LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – A pit bull that bit a four-year-old Robeson County boy last month was put down Wednesday.
Bill Smith, the Robeson County Health Director, tells News 13 the dog got sick during a mandatory 10-day observation period following the attack.
Smith did not know the exact illness that the dog came down with, but he knew it was not rabies.
Lumberton Police said it was the boy’s family dog that attacked him back on March 26th as he played in the back yard.
The boy was taken to the Children’s Hospital in Chapel Hill for treatment. His condition is not known Thursday.
The case prompts the Robeson County Humane Society to remind potential adoptive pet parents that caring for a dog is no small responsibility. The Humane Society’s shelter does not accept pit bulls, citing safety concerns for the staff and the other animals housed there.
Pit bulls have been involved in three deadly attacks in Robeson County in just the last four years. The most recent death was in January when three pit bulls mauled 7-year-old Talan West to death on a neighbor’s property.
Humane Society director Bill Cerase doesn’t think it is necessarily fair that “aggressive breeds” get a bad rap, because he thinks it’s usually all in the way a dog is raised.
Cerase says he also knows that many people visit his shelter looking to add another dog to their own family or to perhaps become a first-time pet owner. He wants potential pet parents to know that when it comes to making sure the animals he cares for will be tame enough to join a new family, his staff definitely does its homework.
“We’ll tend to look at a dog, work with them a while, make sure they don’t show any signs of aggression toward anybody,” Cerase said. “If we can’t get near a dog, it’s not coming into our shelter.”
While statistics do show that pit bulls lead the nation in breeds associated with deadly dog bites, many pit bull owners say they are great dogs, if raised correctly.
Robeson County health officials say there are simply too many pit bulls in the area. They recommend that all dogs, no matter the breed, get spayed or neutered at a young age.