Boy mauled by three dogs in KC home

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - As a Kansas City boy turns 5 Monday, he is fighting for his life at Children’s Mercy Hospital after being mauled by three Rottweilers early Sunday morning.

The boy’s mother tells police she had taken him with her to clean a house in the 3500 block of Terrace Street.

She says she fell asleep at the house and was awakened about 2:30 a.m. by the sounds of dogs attacking the child in another room.

Dave Haggard lives across the street from the home where the attack happened. The boy’s mother rushed to his house carrying her child.

“I saw a woman I had never seen before with a limp child in her arms covered in blood,” Haggard said.

Shaking as he recalled what happened, Haggard said the boy had “huge puncture wounds all over his legs.”

A physician at Children’s Mercy Hospital told police the boy suffered the worst animal attack wounds he has ever witnessed.

Kansas City Police Capt. Rich Lockhart called animal bites of this severity “pretty rare.”

The owner would not respond to interview requests, but friend John Davis said he was very distraught over the incident.

“Anytime a small child gets hurt like this, no one wants to see that so.”

Davis said his friend has owned at least two of the dogs for several years and they had been around small children numerous times.

The dogs were taken away from the house by Animal Control officers. Authorities said Monday they were euthanized.  David Park with the Community Service Department made the decision after looking at photos of the little boy's injuries and talking to neighbors and the veterinarian about the dogs' temperments.

"Deciding to destroy a dog is a hard decision but I'd certainly hate to release the dogs and have it happen again," said Park.

The owner asked to keep one of the dogs but when the city did a background check, an official found out the dog had already attacked a woman in 2007.

According to city documents, a woman said a rottweiler bit her inside of the same Kansas City home in October of 2007.  The report says the victim and the homeowner were arguing when the dog bit the woman.

Captain Lockhart said the incident remained under investigation.