FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WHDH) — A Massachusetts woman visiting Florida recalled the moment she was attacked by a dog while visiting the Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last Thursday.
Taite Beale, of Plympton, said that she was walking back to her car with her boyfriend following an airboat ride when she saw an unleashed pit bull running toward them in the parking lot.
“I honestly thought at first that it was more excited to see me, honestly,” she said. “It didn’t seem like it was going- coming at me.”
She says the dog took a hold of her arm as her boyfriend, his father dad and uncle began to punch the animal to get it to release its grip.
The Bridgewater State University senior said that once the dog locked onto her arm, it would not let go.
“My boyfriend, his uncle, and his dad were punching the dog, kicking it, trying to get it off,” said Beale. “The owner didn’t really do anything.”
That owner — according to Beale — may have been just as surprised by the sudden attack as she was.
“I think he was shocked as well,” she said. “I don’t know if anything like this has happened to him or his dog before.”
Beale’s boyfriend helped her into the car while the dog’s owner drove away with his pet.
She was taken to a hospital and says that she needs additional surgery for her wound.
“I have six puncture wounds to my arm. My elbow- the skin on my elbow was completely torn off,” she told 7NEWS.
The injured arm is now in a sling, and Beale said she is going in for more surgery on her wounds on Thursday.
There is an ordinance in Broward County that prohibits dogs from being off their leashes or out of the direct control of their owners.
Beale says she has filed a report with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
Beale is a dog lover, who’s owned pit bulls in the past but she said she has never seen one act like this before. Even though she was hurt, she said she is glad that it happened to her instead of someone else.
“Fortunately it happened to me. Happy it wasn’t a kid. It was in a tourist attraction area and there are families that go there all the time,” she said.
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