At a family get-together a 4-year-old boy was bitten by a Staffordshire bull terrier in the back of the head and on the tip of his finger, which had to be grafted back on after being severed by the dog. The boy was coloring and the dog “sniffed the child’s hand and licked his face, before sinking its teeth into the back of his head” (BBC News, Dog to be Destroyed After Child Loses Fingertip in Gateshead, December 14, 2019). The owners had known of the dog’s dangerous and aggressive past, as the dog had bitten an infant and two other canines prior to this incident. Obviously, a family get-together where the dog would be open to other people was not wise and appropriate. Wis. Stat §174.02 states, “the state, any municipality, or a person who is injured by the dog, whose minor child was injured by the dog, or whose domestic animal is injured by the dog may commence a civil action to obtain a judgement from a court ordering an officer to kill a dog. The court may grant the judgement if the court finds both of the following: the dog caused serious injury to a person or a domestic animal on 2 separate occasions off the owner’s property, without reasonable cause and the owner of the dog was notified or knew prior to the 2nd injury, that the dog caused the first injury” (Wisconsin State Legislature, Wisconsin Legislature, December 14, 2019). The dog was not in the hands of dog owners that cared enough for the well-being of their family or the dog, otherwise, proper precautions and measures would have been taken. If faced with an incident such as this, a personal injury attorney can ease the process. Having experience working with clients faced with dog bites, the process may go smoother and the weight of the already serious incident may be lessened.
BBC News, Dog to be Destroyed After Child Loses Fingertip in Gateshead, December 14, 2019,
Wisconsin State Legislature, Wisconsin Legislature, December 14, 2019,