Dog Shot After Dog Bite Injury, Too Late for Rabies Testing

Finley, WADog bites continue to be a frightening problem. But worse than a dog bite is when concern over the potential for rabies cannot be verified because the dog was put down before adequate testing could take place. The injured child, who was mauled in the dog bite injury attack, is left in a precarious situation.

It would have been frightening enough for Triston Jett, of Finley. The 9-year old boy was simply walking home from a friend's house May 1st when he was suddenly and viciously attacked by the medium-sized border collie mix. The dog attacked the boy at his face, and Triston required 20 stitches to close the wounds. The lad was treated at Kennewick General Hospital Friday, May 1st—the day of the attack—and later released. The boy's mother, Shanda Reed says her son is recovering well.

However, this isn't the end to the story. The dog in question is said to have had a violent past. Reed said the dog threatened her son and the boy's father as they walked adjacent to property where the dog was housed. Reed also said another child suffered a dog bite from the Border collie mix in question.

Oddly enough, in spite of the threats and the previous injury the dog was never reported to the Benton County Sherriff's office until the attack on the Jett boy.

Here's where things get complicated. While there are no leash laws in unincorporated areas of Benton County, Washington—that all changes when a dog is deemed potentially dangerous, as the Border collie mix was following the attack on the 9-yar-old Jett boy.

According to municipal bylaws animals that attack humans or livestock must be declared dangerous, or potentially dangerous. As such, in spite of the lax leash law in the municipality a dangerous, or potentially dangerous dog must be restrained—either on a leash, behind a fence or in a kennel.

That would have meant a sea change for the owners of the dog in question, which was deemed dangerous after Friday's attack. At the time of the attack the dog's owner was in jail on unrelated charges. Following the attack, which was duly reported to the sheriff's office, the dog's handlers were told to quarantine the dog for 10 days to allow them to monitor the animal for rabies.

Instead, the dog's handlers shot the animal dead. That action put the mother of Triston Reed in a difficult situation. According to the director of the Benton-Franklin Health District's environmental health department, definitive tests for rabies cannot be performed on a dead animal. 'Somebody put down the animal," Bruce Perkins told the Tri-City Herald. "Rumor has it they shot it in the head and the head is the part sent in for testing."

That left the mother of the boy with the decision as to whether or not to put her son, already having dealt with the initial terror of the dog bite attack and the pain of facial wounds requiring 20o stitches to close, through series of painful rabies vaccinations. In the end she thought otherwise, having been told by the local health district that the dog had, indeed received prior rabies shots.

Still, it's a difficult position for a mother to be in. Her response to the dog bite and the accompanying issues is to consider moving away. Shanda Reed was quoted in the Tri-City Herald as harboring no immediate plans to sue the owners of the dog in question, although one would expect that to ultimately depend on the successful recovery and rehabilitation of her son. What if the boy begins showing signs of rabies? What if his facial scars and the dog bite attack cause him emotional trauma?

A dog bite is a serious issue. Some have been seriously mauled, or even killed by a seemingly friendly dog that suddenly turns vicious in an instant. Worse, such stories often involve innocent children. When a dog bite changes your life, and the life of your child forever a call to a qualified dog bite lawyer would be prudent. Owners of dogs must be held accountable for the actions of their pets.