo says "I tried to get the dog away from the baby, the dog
was already inside the baby." When the baby was finally free, he was visibly
sick. Castillo says the boy was vomiting and bleeding.
The baby was rushed to Women and Children's Hospital where the toddler
underwent reconstructive surgery. Hospital officials are no longer verifying
that he is a patient there.
Lockport Police say they continue to investigate how a pitbull sodomized a
toddler. They are looking into calls that the dog may have been trained, but
they don't know by whom.
"Some experts are saying that it's not possible for a dog to do that without
being trained, and then we have experts that say it's very possible, that it
could happen, the dog just being exposed to the scent of a female dog in
heat," said Merritt.
The pitbull has been evaluated. According to officials at the Niagara County
SPCA, the dog spent 24 hours with an animal behaviorist. Results of the
evaluation will be turned over to police.
Since the attack, over 20 people have called the SPCA asking to adopt the
pitbull. Chief Merritt says it'll likely be up to a judge to decide what
happens to the dog after the investigation is complete.
"I know a court can order a dog destroyed if it's a danger to the public or
it's exhibited harmful behavior," he said.
The Niagara County District Attorney's office is assisting Lockport Police
with the investigation.
Miranda Workman, behavior specialist at Purrfect Paws in Amherst says, "Most
likely this is not a learned behavior. Dogs in tact, not spayed or neutered
have a higher hormonal drive."
She urges parents to never, ever leave their children alone with a dog.
